Eddie Maestas Park and Little Boxcar Park

Eddie Maestas Park, located at Broadway, Park Avenue West, and Lawrence Street, and Little Boxcar Park, located at Broadway, 24th Avenue, and Lawrence Street, are two of several “triangle” shaped parks formed along Broadway at the intersection of the downtown Denver grid with the City’s orthogonal grid. These triangles are owned and maintained by the City of Denver Parks and Recreation Department. They have been a crossroads for the city’s homeless population for many years and the costs associated with maintenance, along with the constant need for law enforcement lead the Parks Department and the neighborhood to redesign the park to support larger urban design goals for the Broadway/Brighton Boulevard corridor.

The purpose of the project was to provide design for the adaptive reuse of an urban park/plaza. The design had to respond to a complex urban context without incurring the costs associated with complete reconstruction, serve the quickly evolving needs of the surrounding neighborhoods, and function as a landmark at important intersections marking the entrance to Downtown Denver.