Denver Newspaper Agency

Following Denver’s decision to construct its new Justice Center Complex on Colfax Avenue three blocks east of Civic Center Park, it was necessary for the Rocky Mountain News to move its operations from that site to a new location.  At the same time, both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post were looking for operational efficiencies and decided to combine operating and production operations while maintaining separate newsrooms.  The combined organization, the Denver Newspaper Agency (DNA), needed a new building for the joint operations and settled on a series of surface parking lots across the street from Civic Center Park at 101 West Colfax.

Already home to City and State government buildings, the Colorado Appellate and Supreme Courts, the main branch of the Denver Public Library, and the Denver Art Museum, Civic Center Park was a logical choice for the proposed new home for Denver’s newly combined “fourth estate” to keep watch over government and civic happenings.  However, in order to redevelop the site and still maintain Civic Center Park’s unique role as both an entrance to downtown and the major park for festivals and large, outdoor events in Denver, a number of unique issues needed to be addressed – improvements to Pioneer Park (located between Cheyenne Place and Colfax between the site and Civic Center Park), improvements to Civic Center Park’s Vorhees Monument, increased building setbacks from both Cheyenne Place and Colfax Avenue, and realignment of an alley through the site and associated utility realignments.

DURA provided $750,000 through tax increment financing to help offset these extraordinary costs and allow the project to proceed while preserving Civic Center’s Park unique character and role within Denver’s civic life.  Today, the former parking lots are home to the 308,000 square-foot office building commonly known as DNA and include 684 parking spaces and 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail.  The building was completed and occupied in late 2006.