How do you fix crime in downtown Denver? City leaders want to try pickleball, at least for one underutilized corner of the city.
For a year and a half, a coalition of city brass — including the Mayor’s Office, the Downtown Denver Partnership, City Councilmember Chris Hinds, and the Civic Center Conservancy — has been exploring ways to bring some fun to the empty plot of land at the corner of Lincoln Street and Colfax Avenue.
The parcel of land is owned by the Cheesman Family Trust. The Regional Transportation District leased the land and built part of its remodeled Civic Center Station on the site. Denverite named it The Wu-Tang Commemorative Gravel Pit back in 2019, because it’s a pit filled with gravel.
Bringing life to the surrounding area is a big priority for the city — and now the city is talking about pickleball courts as a solution for the gravel pit.
Denver leaders got together for a brainstorming session a year and a half ago to talk about the future of the site.
During the pandemic, neighbors complained about crime in the area. Residents flooded Denver police with emergency calls. And for more than a decade, encampments have come and gone nearby.
In response, city leaders considered bringing a food-truck court, an urban garden, basketball, tennis, a cycle track and a skatepark. And then there was pickleball, which is like a big version of badminton or a little version of tennis.
“Pickleball rose to the top,” said Evan Dreyer, Mayor Mike Johnston’s deputy chief of staff.
Dreyer has taken the lead on activating the space. While he says the pickleball courts are far from guaranteed, the engineering firm Stantec has filed concept plans with the city planning department to explore whether pickleball is a possibility.
The plans, first reported by Build Up Denver, propose six pickleball courts with a seating area, shade canopy and a moveable shipping container kiosk for a pickleball attendant and storage. Landscape improvements to the current stormwater detention plan are also included.
Dryer says the courts would be built to last for three to five years. The effort is part of broader changes in the area, including plans for renovations at Civic Center Park and the Greek Amphitheater.
But pickleball — and other proposals — have some issues.
Leaders have looked for ways to develop the area for years. Back in 2015, the city considered public art, buildings and even a climbing wall.
But there are big reasons why bringing housing or other projects hasn’t happened. The city won’t allow a curb cut on Colfax or Lincoln to make way for parking or delivery.
Those same issues could affect the pickleball project. RTD has concerns about whether pickleball players will park in bus lanes, Chessy Brady, the transit-oriented development manager at RTD told Denverite.
Will security be sufficient? What about drainage? Will courts somehow disrupt bus services? Could the courts somehow interfere with view planes that protect vantage points from the 16th Street Mall and the State Capitol?
RTD has close to 50 years on its lease and no near-term plans for building anything itself.
“I think everybody wants it to be better, but no one's been able to figure out a good solution,” Brady said.
Could pickleball be it?
For now, the project does not have a budget.
Dreyer says there’s not an agency picked to lead the charge. The Downtown Denver Partnership and Denver Parks and Recreation are both at the table, but neither has committed to running the courts. The group of leaders hasn’t decided whether the courts would be private or public.
Before those details are hammered out, Denver’s planning department would need to approve the plan.
