"Historically, this area has been underserved, with limited access to recreational facilities and green spaces," says District 3 Councilwoman Jamie Torres. "Both projects are essential for the health and safety of the Westwood neighborhood. They embody the power of community engagement and the importance of providing equitable access to resources that promote well-being."
About 80 percent of the 17,000 residents in the southwest Denver neighborhood are Latino, and more than half speak Spanish at home, according to the City of Denver. Around the city, Westwood is best known for the Mexican and Chicano culture displayed along Morrison Road, the neighborhood's main street, on Cinco de Mayo and Day of the Dead, as well as a delicious cluster of Vietnamese restaurants near Federal Boulevard, which is its eastern boundary.
In a few years, Westwood could be known as a great place to work out, too.
Via Verde Trail
Set to open this fall, the three-mile Via Verde will meander past Westwood homes, schools and parks. Based on its route, it should live up to its name, which translates to "green way" in Spanish, as it passes by every single park in the neighborhood, including Westwood, Garfield Lake and Cuatro Vientos parks, plus the Weir Gulch.The mostly flat trail also goes by community gardens, and the city is planting more trees and native and turf grasses along the trail, says Kevin Smith, a project manager with Denver Parks & Recreation. According to Smith, Via Verde will be made up of a mix of concrete segments — between eight- and ten-feet wide — including short, existing trails that will be connected, and bike lanes that run alongside residential roads and a few busy streets like South Knox Court and West Nevada Place. The trail won't be unbroken, though, as the city is putting in new lights and signals to connect parts of it at street crossings, Smith says.
The trail passes right in front of Kepner Beacon Middle, Munroe Elementary and Knapp Elementary schools, and it's a block from Castro Elementary School and Pascual LeDoux Academy, which is a preschool, Smith notes.
"It'll provide a wider trail to coexist with other users. It will provide for safer crossings at the street crossings," he says. "A big component of this is safe routes to school and providing a safer route for kids walking to school."
The Via Verde trail will have new trees and grasses planted alongside it when it opens in the fall.
Courtesy of Denver Street Partnership
$56 Million Rec Center
The rec center will be 40,000 square feet, with a gym, four-lane lap pool, lazy river and water slide that winds in and out of the building, according to Jeannie Mabey, a project manager from Dunakilly Management Group, a Littleton-based consultancy hired by the city. The facility will also have community rooms for pottery, yoga and other events, she says.Outside will be a turf field that can be used for soccer or football, a basketball court and a promenade, the city's plans show. The design for the rec center has large windows on the walls of the lobby, pool room, gym and community rooms to give a view and bring in sunlight. Some of the gym equipment will look out over Morrison Road and the proposed West Walsh section of the Via Verde trail.
"They were really trying to afford views for the users," Mabey says of the rec center's planners. "The room between the lobby and the pool room is mostly glass, so they're really trying to make it feel very light and bright and connected to the outdoors."
The windows are also meant to make the facility environmentally sustainable and less reliant on electricity for heat and light. The rec center will be powered with electricity, no gas, and be heated by geothermal wells, which bring heat from the ground. It also has a small inclined green belt in front that is meant to serve as a stormwater drain.
Westwood residents "advocated heavily" for the trail and rec center during community meetings that led up to a 2016 neighborhood plan, and again when the city was considering projects to fund with the Elevate Denver Bond approved by voters in 2017, according to Torres. The city gathered more input from Westwood in 2021 and 2022 to design the rec center.
"It's really pretty much been a community-led effort," Mabey says. "There were things that the design team and architect would have put in there, but the community said, 'What we really need is this.' There was a lot of reacting and engaging with the community."
The Elevate Denver bond, which set out to raise $937 million over ten years, covered about $47 million of the rec center's $56 million price tag. The remaining $9 million came from the city budget and contributions from city partners, according to project details from DPR.
Via Verde cost $3 million, according to DPR, with more than $950,000 coming from the department's budget for capital improvements. The Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit that creates parks and green spaces, also contributed to the project, according to the department. The design for the trail was "very community led," too, Smith says.
"It's good for all, come over and experience a new neighborhood, new trail," Smith says. "It's a good element that will add to the experience of others who may not live in the neighborhood."
