Thomas Mitchell
Audio By Carbonatix
Denver Parks & Recreation wants to buy a vacant property in the Golden Triangle and turn it into a new public park.
The department filed a proposed resolution to the Denver City Council’s Finance and Business Committee on June 26, seeking $3.2 million to purchase a 0.4-acre lot at 1028 N. Acoma St.
According to the proposal, Parks & Rec would like to appropriate $3,195,280 from the Parks Legacy and Special Revenue Fund — a voter-approved fund created in 2018 that uses a 0.25% sales tax to help the department acquire new land and create parks — to purchase the land, which is currently occupied by an empty credit union and attached parking lot.
If the conversion is successful, the location would appeal to two of Parks and Rec’s six acquisition focus areas: creating a park within a 10-minute walk of all residences, and placing a park directly in a high-density area.
Officially known as the Civic Center neighborhood, the triangle-shaped area of land bordered by Broadway, Colfax Avenue and Speer Boulevard has seen a sharp population increase within the last decade as several large housing developments opened. From 2017 to 2024, the number of residents in the Golden Triangle more than doubled, from 1,962 to around 4,000, city data shows.
According to the Parks & Rec, a new park at the location would serve around 3,800 households within a five-minute walk and 10,106 households within a 10-minute walk in a “high-growth area.”
“The acquisition of this property will allow DPR to develop it into a future park for Civic Center residents and visitors who currently have limited access to park space with only one DPR-managed park (Civic Center Park) serving this neighborhood,” the proposal says.
Civic Center Park is currently in the middle of a remodel until at least next summer, leaving the state-operated Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, located in front of the State Capitol Building, as the neighborhood’s only fully open park. (Capitol Hill, which borders the Golden Triangle, is also sparse, with just Governor’s Park and Quality Hill Park — both of which are on Parks & Rec’s wish list for remodeling.)
If a purchase of 1028 Acoma is approved by City Council, it would be the newest parks acquisition since the city acquired Park Hill Golf Course in a land swap in 2025.
The council’s Finance and Business Committee is scheduled to consider the plan on July 14. If approved, the decision would be passed on to the full council. According to the proposal, Parks & Rec hopes to close on the property by the end of September and begin holding community engagement events regarding the future park in the beginning of 2028.
