There may be more spots to legally drink on the 16th Street Mall as it reopens this summer, according to Mayor Mike Johnston.
“There'll be new open consumption locations where you could sit and walk outside and sit on the patio and have a beer, or sit in the park and have a beer or a drink,” Johnston said in an interview with Colorado Public Radio's Ryan Warner this week.
Mayoral spokesperson Jon Ewing later said that the details aren’t “fully ironed out yet,” but should arrive within a few weeks.
The idea of drinking in public is not new to Denver. The city already allows full-strength beer and wine in parks. The city's laws also allow for "common consumption" areas where patrons from different alcohol serving businesses can mingle and drink.
Johnston said the reopening of the 16th Street Mall later this month would bring new art and performances, but also “a whole set of fantastic new retailers that we've brought back to downtown."
“It will feel like the best of Denver,” he said. “You'll see a lot of your favorite neighborhood restaurants or bars or retail shops that will also be in downtown. And you'll find some brands you haven't seen before.” Johnston shouted out eateries Leven Deli and Olive & Finch for their downtown expansions.
The reopened mall will include new areas where open consumption of alcohol is allowed.
One thing he wasn’t ready to talk about: the street’s new name. The city has been considering a renaming, with the most discussed option being to drop the word “mall” and leave it simply “16th Street.”
“We've done a lot of thinking about how to describe the new vision for the future of it, and we're going to do a big unveiling on Tuesday,” he said.
