DENVER — Civic Center was conceived in the early 1900s as a central gathering place that would help beautify Denver and reconcile the two street grids that came together at an angle at West Colfax Avenue and North Broadway.
It has a Central Promenade that connects to the Greek Theater at the park's south end, with a Central Gathering Space in the middle. Bannock Street borders the west side of the park, with the City and County Building just across the street.
Those are the key features that the City of Denver and the Civic Center Conservancy said on Monday that they want to improve with a new initiative called Civic Center Next 100.
"The project will elevate and review Civic Center as the heart of Denver for the next 100 years," according to a City of Denver news release. As part of that, the city said it will hold three workshops in which the public can share feedback to shape the park's future design.
The first workshop will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11 on Zoom. For more information on how to attend the workshop, go to this link.
> Video above: Massive new street mural coming to Denver, published May 27, 2020.
"Civic Center is where government, culture, commerce and community collide," said Eric Lazzari, executive director of the Civic Center Conservancy, in the release. "It's important that we bring the 2005 Civic Center Master Plan to life and that we hear from our local community in that process."
The Civic Center project is funded in part by the Elevate Denver, which is a 10-year, $937 million bond program approved by voters in 2017. The bond program has nearly 500 projects to maintain, repair and build infrastructure.
The Civic Center initiative will focus on improvements to four key areas: the Greek Theater, Central Promenade, Central Gathering Space and Bannock Street.
Changes were already underway on Bannock Street, which closed to vehicle traffic last spring. Work began in May on a massive street mural between West 14th Avenue and Colfax.
The mural, entitled "Interwoven," was the creation of artists Pat Milbery and Andre Rodriguez of the So-Gnar Creative Division. It pays homage to Denver’s mountain views, blue skies and the community's journey.
Eventually the concept was to turn Bannock into more of a street mall with benches and trees.
As for the rest of the Civic Center project, the planned timeline was to work on eliciting design concepts and feedback through this spring and settle on a preferred concept by the summer.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Local stories from 9NEWS