The Village - Still On Track Or Dead In The Water?

Back in 2016, the University of Denver (seen in the photograph on the left) announced a major campus construction project called the Denver Advantage plan, a 10-year initiative to transform the campus into "a vibrant college town," including retail, affordable housing, restaurants, and a hotel. A major part of this plan was to establish a grand gateway leading into the campus. I took an immediate interest in this proposal, since DU also hoped to move the light rail station to the corner of University and Buchtel Boulevards, which is exactly where my condo is located. I was very worried the university had designs on the building, but happily learned they had their eyes set on the other side of the street, where people would get off the train and immediately see that grand entrance from the platform, no doubt wowed by that visage.

It turns out the city was not too keen on moving the station for the greater glory of DU, and now I suspect the entire plan might in danger. For one thing, the plan was announced in 2016, and the 10-year deadline is only two years away. For another, what is called "The Enrollment Cliff" begins in 2025. Back during the Great Recession, which began in 2008, there were dramatically lower birthrates, and starting next year that will result in a huge decrease in the number of college age students. It is expected that competition will be fierce for those fewer students, and enrollments will plunge at most schools. In other words, no money for "The Village." Which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to the hotel part of the project, which was to be built right across the street from my building. The drawing on the right shows what the Denver Advantage plan would look like when completed. My condo building is in the lower right corner and the proposed hotel just to the right of the lower left. I was hoping I would be able to dash across the street every so often and meet with the DU Chancellor in the hotel bar, giving him all my ideas for improving DU. How sad it is that it will now probably not happen. To my mind, a crushing blow to the university.