Golden Triangle Developments

The Golden Triangle neighborhood has been through many transitions in its history. When the Denver Mint was first built in 1906 to support the growing gold mining industry in Colorado, the Golden Triangle was going through a transformation from an early settlement to the civic and cultural center of Denver. Mayor Speer’s City Beautiful movement and his love for Civic Center Park further engrained the Golden Triangle as Denver’s cultural hub with many large events and concerts taking place in Civic Center Park.

The 1950s brought “Automobile Row” along Broadway and Lincoln Street which augmented the light industrial uses in the neighborhood and supported the Golden Triangle as a bustling commercial district serving the rest of downtown. However, as Denverites moved out to suburbs post WWII, many of these commercial services followed, leaving a large number of vacant buildings and the creation of large parking lots.

The 1994 rezoning of the neighborhood sought to rekindle the area through incentivizing residential development. This led to the many residential towers that exist today such as the Prado and the Beauvallon buildings, as well as more recent buildings such as the Citizen 10 Building. However, in response to the risk of losing the Golden Triangle’s eclectic and pedestrian focused character, a new rezoning effort began after the adoption of the 2014 Neighborhood Plan. 

The recent zoning and design guideline updates that went into effect for all new projects in 2021 required more affordable housing, higher design standards, and improved pedestrian experiences. They are also structured to incentivize commercial office use, helping to realize the 2014 Neighborhood Plan vision to create an eclectic mixed use neighborhood

The new regulations have begun a new transformation for the Golden Triangle to follow through on the neighborhood plan elements of an eclectic, connected, creative, and livable downtown neighborhood. They have stimulated a  tremendous amount of development and growth, as many projects rushed to start construction under the previous zoning and others sought the new incentives under the new code. And for the first time in decades, major office projects are planned for development. 

The many new construction projects happening simultaneously within blocks of each other have caused a number of current livability concerns. And while we see this as a long-term benefit to realize the many elements of our 2014 Neighborhood Plan, the short-term impacts on those who live, work, and play here are being felt daily. For information about current and proposed neighborhood projects click on the interactive map below.