The proposal included two 250-square-foot digital billboards on Writer Square's central clocktower and an even larger screen on the corner of 15th and Larimer. It also envisioned illuminated retail signs along the shopping center and LED "light bands" that would stretch around the corners at 16th and Larimer streets and 15th and Lawrence streets in a "Times Square-like fashion."
While several Writer Square merchants welcomed the plan, saying it would draw more business to the shopping center, the residents hated it.
A conceptual drawing of the new Writer Square.
George Writer finished his signature project in 1981.
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"We realized we had an issue here," says Hannes. "The clocktower signs became the real focal point of concern." These signs would be on from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., changing images every six seconds. They would showcase Writer Square retailers and amenities — but strangely, because of the buildings around them, the screens would be largely blocked from view from the 16th Street Mall. The best view of them would be from the windows and patios of Writer Square residences — some of which were just a few dozen feet away.
By July 30, the city had received 38 letters regarding the proposal. Six retailers supported it, while Downtown Denver Partnership president Tamara Door only urged "continued discussions that will help create a vibrant, active public space."
The other 31 missives, including ones from city council members Carla Madison, Judy Montero and Doug Linkhart, opposed the plan. A 51-page letter prepared by the Writer Square Condominium Association's lawyer pointed out that the video screens would each be larger than the Pepsi Center's JumboTron.
"The billboard industry is trying to put up more billboards around town that are bigger and brighter and have moving messages," says Linkhart, who worries that if these signs are approved for Writer Square, they could happen anywhere in the city. "They've already succeeded in Glendale; they have billboards you can see for many miles."
Residents of the Barclay Towers condominiums, just down the street, submitted three pages of signatures from homeowners against the plan, and the president of Larimer Place wrote in a separate letter, "To say that our residents were shocked would be an understatement." One commenter declared, "This is not Las Vegas!" and several Writer Square residents threatened to move if the plan went through.
Joe Vostrejs, general manager of Larimer Associates, which oversees Larimer Square, is especially worried about the video screen that will face their block. "This is Denver's historic block, the birthplace of Denver. We go to a great deal of trouble to maintain it in pristine, historical condition, and when you start putting Times Square-type panels next to these small-scale historic buildings and you have them changing colors on a regular basis, it changes the way you perceive these buildings, and it diminishes the historic context."
Dragul and Fox got the message. "We will not go forward with the signs on the clocktower, period," Fox says now — though he still hopes to move forward on the video screen pointing into Larimer Square and the LED light bands.
Planning staff is expected to weigh in on the proposal soon. Then the planning board will hold a public hearing on September 2 before forwarding a final recommendation to the city's zoning administrator.
One person who concedes it might be time for a change at Writer Square is its creator and namesake. "I do think that you could bring the project into the 21st century and make it really exciting and better than it was before," says Writer. At the same time, he warns, "you can't change its basic bones.... Writer Square, any way you look at it, is a little jewelbox-type project. It is not trying to be the biggest, most important thing on the block. If they're trying to create that type of statement, they're going in the wrong direction."
Fox insists that Writer Square will continue to be a "boutique-y, one-of-a-kind place" — one that will be more user-friendly and attractive than it had been before. "It will be different," he says. "I don't think it would be appropriate to say anything will be lost."
Cafe Colore manager Amy Martin certainly hopes so. That's what she's been telling regulars who've been asking about what happened to the planters, the flower baskets, the benches and statues. But it's difficult to remain optimistic.
"I know there is an end product, but it's hard to see that end product when you're in the middle of the project," she says. "Up until all of this started, it was just so small and traditional-feeling. Now it looks real bare, wide open and stark. It's going from traditional to modern, and it feels like Writer Square should be historic.
"It's not Independence Plaza or the Tabor Center," she adds. "It doesn't need to roll with the times. It's kind of this timeless space that people feel is going to the wolves."
Contact the author at joel.warner@westword.com.
