As Denver Water figures out where to move its operations to make way for a new Broncos Stadium, the public utility’s search has centered in part on a parking lot that serves the team’s current home.
Denver Water submitted a concept plan to the city’s Department of Community Planning and Development in December for a new building on Lot M at Empower Field at Mile High. The development would comprise 5.49 acres, with construction of “one two-story office and storage facility, associated parking, and exterior storage for fleet vehicles and materials,” the proposal reads. Lot M is south of the Colfax Avenue viaduct, next to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s headquarters.
The bulk of Denver Water’s relocation of part of its current campus next to Burnham Yard — where the Broncos plan to build the new stadium in west Denver — will involve larger properties in northeast Denver. The smaller plan for Lot M, though, has drawn some pushback from within city government and from pedestrian advocates.
In the city’s review of Denver Water’s proposal, 21 of 22 departments and agencies marked the plan as “OK to proceed,” according to a copy of the review obtained by The Denver Post. The lone dissent came from Chris Nevitt, the city’s manager for transit-oriented development — who raised concerns about the specific location of Denver Water’s Lot M development.
That’s because, he said, it could overlap directly with longstanding community plans to reconfigure and partially redevelop the nearby cloverleaf interchange at West Colfax and Federal Boulevard.
Approval of Denver Water’s plan to move to Lot M, Nevitt wrote in his review, would “substantially compromise” the ability of the city and the CDOT to reimagine the cloverleaf in a more pedestrian-friendly vision.
Denver Water spokesperson Travis Thompson said in a statement last week that the utility was currently “working on” acquiring Lot M, but that no plans or timeline for developing on the parking lot had been finalized.
The Lot M project would provide a supplemental site to the new operations campus the utility is planning in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. That plan came together after Denver Water agreed to provide the Broncos with 25 acres of land near Burnham Yard on its current campus. Denver Water’s administration building won’t move.
“While we were willing to be flexible and relocate certain operations facilities a bit further out, it was critical to us that we keep certain operations and personnel in the urban core so that we can maintain the highest level of service to our customers and quick response times in emergencies,” Thompson said. “Lot M meets our criteria as a central location with good access.”
Thompson also said the Broncos have agreed to pay for the cost of any Denver Water construction at Lot M, similar to the arrangement in Elyria-Swansea. A source with knowledge of the Broncos’ thinking added that the Broncos expect the city to also contribute funding to any potential Lot M relocation.
Denver Water's headquarters, front, and Burnham Yard, in the background at top left, in Denver on Thursday, June 19, 2025. The rest of the water utility's campus, including operational buildings, is seen behind the headquarters to the upper right. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Denver Water's headquarters, front, and Burnham Yard, in the background at top left, in Denver on Thursday, June 19, 2025. The rest of the water utility's campus, including operational buildings, is seen behind the headquarters to the upper right, and the utility is making plans to relocate many of those departments. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Lot M currently serves as supplemental parking for Broncos season-ticket holders, with several hundred spots.
“We proactively and transparently communicated with Lot M permit holders when the season ticket renewal window opened last month, outlining the potential for changes and gathering their feedback,” Broncos spokesperson Patrick Smyth wrote in a statement. “If adjustments are needed, we have plans to accommodate affected season-ticket members and minimize any disruption to the gameday experience.”
Denver Water didn’t comment on a timeline for potential construction at Lot M, but the Broncos’ communication with fans ahead of the 2026 season indicates the organization would expect any development to begin within the calendar year.
The city transit-oriented development (TOD) manager’s dissenting comments on the Lot M plan suggested that Denver Water seek a new relocation site.
“In sum, this is very much the wrong use in the wrong location,” wrote Nevitt, who’s a former Denver City Council member. “Nonetheless, TOD recognizes the imperatives leading to the proposal of this project here. TOD is eager to work closely with the applicant and other City agencies to achieve the applicant’s program in a more suitable location.”
Dan Shah, the executive director of the West Colfax Business Improvement District, was among advocates who agreed that Denver Water’s proposal for Lot M could disrupt plans for the cloverleaf area.
Jill Locantore, the executive director of Denver Streets Partnership, pointed out that the surrounding community had worked with the city for over a decade to come up with a vision for redesigning 29 acres in that area into a mixed-use development with connecting street grids. The council approved a master plan for redevelopment of the stadium’s south lots and the interchange in 2019, years before the Broncos’ new owners opted to pursue a new stadium.
“It’s really distressing to see this proposal for a use on that site that is completely at odds with the community’s vision for how they’d like to see that area redesigned,” Locantore said, “and would really get in the way of potential future redesigns.”
In August, CDOT released a contract solicitation outlining consulting services around a project to reimagine the cloverleaf interchange. It estimated the value of initial consulting services at $1.63 million. CDOT told The Post that the project is “proceeding with the scope as defined” in the request for proposals.
Denver Water didn’t comment when asked about any conversations with CDOT about impacts on planning for the cloverleaf area.
“There are no projected impacts to CDOT right-of-way or access points being requested at this time for the Colfax/Federal cloverleaf project,” Tamara Rollison, a CDOT spokesperson, said in a statement when asked for comment on the Denver Water plan.
Still, some community advocates expressed concern over the Lot M proposal, as Denver Water continues to search for a suitable home amid the Broncos’ city-defining shift in focus to Burnham Yard.
“It’s the kind of thing that — it’s a little bit frustrating,” Shah said, “when people have been looking at something and studying it for a long time.”
Staff writer Elliott Wenzler contributed to this story.
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