Downtown's new neighborhood: Arapahoe Square.

• Author: Huggins, Tracy
• Position: GUEST column

COLORADO RESIDENTS CAN AGREE THAT downtown Denver has significantly transformed over the past 20 years. Once an area that lacked attractive retail space, affordable housing and compelling destinations that attract visitors, downtown Denver today is a thriving urban environment where businesses grow and people live.

This transformation can be attributed to a number of factors, but perhaps the greatest of all was the careful planning and execution of the 1986 Downtown Area Plan and the 1993 Downtown Denver Urban Renewal Plan, also known as the "1993 Plan." The city of Denver, the Downtown Denver Partner-ship (DDP), the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) and others worked in concert to identify opportunities to revitalize and enhance downtown Denver through these plans, and the resulting redevelopment has changed the face of downtown. The Denver Pavilions, Denver Dry Building and Mercantile Square are just a few of the tremendous projects that stemmed from this effort.

Simultaneously, neighborhoods directly adjacent to downtown Denver also have transformed. To the southeast. Uptown is now a haven for boutique retail and mixed-used development along the 17th Street corridor. To the northwest, the Highlands have blossomed by overcoming the restrictive barrier of 1-25 and connecting to downtown Denver through commuter bridges and pedestrian walkways. And directly north, the Ballpark neighborhood has effectively leveraged Coors Field to spur economic growth and create new housing options for downtown workers.

One adjacent neighborhood, however, has not seen similar type growth. Arapahoe Square, the neighborhood directly northeast of downtown Denver, is currently home to a throng of surface parking lots and blighted building structures. For context, Arapahoe Square is a 96-acre section of Denver bound generally by 19th and 24th avenues and Lawrence and California streets. Walk a few blocks in Arapahoe Square, and you will see that this neighborhood has been neglected for too long.

I predict this will change in the coming years.

With Denver City Council's adoption of the 2007 Downtown Area Plan, the Northeast Downtown Neighborhoods Plan, as well as the recent approval of the Arapahoe Square Urban Redevelopment Plan, Arapahoe Square should finally experience the revitalization that other downtown Denver neighborhoods have in recent years.

Transformation will not come without its challenges. In a...