Rail Yards, Union Station & Crawford Hotel
WHAT: RMGA PROGRAM
WHEN: Monday, October 13, 2014 – Read the information below carefully so you know what’s happening!
WHERE: Union Station, the Crawford Hotel, and the rail yards behind Union Station, 17th & Wynkoop Streets (Lower Downtown Denver, CO 80202).
PROGRAM: Beginning at 4:00pm at the Millennium Bridge (pedestrian bridge with the big white mast) next to the Light Rail Station at the northwest end of the Free Mall Ride. Member Larry Ralston will conduct a walking tour of the area around Union Station.
6:30pm - 7:00pm: Networking and cash bar near the Terminal Bar in the Great Hall (main passenger waiting room).
7:00pm: A short business meeting.
7:15pm: Program and Tour including a few guest rooms. Todd Iseri, Area Director of Sales & Marking, will provide background information on the Union Station Project as well as history of the Station.
Guide Line Review
Rail Yards, Union Station & Crawford Hotel Review
4:00 pm – Rail Yards – Larry Ralston
We met on the first Millennium Bridge at 4:00 pm and Larry Ralston had handouts relating the history of the Denver Rail Yards. If you were there and did not get a handout, please email me and I will forward that information to you. Larry updated us on several things happening in this area that will affect tourism and travel in the future.
Here are a few of the items mentioned:
1. The commuter rail segment that will go to DIA should be completed in 2016. Larry noted that Denver is the only city that built a new airport outside the city and abandoned the old airport. Larry commented that London has sent representatives to explore replacing Heathrow airport.
2. In the historic district at 12th and Champa the Colorado National Bank building is now the Renaissance Hotel.
3. The urban renewal of the 1970s and 1980s is being reversed by historic preservation (i.e., the Renaissance Hotel, the Crawford Hotel).
4. Millennials (those born after 1980) are changing the downtowns in many major cities – they are moving into lofts and living downtown “where the action is”.
5. Denver leads the nation in historic neighborhoods (something like 54).
6. Street level retail is very important to repopulation of the city centers. Most of the new construction going up near Union Station is “mixed use” – combining businesses, offices and apartments/condos.
At one time there were 80 trains/day that came into Union Station. The area we are looking at around Union Station consisted of warehouses, train tracks and storage. Almost all freight came here by rail during the period from the 1870 – 1940s and 1950s. The photos in the handout are from 1909 and 1915. Larry also passed around a map that was color coded showing the rail lines of several major railroad companies.
David Moffat’s rail line did not come to Union Station – his depot is at the corner of 15th and Little Raven and will become the lobby of the senior affordable housing project that just opened this week. David Moffat’s line was shorter, was intended to go over the mountains to Leadville and on to Salt Lake City. David Moffat bankrupted himself building this rail line. He only got as far as Craig and it was not in use for any length of time. Originally the state would not approve the tunnel now named for Moffat, however, the flood of 1921 in Pueblo rechanneled the river and the state then recognized the need and approved the tunnel.
Across Little Raven Street (Little Raven is also Chief Hosa – an Arapaho chief) is Riverfront Park. In 1893 this area was an amusement park with a racetrack and grandstands, a Castle of Culture and Science. The Castle burned in 1951. Unfortunately this amusement park did not have any restrooms. Now, on just about the site of the Castle are restroom buildings – a fitting addition.
We looked down from the bridge to the rail lines behind Union Station. There are now three lines in a consolidate main line (CML) and they are used for freight. The railroads sold off much of their real estate holdings in the 1970s and 1980s and this portion was sold then. Trillium bought land from Burlington and Trillium is now out of business.
We walked across the bridge to East West Partners – the developers of this area along Little Raven and along 15th (they also developed Vail Valley). We went into their offices and had a discussion of coming projects as well as completed projects in this area. One of the staff at East West confirmed Larry’s assessment of things coming and also buildings and projects completed. We learned that one of the more recent projects will have a 20,000 sq. f.t King Soopers on their street level. A few blocks away on the same street Whole Foods will have a supermarket too. These will provide grocery shopping for those millennials who are moving into the LoDo apartments and condos. Grocery shopping has been limited in this area.
Back in the 1980s next to Coors Field area there was the Denardo wholesale produce market but more recently there have been few grocery outlets in LoDo. And so ended our Millennium Bridge tour. We headed back toward Union Station to have dinner or a snack – several of us ate at the Thirsty Lion (a Western US chain) good food, great ambiance and reasonable prices. There are several other restaurants within a block of Union Station as well as several inside Union Station. Larry Ralston used a portable microphone throughout and it was a definite asset to all of us being able to hear his narrative. FYI, this was an Anchor package and cost approximately $300. FYI – Bonnie Custer has a less expensive type that she has found useful.
At 6:30 pm we reconvened in the lobby of Union Station near the Terminal Bar. Larry Ralston introduced Todd Iseri, Head of Sales and Marketing for both the Oxford and Crawford hotels (both managed by Sage Hospitality).
Todd began with a little history of railroads - In 1868 the Transcontinental Railroad bypassed Denver and went through Cheyenne, Wyoming – partly because the passes through the mountains were thought to be easier to negotiate through Wyoming. Businessmen in Denver raised the funds to build the 105 mile spur from Cheyenne to Denver. They also unified several lines and built Union Station. There was an electrical fire in the center section in 1894 which was repaired and the center section reopened in 1895. The center section was torn down in 1914 and rebuilt to expand the passenger waiting area and reopened in 1917. As many as 80 trains a day came through Union Station. By 2012 only two passenger trains continue to arrive daily in Denver.
In April 2014, all the city bus lines that had ended at the Market Street station changed their final destination to Union Station. Now it is a bus facility, final destination for several of the light rail lines and Amtrak. When the buses let you off, be prepared to walk at least one block underground to get to the main lobby of Union Station/Crawford Hotel. By 2016 the commuter rail line to DIA will be completed and the frequency of the commuter rail to DIA will be every 5-7 minutes during the day and at least once an hour during the night. Currently there are several buses daily that go to DIA.
Currently 6,000-15,000 people/day use Union Station and it is expected that with the opening of the line to DIA that as many as 100,000/day will come through Union Station. The light rail lines are expected to all be completed by 2020.
The current remodel of Union Station has been 30 years in the making – they were going to tear it down (just like they were going to tear down the Molly Brown House in 1970). There are now 14 retail/restaurant outlets in Union Station. Several are Sage Hospitality managed, among them: the Terminal Bar (serving Colorado craft beer), the Milk Box Creamery (serving Little Man ice cream), coffee shops, Acme Burgers and Brats, and the Cooper Lounge (which is similar to the Cruise Room at the Oxford Hotel). The Cooper Lounge has a limited seating capacity so that reservations are required to enter. The other restaurants/retail outlets are all Colorado owned and operated.
Todd showed us a book about Union Station, written by Dana Crawford, and available in the Tattered Cover bookstores in either hardback or softback.
The current architecture update reused the original 1914 floor though the flooring had to be sanded down to eliminate the dips in front of the benches where many years of feet wore away the floor. The chandeliers were handmade and are about twice as large as the originals and use LED lights but they LOOK like the original chandeliers. Each of these chandeliers weighs about 1200#. The sconces along the upper balcony are original but converted to use LED lights. The archways around the lobby were covered with dark brown paint and have been restored to highlight the 2,300 plaster columbines around each arch.
The Terminal Bar was at one time the ticket window and the grillwork was hidden behind false walls – another historic “find” in the remodel. The staircase to the second floor was also hidden behind drywall and is now back to its original wrought iron glory. Original train scrolls are framed and displayed on the wall on the main floor. As we ascended the staircase, framed small photos of cowboy poets march up the stairs and across the landing – 50 in all, they were all on one poster advertising a Cowboy Poets event.
The famous benches in the lobby yielded up items that are also displayed on walls. They include sales tax tokens – an item that was used in the 1940s. The benches themselves were originally made to conduct the heat in the lobby – a typical Union Pacific lobby detail. Two of the original benches have been retained, the others were full of asbestos and could not be repaired.
There is now a new second floor to the building, added below the original 2nd floor which was used as offices. The new second floor has 9’ ceilings, where the original has 12’-14’ ceilings. The addition is so smooth that you would not know that there was not an original 2nd floor (making the original 2nd floor the 3rd floor).
Todd showed us several rooms – on the new 2nd floor we visited a “Pullman” room – decorated in 1930s Art Deco and resembling a train Pullman room. These are the smallest rooms in the hotel and run $349/night and $279/night in the off season. These rooms have a large bathroom/shower. There is also a small sitting area at the end of the bed with a divider housing the TV which swivels so you can watch either in bed or in the sitting area.
Next we visited a Classic style room on the 3rd floor (this was originally office space). These rooms have 12’-14’ ceilings and run about $469/night for the Superior designation, and an additional $60/night for an upgrade to Deluxe ($529/night) and a third designation of Premium are an additional $60/night above that ($589/night).
The last style room we visited was a Loft room – we visited what would be a junior suite – the entry to the suite is three steps up and then its three steps down to the bedroom area. These suites run $650/night.
The hotel does give tours of the facility ($20/person) and have many takers.
We then returned to the lobby and Larry Ralston reminded us that when we have coaches with passengers that we should call ahead for baggage handling. It will cost a lot less and take a lot less time if the “group” baggage handling option is used rather than each person checking in individually. The coaches will discharge passengers in front of Union Station and the luggage will go to the back to be loaded on the train.
There is a loading zone in front of Union Station at the 18th Street end – however, I have not been able to use this because of the presence of workmen’s trucks during the day – obviously the city has not been enforcing the ordinance. There are many parking meters on both sides of the street and also valet parking is also available.
Again, thanks to Larry Ralston and Todd Iseri for a very interesting and informative evening.
--- Nancy Brueggeman
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