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McGregor Square: A sneak peek into downtown Denver’s future ‘entertainment hub’

By Hannah Metzger hannah.metzger@gazette.com December 16, 2020 | updated 5 years ago

McGregor Square

Crews work on the 655,000-square-foot McGregor Square next to Coors Field in Denver Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. The project, which will be completed in early 2021, will feature residential space, a 176-room hotel, restaurants and retail space. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

Christian Murdock/The Gazette

After four years of planning and construction, the newest addition to downtown Denver is coming in 2021. McGregor Square, across the street from Coors Field in Lower Downtown, aims to become the place to be in Denver.

The $365-million project includes three towers that will house condos, a hotel, office space and numerous shops and restaurants.

The tower complexes form a square, at the center of which is a 28,000-square-foot plaza, open to the public every day with access to retail, grass areas and a giant screen that will play live Rockies games.

“(McGregor Square) will be the main entertainment hub of downtown, further elevating Denver as one of the best cities in the country,” said Jonathan Rogers, Denver branch president of the Bank of Colorado, one of McGregor Square’s funders and future tenants.

McGregor Square Renderings

“The project has a lot of uniqueness to it,” Rogers said. “We wanted to be part of it.”

In addition to the Bank of Colorado, future tenants include the Tattered Cover, Starbucks, Rock Fitness and Red Canary computer security, with more to be announced in January. Of the square’s 103 luxury condos, 60% are already sold.

Kwame Spearman, CEO of Tattered Cover, said he expects McGregor Square to transform LoDo in the same way Coors Field did when it opened 25 years ago.

“We want to be one piece of the puzzle that continues to bring the best out of Lower Downtown,” Spearman said, adding that the new Tattered Cover location is going to host several events for local authors, artists and musicians.

“It’s that mix and that diversity that’s going to make McGregor Square a really special place.”

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The McGregor Square project was named after Keli McGregor, former president of the Colorado Rockies, who died in 2010 at the age of 47. Project General Manager Patrick Walsh said the square was originally McGregor’s idea.

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Before construction began, the city block that McGregor Square now occupies was a parking lot.

“Keli McGregor was a driving force behind the idea of using this once empty lot and making it something special,” Walsh said. He said McGregor envisioned the plan for condos, retail and offices in the space years before he passed away.

In addition to honoring McGregor with the project name, organizers decided to house the Rockies Hall of Fame within the square’s hotel. Revenue from the project will also go towards covering improvement costs for Coors Field, as part of the Rockies’ 30-year lease agreement.

McGregor Square

Funding the ballpark’s maintenance was the initial goal of the project before the vision of McGregor Square existed, said project architect John Yonushewski.

Yonushewski said the development team launched outreach initiatives to try and determine what needs the revenue project could fulfill for the surrounding neighborhood.

“By far the greatest need was for more community plaza space for neighbors,” Yonushewski said. “So, the goal of the design team was to create an authentic place where visitors and neighbors could gather and socialize but would also activate this part of Denver.”

“The solution was not about the buildings themselves, but what was defined by the space between the buildings.”

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McGregor Square also serves as a bridge to connect Coors Field with the rest of LoDo, Yonushewski said, both architecturally and socially by bringing year-round entertainment to the area.

Walsh said residents will move into the square’s condos in February. The 176-room hotel and most of the retail space is scheduled to open in March or April. Tenants of the six floors of office space will move in beginning in June.

“I think once we get through these very tough times … people will really be wanting to experience our incredible city,” Walsh said. “Our project will be perfect for that.”

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Hannah Metzger hannah.metzger@gazette.com

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