VOELZ CHANDLER: Redo wrong for Civic Center

Published June 23, 2007 at midnight

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Just when you thought it was safe to simply admire Civic Center again, the heart of the city has popped back into the news.

I don't know about you, but I needed a rest after the endless meetings, competing proposals and general misconception of this site that continued from Daniel Libeskind's presentation last August until mid-January. That's when Denver's Parks and Recreation Department declared that the public had turned thumbs down on Libeskind's ideas and, well, there was no money for any of this anyway.

Many people were happy to see those advocating radical changes go away. I know I was. But the return of discussions about Civic Center has brought some misinformation about plans being floated for the site, so it's time for an update.

Downtown Area Plan: This was a tip-off that Civic Center was coming out of sleep mode. The plan, which is wending its way to the full Denver City Council for consideration in July, lists seven "transformative areas," one of which is Civic Center.

Just one problem: One image used to illustrate this part of the plan shows Millennium Park, the popular Chicago attraction that was built on abandoned railroad land.

Denver has looked to Chicago for many design cues over the past century, but this type of bells-and- whistles project makes no sense for a full-fledged historic assemblage of buildings and landscape elements.

Colorado Historical Society: In April the Rocky broke the story that Civic Center was among the many sites the society was examining for a new home. The space was imagined to the south end of the park, where a building had been envisioned in the 90-year-old Bennett Plan.

A conceptual plan by David Owen Tryba showed much of the museum underground, topped by a building comparable in size to the McNichols Building (the old Carnegie Library).

Informal discussions have shifted into a more formal mode, with word this past week that the city and state will call a meeting at 10 a.m. July 11, in the history museum's auditorium, so that myriad Civic Center stakeholders can begin a public process on such a move.

There will be a lot for this group to consider over the coming months, but here are two immediate concerns:

• The historical society wants to remain on Civic Center, which makes sense. But will it lose prominence by being in the middle of the park, with its exhibition space underground? That subterranean aura is a drawback of its current location. Is there somewhere else that's a better fit?

• If the decision is made to move to Civic Center, what will the building look like, and who will design it? Logically, it should be contemporary but complementary, but forget the idea of some sort of national or international design competition.

For one thing, this is a Colorado site, and someone grounded in and sensitive to the place is the only answer. Plus, this city is not yet ready to run a coherent design competition; the polarized and politicized effort to select designers for the Denver Justice Center proved that.

Infrastructure bond issue: Here's a source of possible funding for Civic Center, though who knows how Denver voters will react to a bond request after a steady stream of bond votes and higher taxes.

The proposal calls for three tiers of projects, and three votes. Repairs to Civic Center appear in the second tier, projects recommended under the current bonding capacity: $9.5 million for restoration of the Greek Theater and the Voorhies Memorial and Broadway terrace.

Other players: The Civic Center Conservancy has a contract with the city to support and program the park, and this summer that includes an expanded farmers' market (though no films or concerts). The group's board is discussing a design competition to choose a landscape architect to implement the master plan approved in 2005 for Civic Center.

But isn't this something the city should be doing, as in just making the plan happen? Granted, a competition is a way to drum up public interest and money. The interest is there, though, and again, a master plan such as this demands local sensibility and accountability.

Then there are plans announced in April by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs to stage a major art installation in Civic Center leading up to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The project would serve as prologue to the first Denver Biennial of the Americas in 2010.

Early estimates called for the need to raise $1.5 million for the first event and $5 million to $10 million to launch the second. And that's before raising perhaps $15 million to turn the old library building into a cultural center and home for the office of cultural affairs. The latest word is that talks are continuing.

That has become a sort of Civic Center mantra, and though it's frustrating, anyone approaching this space with change in mind should think things through.

One season of design hysteria is enough, especially when what Civic Center basically needs is just three things: maintenance, water and security.

Chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677

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