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The Ballpark neighborhood lies to the north of Lower Downtown and Downtown Denver's central business district. The southern end of the neighborhood (around 20th Street) is anchored by Coors Field, which opened in 1995. Ballpark also stretches almost 20 blocks to the north from 20th Street, into a section of Downtown that is still very much a functioning warehouse and light industry district. An increasing number of those warehouses are being renovated into loft projects.
This part of Downtown was established early in Denver's history, growing alongside the railroad tracks that carried goods and raw materials into Denver's industrial market. Waves of immigrants--Italian, Irish, Japanese, Chinese and, more recently, Mexican--have left their own unique stamp on the area.
An important commercial corridor in The Ballpark Neighborhood is North Larimer Street. From 20th Street all the way to the northern edge of Downtown (37th-38th Avenue), Larimer Street offers a unique mix of buildings and tenants-- jazz clubs, bars, antique shops, pawn shops, art framers, galleries, brewpubs, authentic Mexican restaurants, small ad companies and more. Most of these buildings reflect the area's predominant architecture, which is 2-3 story brick buildings and warehouses. The neighborhood is zoned for industrial use, so a good number of the buildings still have train and truck loading docks on their street frontages, as many of them are active warehouses and light industrial buildings. Not every building frontage has a sidewalk, and street trees are not as prevalent as they are in older, more traditional center city neighborhoods such as Curtis Park or Capitol Hill. In 2002, the Ballpark Historic District was formed for much of the Ballpark area to preserve many of the historic warehouses and buildings that define the neighborhood's historical uses.
A major change in the Ballpark neighborhood's landscape was the demolition of the Broadway viaduct in 2000, which carried auto traffic from Broadway, over the adjacent Central Platte Valley train tracks, and north along Brighton Boulevard to I-70 for several decades. The viaduct's bridge structure sliced through the middle of the neighborhood, but is now replaced by a four-lane underpass; two sets of train tracks cross overhead, much like the 15th Street underpass that was completed earlier this decade. This enhances the Ballpark's pedestrian environment and improves its visual and pedestrian connection to Downtown Denver. It has also spurred new opportunities along Brighton Boulevard, which is a direct link from I-70 to Downtown Denver.
The Ballpark neighborhood is host to the Ballpark Market, an eclectic community flea market that happens several weekends each summer. The AT&T LoDo Music Festival also moved into the Ballpark neighborhood in 2000 after several years in the Lower Downtown area.
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Amenities:
The Ballpark Neighborhood is home to a variety of great City improvements, starting with the decision to place Coors Field here in 1991, followed by construction of the viaducts on 20th and 23rd Streets, the Park Avenue "Flyover" exit from I-25, three blocks of streetscaping on Larimer Street, and most recently, replacement of the decrepit Broadway Viaduct.
Our Accomplishments:
The City funded (to the tune of almost $ 1-1/2 million) a Neighborhood Revitalization Program and 3 blocks of streetscaping on Larimer Street to get economic recovery started. During our first decade as a neighborhood group, we worked with the City to write our neighborhood plan, welcomed Major League Baseball to a beautiful new, inner-city ballpark, upgraded the zoning for a portion of our area, and created a historic district.
In addition, we monitored the many private construction projects, attended numerous hearings on such issues as new liquor licenses, various zoning changes for our private developers, and violations of City ordinances. In our spare time, we helped with complicated homeless issues.
The Future:
Our association will help to upgrade the zoning in the remainder of the Ballpark Neighborhood, to develop a consistent sidewalk/ streetscaping / street lighting policy, to give input for the Broadway Corridor Study, and to lobby for and work on plans for 2 commuter stops on the light rail line to DIA.
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