Denver Historic Union Station

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

You were never in it? How can you say any of this if you don't know what the inside looked like before?

In any case, here are some before pictures: Denver Union Station: A Final Look Inside Before The Restoration « DenverInfill Blog

The remodel kept a lot of the original feel but dramatically improved it.

No, it didn't. There is zero original feel left in it, and whether it has actually been improved or not, remains to be seen. As many people have said, it doesn't feel like a train station anymore. Thats not a good sign.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

I can't answer the question exactly because I never was in Denver's Union Station.

But if part of the idea was to "save Union Station", you didn't. You saved a brick and mortar shell. Once you walk in the door, there is nothing evident that it was Union Station. So what was the point? Tear the damn thing down and build a modern building that contains more restaurants and bars that are no different than all the other restaurants and bars along 16th Street.

Here's my prediction -- it will languish for a while and ultimately fail because there is nothing unique about what's in there now. And soon the homeless will arrive...particularly when it gets a little colder and the park is not quite as comfortable.

Honest to god, next thing you know someone will come up with the bright idea to tear down Boettcher Concert Hall to build an outdoor amphitheater in a city with a season for outdoor venues that last 5 months out of 12...at best.

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

First you say you never were in Union Station so how do you know what would evoke the spirit of Union Station?
Second, Union Station still IS Union Station. It still looks like the original Union Station from the outside, very much so on the inside and, most importantly, it still serves the original purpose that Union Station served.

What an odd post.

[hammertime33]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

No, it didn't. There is zero original feel left in it, and whether it has actually been improved or not, remains to be seen. As many people have said, it doesn't feel like a train station anymore. Thats not a good sign.

And when did you visit the newly remodeled Denver Union Station?

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

That is a choice. If RTD would do their job and get the Northwest line up and running, there would be more trains serving Union Station, then at anytime in history. If Colorado would get commuter trains running up and down the Front Range, like Utah, and New Mexico have done, Denver would be a train-centric town.

But thats not going to happen, because you don't even have a train station anymore. You have a hotel and bar, and all the rail road tracks that could have made it happen have been cutoff by the construction of the hotel and bar.

Please do tell us how New Mexico's commuter rail compares to RTD. Let's hear about miles covered, number of passengers per day/month/year. Access to the airport, major attractions, etc.

Please.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

No, it didn't. There is zero original feel left in it, and whether it has actually been improved or not, remains to be seen. As many people have said, it doesn't feel like a train station anymore. Thats not a good sign.

There's all of 2-3 people who have said it. None of whom have been to the station. It's akin to the 10 million men (and some women) who say that Kate Upton is a good lay: both opinions are based on a complete lack of tangible experience and are poorly formed opinions at best.

The station now has people in it; versus being a 95% decaying, empty monolith; I'd say that it feels more like a train station now then it has in the last 30 years. It will feel even more like a train station in the next five years as trains actually return to the station to the tune of 14 trains every hour- over 200 trains per day with tens of thousand of people riding them. There will be a difference due to these being commuter trains versus long-distance trains, but you'll still have thousands more people going in and out of the Great Hall which will dictate just how much of the place serves as a living room versus a waiting room. The station might be open, but it's not truly open until the trains arrive (the choo-choo that currently putts around being excluded).

[hammertime33]

I dropped by again yesterday during Amtrak waiting time and grabbed some photos with my cell phone:














Photo of the bar




Photo of the shuffelboards

[Mike from back east]

hammertime, thanks for the pix, they show a MASSIVE improvement and a real asset to downtown.

Originally Posted by Prodigal Native

.... I think KaaBoom needs to move to Tucson and join the "Keep Tucson Sh*tty" movement. That's our name for the folks that want to improve nothing and keep things "the way they have always been"....

On that note we'll close this thread, tired of the unending nonsense from the disgruntled.