Denver should think socially as it creates a new future for the Denver Pavilions, a 10-person advisory panel from the Urban Land Institute told city leaders on Friday.
The panel was made up of real estate professionals representing cities ranging from Los Angeles to Cincinnati and Fort Lauderdale, as well as architects, urban planners and real estate developers. The recommendations follow a five-day study of the Pavilions, which started April 12, to uncover and address key challenges of the two blocks of 16th Street that the shopping center occupies.
Overall, the panel determined that the Pavilions is obsolete, and one panelist recommended razing part of the property and turning it into a “central social district” anchored by a new park, public art installations, and residential buildings. Central social districts are multi-use hubs that combine offices, housing, and cultural centers, such as museums and concert venues, to create downtown neighborhoods that are vibrant after working hours. Some examples include New York’s Hudson Yards and Philadelphia’s Center City District.
Panelists also recommended keeping the Regal UA theatre, which currently adjoins the Pavilions, and creating a “kaleidoscope” of uses to activate the rest of the property.
Similar Urban Land Institute panels were convened in 2008 for the 16th Street upgrade and again in 2022 for the Speer Boulevard renovation.
“The Pavilions has had its time in the sun,” said Kristen Morris, president of Morris & Fellows, an Atlanta-based development firm and one of the volunteer Urban Land Institute panelists. “Now, it’s time to close that chapter and start a new one.”
The Denver Pavilions was once the backbone of Upper Downtown’s “retailtainment” economy. The three-level, open-air shopping center includes a movie theater, a bowling alley, 1,000 total parking spaces, and is connected to the 16th Street shuttle and RTD. The complex is bordered by Welton Street to the north, 16th Street to the east, Tremont Place to the south, and 15th Street to the west.
But the center has since fallen on hard times. The rise of e-commerce, as well as the dramatic impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the downtown office market, eroded the Pavilions’ business base. In 2025, vacancy rates in Upper Downtown reached 40%, prompting the Downtown Denver Development Authority, or DDDA, to spend $45 million to acquire and renovate the Pavilions in September 2025. It spent $37 million to acquire the property, which was once valued at over $100 million, with the other $8 million earmarked for renovations.
The DDDA’s short-term priorities for the renovation include an effort to add more surface parking for visitors and surrounding businesses, according to a press release announcing the acquisition. In the long term, the DDDA wants to incorporate retail storefronts, new public spaces, and a new mix of entertainment and cultural offerings, such as an art installation on the blank 5-story façade facing 15th Street, the release added.
Repositioning, not a rescue
It could be years before the plan for the Pavilions is fully baked, and Denver’s plans may clash with the Urban Land Institute’s recommendations. The panel is an independent body, and Denver is under no obligation to follow the recommendations.
The ULI panel presented several ideas, ranging from building a convention hotel on the existing parking lot to adding new public amenities and increasing the number of housing units. The theater could also become a civic or cultural incubation space, the panel said.
One factor working in the Pavilions’ favor is its location, panelists said. The property is located about a mile from Denver Union Station, which anchors Lower Downtown, and a few blocks from Civic Center. James Lima, president of the New York-based James Lima Planning + Development firm, said that creates a “compelling” opportunity for the Pavilions to facilitate connections between the two locations.
“This isn’t a rescue — it’s a repositioning,” Lima said.
The timing of the recommendations brings to mind an old saying attributed to Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme.”
When the Pavilions opened in 1998, it was a symbol of Denver emerging from the malaise of the 1980s recession. Upper Downtown appears to be in a similar situation today as it continues to shake off the pandemic-era rust.
“It’s odd that the same key piece of property is sort of at the center of the strategy in a way,” said Bill Mosher, Denver’s chief project officer, who led the Downtown Denver Partnership at the time the Pavilions was built. “I was around in the 1990s when we did this, so to be in the same position three decades later is kind of crazy.”
For example, the 16th Street area saw a 14% increase in total visits between 2024 and 2025, reaching 2.5 million, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership’s 2025 State of Downtown report. That’s despite total foot traffic downtown being about 9.8% below its pre-pandemic peak, the report added.
Retail and restaurant businesses are also leading downtown’s economic recovery, making up roughly 81% of all new businesses that opened downtown in 2025. Denver collected about $82 million in sales taxes from retail and restaurant sales in 2025, representing a nearly 6% increase over 2024, according to DDP’s data.
The renovation is also being planned as the new “neighborhood” feel of Upper Downtown begins to take shape, which experts at the Urban Land Institute said could complement the Pavilions’ upgrade. The downtown development authority has approved a $15 million loan to convert the historic University Building at the south corner of 16th and Champa streets into a mixed-use property with 120 units of affordable housing and a $17 million loan to convert the Symes Building into a residential complex, both of which are less than three blocks from the Pavilions.
DDDA has also approved a $63 million loan to convert the nearly 1 million-square-foot High Fidelity Plaza into a residential building with a bookstore, coffee shop, and child care center.
Another $4.28 million loan was awarded to Green Spaces Market, which combines coworking and retail space, to expand available retail space across 16th Street from the Pavilions. A local artisan ice cream shop, Sundae, also received a $750,000 loan from the DDDA to expand its downtown footprint.
“We can’t do this overnight,” Mosher said. “We need more employment; we need more housing; we need Upper Downtown to come along. So the Pavilions is going to be a reflection of that, and can be a leader in that, but we may have to reimagine it.”