Overview:
From Park Hill Park to safer streets and library housing projects, Denver’s Vibrant Bond is beginning to fund major changes citywide.
For years, the former Park Hill Golf Course sat empty, a 155-acre stretch of land in northeast Denver waiting for its next chapter. Now, city officials say it could become one of the most significant public park projects in Denver’s modern history, thanks to the voter-approved Vibrant Denver Bond.
“The city now owns Park Hill Golf Course,” said Stephanie Figueroa of Denver Parks and Recreation. “So that is actually going to be the largest single acquisition for an urban park in Denver. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to literally build a park from nothing into something, and hopefully it’ll be this thriving active space with recreation.”
That project is just one piece of the $950 million Vibrant Denver Bond, approved by voters in November 2025 through Ballot Measure 2A. The six-year bond package funds more than 58 projects across the city, including transportation upgrades, park improvements, library renovations, affordable housing and investments in public facilities.
“In approving this bond program, voters entrusted the city to deliver critical investments across Denver that will create safer streets, stronger neighborhoods and more vibrant public spaces,” said Mayor Mike Johnston in a March press release. “This milestone reaffirms our commitment to voters that all bond projects will start in 2026, whether that be initial planning, public engagement, design or construction, and that we are on track to complete all projects within six years.”
Citizens can track the process using the city’s Vibrant Denver Bond Interactive Dashboard, which was launched this month.
The city completed its first bond sale in early March, closing on $410 million to begin work on the package. According to the Denver Department of Finance, that first tranche is intended to get every project moving this year.
“This first tranche will allow the city to fulfill its promise to voters of getting started on all bond projects in 2026,” said Nick Marion, Department of Finance Marketing & Communications Specialist for the City and County of Denver.
The bond package includes five broad phases: initiation, development, design, construction and completion by 2031. Marion noted the city has already begun moving money into projects so that visible work can begin this year.
Nearly half of the bond package will ultimately support transportation and mobility improvements, which account for more than $441 million over the life of the program. Of the initial $410 million, more than $93 million is earmarked for transportation and mobility projects alone.
One of the first transportation projects expected to break ground is in the Santa Fe Arts District, along Santa Fe Drive from Sixth Avenue to 13th Avenue. The project will widen sidewalks, upgrade landscaping and improve the streetscape in one of Denver’s most prominent arts corridors.
Marion described those changes as having a “positive visual impact,” but the bond’s backers say the package is about more than appearance. The work is intended to improve pedestrian safety, accessibility and neighborhood infrastructure at the same time.
That distinction matters in a city where some residents have questioned whether too much money is being concentrated in already well-trafficked areas. Alongside the bond, the Downtown Denver Authority has its own major investment strategy, bringing roughly $570 million into central city improvements.
To the average Denver voter, it may seem as though over $1 billion is being funneled straight into the two miles between Speer and Broadway. City officials argue the bond process was shaped by public input across neighborhoods, not just downtown priorities.
“All city agencies were tasked with coming up with a list of projects, and that, of course, happened through some community conversations,” Figueroa said. “The residents are planning this from zero. It’s their voices.”
For Denver Parks and Recreation, the most visible example of that public input may be Park Hill Park, the future park planned for the former golf course. The bond dedicates $70 million to the project, making it the single largest park investment in the package in both acreage and dollars.
Denver Parks and Recreation received more than $174 million overall through the bond, and officials say Park Hill residents are helping shape what the future park will include.
“We’ve heard from folks that they want athletic fields. They want sports courts. They want some type of water feature,” Figueroa said. “There’s even talks of having an indoor field house.”
The property had sat unused for nearly seven years before the city acquired it in October 2025. That long vacancy, Figueroa said, gives residents a rare chance to help create a major public space from scratch.
Park Hill Park is not the only major recreation project funded through the bond. The package also includes $20 million for a skate hub in the Kennedy neighborhood and $15 million to rebuild Aztlan Pool in Sunnyside, among other parks and recreation improvements.
“It was a group community effort to decide what projects were going to be a part of the bond,” Figueroa said. “our goal is, you know, enhancing the lives of residents through beautiful spaces and innovative programming and our rec centers and things like that.”
The bond also reaches beyond parks and roads. Denver Public Libraries is using bond money to help develop a new East Side co-located housing and library project, which will combine a library branch with affordable housing.
“The East Side Co-Located Housing and Library was approved as part of the Vibrant Denver Bond,” said Olivia Gallegos, communications manager at the Denver Public Library. “This is our second location to be a part of a mixed-use affordable housing project.”
The funding for that project combines $8 million from the city facilities portion of the bond with $2 million from housing development funds. Library officials say the model is designed to pair public services with housing stability in neighborhoods that need both.
“These developments are a model for how public resources can integrate with affordable housing to benefit diverse communities,” Gallegos said. “[Denver Public Libraries’] involvement ensures that residents can have access to critical resources that promote resilience and long-term stability.”
Beyond that project, Denver Public Libraries has five other bond-funded improvements planned, many of them focused on long-needed upgrades to aging branches and infrastructure.
“[We have] major projects that excite the [Denver Public Library], such as the $4.47 million Decker Branch Library Renovation,” Gallegos said. “All of the projects will provide much-needed upgrades to modernize the infrastructure.”
In all, the bond package involves 10 city agencies and departments and represents one of the largest coordinated public investment efforts in recent Denver history. For city leaders, the scale of the package is part of what makes it significant. For residents, the promise is more immediate: safer streets, upgraded libraries, more parks and more neighborhood amenities.
“It’s just such a cool opportunity to be like, ‘I helped build this park?’ and who knows—10, 15 years from now when I have kids or grandkids, you can be like, ‘Yeah, I helped say that I wanted that playground there,’” Figueroa said. “I think it’s pretty cool that it’s such a collaborative and big, multi-generational project.”
