DENVER — In an effort to reinvigorate the connections between downtown Denver and the Auraria campus, Tryba Architects is helping to reshape Speer Boulevard from West Colfax Avenue to Interstate 25.
David Tryba has spent a considerable amount of time traveling on and crossing Speer Boulevard, as both a student at the University of Colorado Denver and as the founder of Tryba Architects. He sees the street, which varies from eight to eleven lanes, as a “lost opportunity” and wants it to better reunite downtown Denver with what used to be the town of Auraria.
The proposal his firm has created would narrow and move all lanes of Speer to the campus side of Cherry Creek, freeing up land to build approximately 20 new buildings between the Auraria Higher Education Center and downtown Denver. By moving Speer Boulevard, Tryba said 3,000 and 5,000 units of permanently affordable or permanently accessible housing units could be built along the mostly publicly owned land.
In addition to housing, Tryba proposes up to 350,000 square feet of higher education space for classrooms, labs, innovation and collaboration spaces. His plan includes up to 100,000 square feet of retail space and a 1,000-key hotel on city-owned land near the Colorado Convention Center and Denver Performing Arts Complex. This plan would result in more green space for Denver residents to enjoy from West Colfax Avenue to Confluence Park.
> Read the full story at the Denver Business Journal.
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