When new stadiums arrive, what happens to the life already there?

Public presentation of the new NFL Denver Bronco Stadium - Press from across the country, national media, local reporters, and hundreds of community members came to hear about their proposed future   

by Gregory Saville

We walked across cracked sidewalks and street litter beside the deteriorating railway grounds known as Denver’s Burnham Yard, only a few blocks from the Art District on Santa Fe. I found myself wondering what this place will look like in five years when the massive new Denver Broncos football stadium rises from this worn industrial landscape.

It brought to mind the role of Third Places as community activators, how they are the core of neighborhood life, and how fragile they are. Third Places have made previous appearances in this blog about creating social life out of industrial decline, and how art co-ops lower crime.

Denver Art Society (DAS) stands as a Third Place and cultural anchor that artists built through years of volunteer effort and community commitment, and I could not ignore the uneasy questions that follows so many large development projects across North America: When the stadium arrives, will this cultural nexus survive as part of the new district? Or will it be pushed aside in favor of land uses that generate revenue but leave the streets quiet between scheduled events?

The unique Third Place that is the Denver Art Society
during the monthly First Friday artwalk 

Stadium projects are often justified on economic grounds and those claims depend as much on sustained daily activity in addition to event crowds. When the stadium falls silent after events, what will happen on Santa Fe? Economic vitality cannot depend on rare bursts of activity separated by long stretches of inactivity. Healthy urban districts depend on steady patterns of daily presence that keep streets occupied, like what happens every day at DAS. As Jane Jacobs demonstrated, eyes on the street help keep public spaces alive and safe.

Long before Burnham Yard attracted such interest, artists had already transformed the Santa Fe corridor into a place of daily cultural production. It hosts open studios, exhibitions, music performance venues, and cultural anchors such as Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center, the Colorado Ballet Academy, and the Center for Visual Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver. 

Through co-ops like DAS, artists mentor young creators and welcome visitors into shared and safe spaces where participation matters.

Denver's First Friday monthly artwalk is among the busiest,
and liveliest, in the country

History warns that when large developments arrive in districts already shaped and restored by artists, the outcome often follows a familiar pattern. Artists transform overlooked industrial areas into places people want to visit and experience. Their presence attracts attention and investment. Rising land values create pressure for redevelopment that favors larger and more profitable uses. The cultural anchors that made the district desirable struggle to survive within the new economic landscape they helped create.

THE PUBLIC MEETING

On Feb 13, I attended a Denver Bronco public presentation that revealed both the scale of public interest and the limitations of conventional participation processes. I stood with hundreds of residents and two city councilwomen to learn about the proposed stadium and its surrounding development. 

Over 700 community members attended the new stadium announcement - one city planner described attendance as the largest he has seen 

We have learned repeatedly in our SafeGrowth work that, if large development  projects are to fulfill their economic promise, they must become part of a living district rather than stand apart from it. Protecting and strengthening institutions like the Denver Art Society is not an obstacle to economic development but a prerequisite for its long-term success.

THE CHOICE FOR THE FUTURE

The choice facing Denver is not simply where to locate a stadium. It is whether to build upon the existing cultural foundations on Santa Fe that already support year-round creative life and economic activity, or to repeat a familiar pattern of displacement that replaces community assets like the Denver Art Society with occasional spectacle and inactive streets.

The future of Burnham Yard will reveal whether lasting economic vitality in Denver grows from the daily life of its communities, and whether the cultural institutions that built the Art District on Santa Fe will remain part of that future or become another casualty of progress that failed to recognize the value already present.