Denver City Council approves KSE’s big changes for Ball Arena site

The Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets will play in downtown Denver through 2050 — but not necessarily at Ball Arena — as Denver City Council approved and updated both of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s massive redevelopment projects for their land around the South Platte River on Monday night by passing six new bills.

The project mostly focused on turning the 55 acres of parking lots around Ball Arena into a brand new mixed-use neighborhood that includes housing, business, open space and more. Critically the plan, alongside the adjacent 62-acre River Mile redevelopment which is currently occupied by the amusement park Elitch Gardens, could double downtown Denver’s square footage. The redevelopment of each of Avs and Nuggets’ owner Stan Kroenke’s plots could feature skyscrapers, bridges spanning major city thoroughfares and more than 6,000 new apartments and condos, some of which will fall under affordable housing.

Denver City Council was asked to approve a bill regarding the view plane from Old City Hall to the Rocky Mountains, which cleared the way for KSE to build up to 40 stories in some spots that were previously zoned for eight stories to preserve mountain views. Additionally, there was an approval vote on an extension of the current arena agreement which ran through 2038 and now runs to 2050.  Plus the city passed legislation to rezone the propriety for additional things spelled out in the plans which were first publicized over two years ago.

The key for the Denver sports teams that call the stadium home is that they will remain at Ball Arena or at another stadium on the site through 2050. While there is no plan for a building to replace the 25-year-old home of Denver’s winter sports teams, City Council approved zoning that would clear the way for KSE to build a new stadium on either of the two plots of land.

The project could take decades to complete with no start date announced, though the expectation is that construction will begin at and around Ball Arena before the end of this decade.

KSE worked closely with many stakeholders in this process, even committing to 18% affordable housing for the Ball Arena neighborhood, up from the 10% requirement the city had previously placed on the land.

“The city did not displace 900 residents in the 1970s for us to turn around and build a shiny new neighborhood that is inaccessible to them,” said Councilmember Jamie Torres, a displaced Aurarian descendent who led the charge in getting the project passed.

Torres’ family was one of many booted from the neighborhood when the state took over the adjacent Auraria Campus for CU Denver and Metro State about 50 years ago. The historic residential Hispanic neighborhood that was destroyed sits next to where the Avs and Nuggets play now. If all goes to KSE’s plan, around the teams’ arena will be businesses that are at least 20% small, minority or women-owned.

The KSE project goes in line with Denver’s Downtown Area Plan, which was updated in 2018 and spelled out Central Platte Valley/Auraria area as an important place to decrease parking and make more dense. But one of the key hurdles in clearing this project was the view plane rules that were ultimately ruled obsolete in part due to Auraria Campus not needing to comply with the view plane requirements.

Still, the plan Denver approved dictates that the taller the tower, the thinner the building needs to be—which will leave parts of the mountain view visible in between skyscrapers.

Some residents in the nearby neighborhoods across Speer Boulevard complained of their views being obstructed but in the several-hour meeting on Monday, the changes received mostly support from Denverites who spoke. KSE was diligent in involving the community in the process of their redevelopment plans, including signing a Community Benefits Agreement with nearby residents. The near-unanimous votes on all six bills from City Council spoke to the amount of listening KSE did in their planning.

Together the six bills mean Ball Arena’s future looks a lot different than its present—if it’s even standing by the time KSE is done. But for now, the Avs and Nuggets will call downtown home for the next quarter century.