Central Park, Denver


Central Park, formerly known as Stapleton, is a neighborhood within the city limits of Denver, Colorado. Located northeast of downtown Denver, the development is on the site of the decommissioned Stapleton International Airport, which closed in 1995. It is the largest residential neighborhood within the city of Denver. Central Park contains twelve specifically named sub-neighborhoods, 11 public/private schools, 50 parks, 7 pools, several shopping and business districts, a city of Denver recreation center, and a Denver library. The latest population as of 2020 is estimated at 25,000.
Since April 2016, Central Park has been connected to the Denver metro area by RTD's A line, a recently opened commuter rail service that runs from the downtown Denver transit hub to Denver International Airport.
The northern portion of Central Park borders the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Preserve.
The neighborhood consists of varying architectural styles. The vast majority of single-family homes have alley-loaded garages. The types of housing also varies.
The 80238 zip code, which encompasses almost all of Central Park and is entirely within the neighborhood, is known as one of the wealthiest or highest average household income zip codes in the Denver metro area.

History

While Denver International Airport was being constructed, planners considered how Central Park would be redeveloped. A private group of Denver civic leaders, the Stapleton Development Foundation, convened in 1990 and produced a master plan for the site in 1995, emphasizing a pedestrian-oriented design rather than the automobile-oriented designs found in many other planned developments. Nearly a third of the airport site was planned to be redeveloped as public park space.
The community was visioned to be home to approximately 30,000 residents with around 12,000 homes, with more than 10 schools, an 80 acre Denver park named "Central Park", a commuter-rail station, of planned office space, of retail space, and for parks and open space. Central Park's of open space also borders the restored Sand Creek Regional Greenway and Bluff Lake Nature Center, one of the nation's largest urban wildlife refuges.
The former airport site 10 minutes from Downtown Denver is now being redeveloped by Forest City Enterprises/Brookfield as a new urbanist project. Construction began in 2001, The new community is zoned for residential and commercial development, including office parks, mixed-use development, and "big box" shopping centers. Central Park is by far the largest neighborhood in the city of Denver and a small southeastern portion of the redevelopment site lies in the neighboring city of Aurora.
In 2004, residents moved into Central Park's first apartments, increasing its population to 2,500 residents. In 2006, Central Park's population grew above 5,000 and the Denver School of Science and Technology opened along with The Shops at Northfield.
In 2007, the Central Park opened along with three new office buildings. Additionally, Central Park's population surpassed 7,500 people.
As of 2008, 3,200 single-family houses, row houses, condominiums and other for-sale housing, as well as 400 apartments, had been built.
Three years later, more than 14,000 people lived in the neighborhood, and the trail network reached. In 2011, Central Park received national recognition as the site of the 2011 HGTV Green Home. Additionally, a new interstate interchange opened, connecting Central Park Boulevard to I-70, I-270 and neighborhoods south of the interstate. The University of Colorado A-Line directly connecting Denver Union Station downtown to Denver International Airport started operating in 2016 and has one stop in Central Park: the Central Park station. Adjacent to the station, construction began in 2019 of the Central Park Station Transit-Oriented Development spanning five blocks; which will include apartments, offices, a hotel and retail.
As of 2020, Central Park has a population of around 25,000. The "North End" section of the development still has significant residential development occurring. There are still a few vacant larger parcels throughout older parts of the neighborhood ready for specifically planned developments of mixed-use, transit-oriented, high-density residential, or commercial development.

Transportation

Central Park is served by the Central Park commuter rail and bus station, with direct connections to Union Station in downtown and the Denver International Airport via the A Line. The A Line travels up to 79 miles per hour, but rarely gets to that speed. Central Park also offers direct access to the east and west I-70 corridor and the 270 interchange. Served by Denver metro's RTD, Central Park has bus lines that intersect east/west and north/south. Dedicated bike lanes and bike paths are also prevalent.

Name

The original airport was named for Benjamin Franklin Stapleton, a high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan who was the Mayor of Denver for five nonconsecutive terms: from 1923 to 1931 and from 1935 to 1947. He was also the Democratic Colorado State Auditor from 1933 to 1935. Beginning in 1925 Stapleton began distancing himself from the Klan, undermining their power in the police force and welcoming the NAACP convention that June. The neighborhood continued to bear his name despite his complex history and some political pressure to rename it due to Benjamin Stapleton's adherence to white supremacy and membership in the Ku Klux Klan for a time in his life.
On June 14, 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the Stapleton Master Community Association announced that they would vote in favor of changing the name because of the association of its namesake, Benjamin Franklin Stapleton, with the Ku Klux Klan. The vote, held on, was unanimously for the change. Neighborhood specific signs containing "Stapleton" on them were removed in June 2020. On, the neighborhood was renamed "Central Park", with 63% of the voters having selected the new name.