This article was updated March 13, 2025, at 1 p.m.
The city of Denver’s plan to take ownership of the Park Hill Golf Course and turn it into a public park has hit some delays.
The current owner of the course, Westside Investment Partners, is supposed to give it to the city in exchange for another property. But the Denver City Council’s consideration of the deal was postponed in mid-February and hasn’t been rescheduled.
“With a deal of this complexity, there's always details to manage and items to sort out,” Mayor Mike Johnston told Denverite on Tuesday.
Westside is expected to get a parcel of land by Denver International Airport in exchange for the golf course. But the city and the developer are dealing with “final details on the conditions of the land out by the airport,” Johnston said.
The 155-acre golf course has been the subject of a years-long debate: Should it be developed? Voters said no. Should it become a golf course again? For a while, the developer said that was inevitable. Should it be a public park? Ultimately, all the parties agreed on that idea.
Johnston announced the exchange of land and the city’s intention to create a park on the former golf course in mid-January. The park was planned to open for limited use this summer, and a community-wide planning effort would determine its ultimate design. City officials say they’re still on track for a summer opening.
The deal would allow the city to create the fourth-largest park in town, a big win and legacy project for a mayor under intense scrutiny both at home and from Washington.
The mayor is ‘entirely optimistic’
The land swap was supposed to go before a City Council committee on Feb. 11, but it was pushed back. It has yet to be rescheduled.
A City Council spokesperson initially said a council committee would meet March 18 to consider a rezoning of the golf course land from public open space to private open space. But a city planning spokesperson later said that's not happening.
Johnston did not specify what kinds of details had to be worked out.
Westside Investment Partners, the company that owns the golf course, has not responded to Denverite’s requests for comment.
All the parties agreed on the land swap concept, Johnston said. The mayor is “entirely optimistic and confident” the swap will go through quickly.
“We can’t wait to start dreaming about what we can do.”
Open-space advocates are hopeful, too.
Woody Garnsey, a longtime champion of turning the former golf course into a park, believes the deal will soon be finalized.
He’s seen workers out on the land, watering the trees and assessing their health, and he’s optimistic the first iteration of the park will open by summer as planned.
“It's really quite exciting,” he said. “It seems to be heading in the right direction on this issue.”
Editor's note: This article was updated . City officials now say that a rezoning hearing is not scheduled. A city official had earlier said it was scheduled for March 18.
