By Bernadette Berdychowski | Denver Gazette
City leaders have stressed downtown Denver has several things going in its favor — reopening of 16th Street Mall, new businesses moving in, stronger police presence and $570 million of investment money.
Despite efforts to make a comeback, optimism fell among the public last year.
Perceptions of downtown grew more unfavorable in 2024, according to a preview of a Gensler report shown at the State of Downtown Denver breakfast event by the Downtown Denver Partnership held on Thursday.
Gensler surveyed 500 people in Denver — from local visitors to residents and office workers — between September and October to gauge how downtowns across the country are performing.
The full report hasn’t been released and is scheduled to come out next month, but a firm’s representative presented some of the findings at the event full of city leaders and downtown stakeholders at the Sheraton Hotel next to the Denver Pavilions.
The results show the city may have more work to do in repairing perceptions of downtown, ahead of several revitalization initiatives set to fully kick off this year.
About 55% of respondents said they agree downtown Denver offers a great experience, down from 73% in 2023. For the rest, 34% said they feel neutral and 11% said they disagree.
Jon Gambrill, a co-managing director at Gensler, said at the event that he is surprised by the falling favorability from previous years.
“This is an 18 (percentage-point) decrease,” Gambrill said.