What Would You Do With Block 162?

Wed., Sep. 12 2007 at 1:01 PM

Categories: News

The Downtown Denver Partnership wants your ideas to gussy up Block 162, since most of the block will remain unoccupied for foreseeable future while Evan Makovsky decides what to build on it. And we can't have an entire city block looking like Ground Zero on September 12 when the Democratic National Convention swings into town. That just wouldn't do. So, here's your charge Denver: Come up with an plan for interim uses of the site that won't make us look like Detroit while the Dems bury our city in latte-drinking, Volvo-driving, global-warming-Chicken-Little-mongering, tax-raising, troop-hating, effete liberal blue money next summer. Post ideas below in the comments section, and we'll forward the best ones on to the Downtown Denver Partnership. Also, the best one wins a HUGE prize: A special place in Westword's heart.

Write Comment

Email to Friend

Print Article

Related Content

More About:

Put together a ramshackle club with whatever spare parts the city has laying around. A bunch of flourescent lights wrapped in colored saran wrap and set behind frosted glass will make a decent stand-in for the monocolor martini bar look. Set up a bar with a horrible selection and piped-in top 40 hits. Spread the word to conventioneers that it's the must-see night spot and call it Sinatra's or something. Then I won't have to share my favorite watering holes with the tourists.
Oh, better idea: Free laundry for the homeless. A smell-o-meter at the entrance ensures that "you must smell this bad in order to wash your clothes for free".
Circa 1984 Department Store Museum. A department store from the 1980's turned into a musem. Keep the Fontius signage and call it the Fontius Center for Pop Culture. In the musuem's gift shop, only sell things from the 1980's. Outside, project Andy Warhol's self-portrait onto the building, but only during a leap year.
Seriously. Freedom Towers. In Libeskind we trust.
Cheap, no-drink-minimum comedy club to actually draw in some comedians that aren't in the process of falling off the coattails of <i>Last Comic Standing</i> (except for you, <a href="http://chuckroy.com" target="_blank">Chuck</a>!). I want to see Dan Mintz, Jen Kirkman, Todd Barry or Maria Bamford, bitches. I could care less about Kathleen f-in' Madigan.
I think Denver's ready for an In-N-Out Burger.
One of my favorite areas in New York is Union Square (as with San Francisco's Union Square. I believe this block would be perfect for a "Union Square." New York and San Francisco's Union Squares attract a vibrant ongoing farmers market and art walk. Surrounding the squares are several top notch retailers and restaurants, which would be nice continuation off of Denver Pavilions. This would pave for a nice entry way into the Convention Center and neighboring hotels. As many downtown Denver inhabitants (like myself), employees and visitors can atest, we all value parks and open space just as much as retail and restaurants. Creating a Union Square would address both of these interests. Additionally, with the construction of The Spire and Embassy Suites, these buildings would create a pefect "wall" which would allow this block to feel more like an urban room, much like the Union Squares in NY and SF.
Duh. Turn it into a hostile and rent it out to reporters and crap. I hear people are getting $400 a night for a closet.
Glory Hole Emporium
CORN MAZE!
How about one of these nifty gamma-ray annihilation lasers, just in case Boulder gets all uppity and we have to wipe it off the map: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6991030.stm
For a serious suggestion, how about an ongoing farmer's market in the warmer months, with a walk- or bike-in outdoor movie screen at night, and then an ice skating rink in the winter. Of course, no one wants serious ideas here, so here's my other proposal: A giant Thunderdome arena where the city's homeless can wage battle. Two hobos enter. One hobo leaves.
Two words: Nude sunbathing.