To so many Denver residents, workers and visitors, the 16th Street Mall is the heart of Denver.

Considering how many count on its vibrancy to earn a living, the upcoming $100 million-plus renovation project brings both the hope of rejuvenation and some fears of disruption.

“My heart is here in the 16th Street Mall. I adore this place and Denver,” said Sammy Kosechequetah, 52, a longtime pedicab operator.

He worries about the plans for 10-foot sidewalks extending from businesses will leave little room for pedicabs to operate.

“I kind of get the feeling they’re pushing us out,” Kosechequetah said.

But he’s also excited at the prospect of crowds returning to downtown in 2021. The way so many are looking forward to the long-overdue renovation project that’s been 10 years in the making.

“The Mall is getting a new life, and people a new way to experience it,” said Tami Door, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, one of many project stakeholders like the City of Denver, Regional Transportation District and every business that lines, or is close to the 15-block outdoor mall originally built in 1982.

Denver recently announced it picked PCL Construction Services, Inc. as the general contractor for the project that should commence before the year is out and be completed in 2024. Denver City Council could finalize the PCL deal in March.

“To honor the Mall’s iconic look, new granite pavers will be installed in a pattern similar to what’s on the Mall now, but with an improved drainage system and more surface friction to improve pedestrian safety,” city officials stated in the news release announcing PCL. “Visitors on foot will also benefit from 10 feet of dedicated, unobstructed sidewalk space on both sides of the Mall shuttle and adjacent to businesses.”

Busses will be moved to the center where trees and vendors are now.

“It will be a more open and safer feel, for both our drivers and the people on the sidewalk,” said RTD’s Susan Wood, project planning manager. “Everyone will notice the improvement in useability. I mean it was built in 1982, so there’s been a lot of wear and tear. This will be so much brighter and newer.”

Before the pandemic-forced shutdowns drained downtown of crowds, it was a daily commonplace for buses to brush close to the pedestrian-swollen sidewalks.

Door said the redesign will create more gathering places and allow for more vendors.

“The mall deserves the attention we’re giving it,” Door said. “It deserves to be a place where people want to gather and be. The new design and new plan will deliver on that.”

The $100-million-plus to fund the project got a huge boost when the Federal Transit Authority approved in 2019, and includes help from the Denver Urban Renewal Authority and Colorado Department of Transportation.

The work couldn’t be coming at a better time, with Colorado’s unemployment level up to 8.4%. The city estimates the project will create or support 1,479 jobs, generate $170 million in labor income and $261 million in sales.

“When a city invests money in a meaningful way in a project like this, not only does it do things like create jobs, it encourages investment from property owners,” said Mark Sidell, president of Gart Properties, which owns and operates the Denver Pavilions.

“I believe the mall is, and will always be, the spine of downtown,” he said. “It has been highly effective as a transit mall, moving the masses of people through downtown like a hallway from Union Station to Civic Center … The redesign is going to ensure it’s not just a hallway, but a living room for all the counties that compromise the metro Denver area.”

Sidell and other business owners along the mall know the transformation is going to come with pain points, as construction will impact access and normal operations.

Final plans have not been cemented on exactly how the construction schedule will play out – whether starting at one end, or the other, but RTD vows to keep the busses running and city officials have vowed to keep the mall open.

“Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained throughout the project and we’ve dedicated $300,000 in the city’s 2021 budget to supporting 16th St. Mall businesses,” said Nancy Kuhn, Department of Transportation & Infrastructure spokeswoman, via email.

That money will be used on an “Open for Business” public education campaign, attracting new mall tenants and “small business stabilization.”

Many wonder what will happen to the approximately 150 trees on the mall. Kuhn said the city inked a $1.9 million contract with Environmental Design Inc. to “source, purchase, grow and maintain 295 trees for placement along 16th Street Mall and throughout downtown” – most, 243, are for the mall.

“As far as during the renovations, it’s not going to be fun getting there,” Sidell said. “But once we’re on the other side it’s really going to be something for all Denver, and its visitors, to cherish and enjoy.”