Why A Riverwalk?

People are drawn to water, whether it's an ocean, a lake, or a man-made canal running through an urban area. They want to stroll along it, bike across it, eat beside it, boat down it, play in it—they just want to be close to water. The success of the San Antonio River Walk proves it—5 million visitors per year and over $8 billion in economic impact annually. With its 300 days of sunshine, the metro Denver area is the ideal location for a Riverwalk development. And with its 20 acres of open space, the Glendale Riverwalk will be more than just another urban development—it combines the best of Colorado's active lifestyle with a dynamic, 24/7 entertainment district.

Five million people visit the San Antonio River Walk every year, creating an $8 billion economic impact.

The Glendale Riverwalk Master Plan (GRMP) includes 1 million square feet of entertainment, retail, restaurant, hotel, and concert space; and identifies several public and private projects to support the Riverwalk's mission and objective, including a navigable canal, open space on Cherry Creek, a Rugby Hall of Fame, a 4,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, and a trolley system connecting the Riverwalk to Infinity Park and the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. The GRMP describes a bustling entertainment and shopping district that will attract Denver metro area and Colorado residents, national and internationalvisitors, and conference attendees and sports fans to the natural beauty of Cherry Creek and anurban waterfront destination that anchors shops, restaurants, hotels, sports attractions, and entertainmentvenues.

The Riverwalk will serve to further bolster interest in Glendale, Denver and Colorado. Glendale is poised to begin construction in 2012.

Riverwalk Location

Located along the ½ mile of Cherry Creek that runs through Glendale, the Riverwalk will be the centerpiece of a waterfront mixed-use development for year-round activity. The Riverwalk's unique bundle of attractions and services do not exist today in the greater Denver metropolitan area. The Riverwalk will be highly accessible from within Glendale and to visitors coming to.

Glendale from every direction:

• The Gateway to the Riverwalk will be located at the intersection of South Colorado Boulevard and East Virginia Street, which will be widened and landscaped, becoming a transitional urban edge for the Riverwalk with a retail shopping corridor streetscape that welcomes visitors, leads to parking structures and provides access to the Riverwalk's shopping, restaurants and entertainment venues;
• A bridge connecting Ash Street on the south to Birch Street on the north will provide an iconic structure for both vehicular and pedestrian access into the Riverwalk, and will create a strong and recognizable link between the Riverwalk and Infinity Park;
• The Riverwalk's location along Cherry Creek will integrate the natural features of the creek and greenways;
• The Riverwalk will be easily accessible by car, bicycle, foot, and public transportation, and it will be connected via a new trolley system to Infinity Park and to the popular Cherry Creek shopping district;
• The Cherry Creek bikepath carries 66,000 bicyclists through the proposed development area every year; the bikepath will be re-routed to the south side of the creek to accommodate both cyclists and pedestrians along the greenway;
• The development area is adjacent to two of the busiest streets in the metro Denver area: Colorado Boulevard and Leetsdale Drive.
• The Glendale Riverwalk's location near many of the Denver area's major shopping, music, sports, convention, outdoor, and museum venues will encourage in- and out-of-state visitors to extend their stays in order to experience a new, world-class Riverwalk development.
• The Riverwalk's proximity to Cherry Creek North, Cherry Creek Shopping Center, the Pepsi Center, Coors Field, LoDo, the Botanic Gardens, Red Rocks, Downtown Denver's museums, hotels, conventions, and cultural arts district, and even the Rocky Mountains will make it another stop for out-of-state and international visitors.
• The development will be a long-term public/private partnership that creates an urban entertainment district, taking advantage of Glendale's prime location, easy access, natural amenities and local, business-friendly governance structure. The Riverwalk development will become the heart of Glendale and will enhance the city's existing mix of retail, dining, entertainment, hotel, sports, and concert space.

Features of the Riverwalk

The City envisions the Riverwalk as a world-class, multi-use, year-round corridor, attracting local, national and international visitors, Glendale residents, conference attendees, and rugby fans.

The centerpiece of the Glendale Riverwalk project is the navigable channel — a major attraction throughout the year for events, festivals and celebrations that will provide access to the District's one million square feet of retail shops, restaurants, and night life entertainment. The City of Glendale retained Wright Water Engineers, Design Studios West, and Shears Adkins Rockmore to evaluate the preliminary hydrologic, drainage, water quality, and urban design of the proposed Riverwalk model. The man-made channel will extend the length of the development, and varies in width from 26 feet to 36 feet, with an approximate depth of 4 feet. Water for the channel will be supplied via potable tributary wells located in the City of Glendale and currently used for irrigation of the City's parks. The channel will accommodate electric-powered river boats that would seat approximately 20 passengers. Periodic bridges over the shallow channel will have adequate clearance for boats.

At the gateway to the newly developed retail, restaurant and entertainment space will be a 28,000-square-foot covered plaza that will serve as a central meeting place and a unique venue for a variety of events. This area will accommodate year-round use and will house multiple bar and tavern outlets surrounding a common courtyard.

The entire 22 acres of the Riverwalk will be designated as a "common liquor consumption area," as allowed by the recent enactment of Senate Bill 11-273. The Glendale Riverwalk will be one of Colorado's first common consumption areas, joining such tourist-rich destinations as New Orleans, Las Vegas, and the San Antonio River Walk.

A 4,000-seat outdoor amphitheater will host major concert events and opportunities for private use throughout the year. Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and the City of Glendale are currently in detailed planning and design discussions. AEG, the leading sports and entertainment presenter in the world, has expressed strong interest in operating the outdoor amphitheater. The company will support the development of the structure and present a proposal for managing the facility and offering a calendar of up to 30 concerts and events.

A feature and international destination within the Riverwalk district will be the Rugby Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will be designed to educate and promote interest in rugby through interactive exhibits, and will showcase the proud tradition of this international sport through rugby memorabilia from around the world.

The structured parking areas will be conveniently located throughout the District, with active ground level uses and approximately 3,000 parking spaces.

The interior hybrid streets will be active with pedestrian uses, including shops, sidewalk cafés, nighttime entertainment options, and fine dining. Vehicular traffic will be limited, and streets will be designed to accommodate nighttime/weekend closure for pedestrian access only, thus allowing for festivals and entertainment uses.

A carefully crafted grid of streets and blocks will distribute vehicular and pedestrian circulation throughout the District, avoiding overloading of any one area with excessive traffic and maintaining the pedestrian-friendly environment.

Restoration of the 20-acre Cherry Creek Greenway will demonstrate how Cherry Creek can provide for the health, safety and welfare of all of its users while protecting the floodplain and existing wetlands. The intent of this public improvement project is to create a beautiful greenway in the heart of Denver that encourages a variety of active and passive uses and demonstrates how well-cared-for natural areas can provide substantial and long-term economic value to adjacent entertainment/shopping/retail centers. The proposed Cherry Creek restoration will create a new recreational amenity for the City and the State.

The City of Glendale has proactively met with Urban Drainage and Flood Control, the City and County of Denver, Arapahoe County, the State of Colorado and the Corps of Engineers to share their preliminary ideas and concepts for the restoration of Cherry Creek.

TDA Colorado Inc. has prepared a preliminary list of roadway improvements for the Riverwalk District. The firm identified improvements including widening, signalizing, detaching sidewalks, adding bicycle lanes, raising medians, and extending streets in order to improve pedestrian safety and traffic flow and add continuity to the area.

The Glendale Riverwalk location is exceptional in terms of vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle access, circulation, parking, visibility, adjacent land use and attributes, and prime frontage along Cherry Creek. The 42-acre site is located in the heart of metropolitan Denver.

The various elements of the Riverwalk will be designed for year-round uses, activities and facilities and will be comprised of the following:

• 432,000 square feet for retail, commercial and entertainment
• 400,000 square feet for hotel
• 60,000 square feet for theater
• 40,000 square feet for amphitheater
• 20 acres of recreation greenways along Cherry

Creek to include:

• bicycle and pedestrial pathways
• restoration of wetlands
• application of bio-filtration technology for stormwater management
• A navigable man-made waterway that extends the entire length of the development area and creates space for shops, restaurants, and entertainment

Riverwalks and Entertainment Districts

Five projects with similarities to the proposed Glendale Riverwalk point to overwhelming evidence that waterway-based developments make superior economic sense. They are a boon to local economies and a source of pride for their communities.

San Antonio River Walk

Located in downtown San Antonio, River Walk is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Texas, attracting more than 5 million visitors annually. The San Antonio River Walk is also the strongest influence on visitors deciding to visit San Antonio.

The varied landscape provides opportunities for people to walk, sit, stroll, jog, eat, shop, sightsee, celebrate, and attend various events. River Walk has historic landmarks, an historic theater, a museum, a library, art galleries, an observation tower, boat tours, and river taxis. The canal is lined with themed restaurants, clubs and shops, and it hosts major cultural events, arts and crafts shows, parades, festivals, street fairs, and live music.

The San Antonio River Walk attracted 5.1 million visitors in 2008, with an overall economic impact of $8.7 billion.

Oklahoma City's river taxis and tour boats serve more than 130,000 people annually at $8.50 per ride. Annual ridership in San Antonio is 1.4 million.

Bricktown Canal

Bricktown and the Bricktown Canal are located adjacent to Oklahoma City's financial core. It is a rapidly expanding entertainment district that attracts over 8 million visitors annually.

Bricktown is the premier visitor attraction in Oklahoma City, with a dynamic mix of restaurant, retail, entertainment, hospitality, residential, and office uses. Some of the most popular attractions are the minor league ballpark, a 16-screen multiplex theater, an events center, an historic monument, the water taxi/canal cruises service and the revitalized riverfront, with picturesque flora and fauna that make the river both a recreational and ecological attraction.

Sonic Corporation relocated its corporate headquarters to a $12 million building on the canal, bringing 240 new jobs.

The economic impacts of Bricktown and the Bricktown Canal are significant. The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce reported that public and private investment in the city's urban core since 1995 has exceeded $3 billion and that since 2001, property values in the area have increased 231 percent. Additionally, Southern Living magazine now ranks downtown Oklahoma City as one of the five best downtowns in the south.

Woodlands Waterway

The Woodlands Waterway in Houston was envisioned as a San Antonio-style riverwalk in the 1970s. The Waterway Square district is anchored by civic and cultural uses and a major shopping mall. Uses include an outdoor amphitheater and a four-acre green space with natural seating, an entertainment stage and children's play area. At the center of the waterway are a Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, an urban plaza, office space, shops, and restaurants. The Pavilion on the Waterway is an outdoor amphitheater that will hold more than 60 concerts serving more than 500,000 people each year.

More than 20 million people visit the area each year. In 2010 the development generated $1.16 billion in retail sales tax and $3.7 million in hotel occupancy tax.

Fourth Street Live!

Fourth Street Live! is Louisville's dining, entertainment and retail destination in the heart of one of Kentucky's historic downtown cities. The shopping, nighttime and weekend entertainment destination has reenergized Louisville's downtown and helped jump-start a tourism resurgence. Two existing structures, the Galleria mall and a six-story department store, were transformed into Fourth Street Live!, which includes 80,000 square feet of office space and 270,000 square feet of retail space. A glass atrium roof covers the "hybrid" street, with disappearing barriers, allowing for closure at night, on weekends and for festivals. The 350,000-square-foot entertainment venue offers restaurants, bars and night clubs and a food court. The area's arena liquor license allows patrons to move freely about the entertainment area with drinks after 10:00 pm.

The mix of national retail and restaurant chains and local tenants has met the developer's financial expectations. It attracts more than 4.2 million visitors, making it the most visited destination in Kentucky. The project generates $3 million annually in new tax revenue and has helped catalyze more than $200 million in private investment throughout the downtown area. It has directly created 1,500 new jobs.

Kansas City Power & Light District

The Kansas City Power and Light District is a dining, entertainment and shopping district in the heart of downtown Kansas City. The 450,000-square-foot district has more than 50 shops, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues. The eight-block neighborhood links the city's Convention Center on the west and the Sprint Arena on the east to offices, hotels, entertainment venues, cultural destinations, and residential developments. The District is the home of the worldwide headquarters of H&R Block and the recently opened Hilton President Hotel.

The core of the District is KC Live!—one city block comprised of two levels housing 14 entertainment venues and a 25,000-square-foot covered outdoor plaza. The ground floor focuses on bars and restaurants and the second floor houses night clubs and entertainment concepts. There are programmed events for families, an evening concert series and boxing matches. KC Live! has an arena liquor license so that patrons can move about with alcoholic beverages at night.

The District is viewed as a destination entertainment success, and in 2009 won an Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence. It anchors $2 billion of complimentary development efforts in downtown Kansas City.

SO, WHY A RIVERWALK?

• People are drawn to water
• The combination of water and entertainment brings tourists
• Other riverwalk developments have proven track records of success
• Capitalizes on the natural beauty of Cherry Creek
• Enhances the 20 acres of urban open space
• Last developable portion of Cherry Creek in the urban corridor