The former Xcel Energy Substation on 15th Street has been transformed into an additional one acre of park space at Confluence Park. The first phase of the project was completed last September. Improvements include a sculpture plaza along 15th Street, a mid level terrace and a lower lawn area adjacent to the River. Removal of the substation walls and creating terraces down to the River’s edge opens up and completes the entire Confluence Park site. Sources of funding for the project include: The City and County of Denver, Denver Water, Great Outdoors Colorado, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, Gates Family Foundation, the Neusteter family, Quick Foundation, Riverfront Park Community Foundation and numerous individual and corporate donors.

Neusteter Plaza, adjacent to 15th St. includes three shade structures, carved granite blocks for seating, and three granite play structures in the shapes of a leaf, duck and fish. Andy Dufford, owner of Chevo Studios, created all the structures in the Plaza. He worked with local S.P.R.E.E. School students to come up with patterns derived from the River, which were then incorporated into the shade structures.

The mid level terrace will have colorful tables with umbrellas and granite paving. Lower than Neusteter Plaza, the mid level terrace provides a quiet place to have lunch or coffee while looking out over the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. These improvements are planned for 2006.

In addition, this past April, volunteers from ERO Resources, the Architerra Group and members of the Greenway Foundation board and staff installed 250 willow stakes along the River’s edge to help stabilize the bank.

The Greenway Foundation initially created Confluence Park, the birthplace of Denver, in 1975. The new one-acre addition to the Park is open for public use and is scheduled for final completion in 2006. It took thirty years but the full vision of the Greenway Foundation for Confluence Park is
finally being realized!