Residents Near Proposed Broncos Stadium Largely in Favor, but Worries Loom About Property Values, Traffic

Many residents in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood welcome the proposed Denver Broncos Stadium in Burnham Yard, but worries persist about increased home values, traffic and parking on game days, crime and litter, according to attendees at an open house on Wednesday, November 19.

Organized by the City of Denver to gather input and further detail the envisioned development, the event attracted more than 300 people, and many of them had the same concerns on their minds.

“It’s going to be too crowded. It’s going to be too busy,” Elva Chavez, a La Alma Lincoln Park resident of forty years, said about her neighborhood if the Broncos move in. “I’m a Broncos fan, but look at where it’s at. The parking, can you imagine? And if they lose? Oh, I can only imagine. They’ll be throwing cans.”

In September, Broncos ownership announced that it had set its sights on moving into Burnham Yard, a 155-year-old former train depot in the middle of west-central Denver. Mayor Mike Johnston and Governor Jared Polis are committed to clearing the way for the Broncos to settle into their preferred home, but the open house on Wednesday night was the first time residents from the neighborhood had the chance to tell Johnston and the public what they think.

Burnham Yard’s redevelopment would include building affordable homes and retail space around the new stadium. The team’s lease on the current Mile High Stadium expires in 2030, and ownership sees a new build as a chance to add a dome, which would qualify Denver as a Super Bowl host and for other events year-round. The development is also supposed to bring in shopping and hospitality immediately around the new stadium, rather than parking lots, which currently surround Mile High Stadium.

Broncos majority ownership, the Walton-Penner group, promised the new stadium would be privately funded, too, saving local taxpayer dollars amid a budget crisis. At the earliest, it would open by the 2031 NFL season.

La Alma Lincoln Park is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Denver, best known as a homestead in 1869 that later became an enduring home to Denver’s Chicano legacy. In 2019, History Denver reported that the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes camped there even earlier.

Home to the Buckhorn Exchange, Su Teatro and the Santa Fe Arts District, the neighborhood is still layered with that diverse history, but it has also dealt with gentrification over the past few decades and an uptick in homelessness in recent years. Although the eastern half of La Alma Lincoln Park is residential, the industrial western half is filled with warehouses and train tracks; that is where large swaths of property have been acquired in anticipation of the Broncos’ move.

Chavez said that the biggest Broncos fans in Denver, including herself and her children, live in La Alma Lincoln Park, but the news about Burnham Yard coming was “scary,” and she doesn’t want the stadium in her neighborhood.

“No, I don’t. There’s other places,” Chavez said. “Go somewhere where it’s open and where cars are going to. It’s not going to work. It’s going to be terrible.”

Joe Phillipps has been living in La Alma Lincoln Park since 1985 and owns three rental homes in the neighborhood. He said he’s “not sure” what a new NFL stadium would mean for the future of his properties. He would “certainly be concerned about all the congestion that comes in if there is a game,” also. According to Phillips, he and many others rely on Interstate 25, Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue to come into the neighborhood, and those are already congested most days.

Phillips also worries about increased crime.

“Even now, I’m kind of concerned about walking the streets, especially at night,” he said.

Despite his concerns, Phillipps would bring the stadium to his neighborhood. The Broncos were reportedly considering a move to Lone Tree and other surrounding cities, but he’d rather it stay in Denver, even if that means in La Alma Lincoln Park.

“Change is just inevitable. It’s not easy for me, and it doesn’t seem easy for a lot of people. But you’ve got to change. Things are moving forward,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to see the venue go somewhere else. I think they have a good momentum with their team and the whole financial thing.”

Mayor Johnston attended the open house and spoke one-on-one with a few residents. He said the most common questions he heard were, “What will the parking look like? What will road access look like? How long will construction take?”

“What I like about this process is we’re not in a hurry,” Johnston said. “We have a full year to be able to do this area plan, to do a community benefits agreement, to do a zoning plan, before you’re even talking about a permit or shovels in the ground or the rest. I think what people like is this isn’t going to be rushed.”

At the same time, the mayor said he heard “a lot of excitement,” with other questions including “Will there be bars? Will there be restaurants? Will there be housing?”

“Some people are wondering, ‘If I’m currently in a house or apartment, will I be moved?’ A lot is the basic kind of questions you get when a stadium is coming to your neighborhood, but mostly a lot of excitement,” Johnston added.

David Gaspers, the principal city planner for the Burnham Yard redevelopment, said the most popular topics of the night were increased parking, driving and bicycle and pedestrian traffic in the neighborhood, but residents seemed open to making it work.

“Generally, really positive comments, but all the details are what people are curious about. How are you accessing the site? How is that going to impact my neighborhood, from traffic, from parking, from bike infrastructure?” Gaspers said. “A lot of questions about how the community can play a part in figuring out how a new stadium would fit into their neighborhood.”

According to Gasper, he still has lingering questions about the industrial western side of Burnham Yard.

“I haven’t heard a lot yet from the folks from the industrial area to the west. I think that’s a big question that we have,” Gaspers said. “Does that stay industrial? Does that convert to something else? How do we preserve some of those industrial jobs?”

Johnston said that he expects “there will still be manufacturing” on that half. “That’s a part of the history of the site,” he said.

Evan Ackerfeld works just west of where the stadium would be. His company, Artist Proof Collective, makes clothes, including pants for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). He showed up to the open house to suggest Denver double down and make a deep investment by creating a “Denver Garment District,” he said.

“It’s a made-in-America apparel hub, where they’re cutting garments, where nonprofits are training skills, where they work on government contracts and where they ideally work on the items that are sold on the stadium,” Ackerfeld said. “I’m not just talking about made in America. I’m talking about made in Denver.”

He wasn’t the only one inspired with ideas to improve La Alma Lincoln Park with the new development. Jesus Rodriguez has been living there since 2014 and considers himself a “Broncos fan all the time, even through the hard times.” He was surprised to learn the team would come to his doorstep.

“It was a shock, for sure, and it was a bigger shock knowing it would be one block from where I live,” he said. Rodriguez attended the open house to suggest the city use a portion of parking revenue for a community fund to help La Alma Lincoln Park through the redevelopment.

“Something residual that could really support the organizations that are in the community, nonprofits, job development,” he said. “People talk about their taxes going up, their mortgages. Maybe that fund helps them pay for those taxes, too.”

There’s still plenty of time until proposed construction kicks off, but based on last night, residents are ready to help draft the game plan.