Is Denver’s 16th Street Mall now just ‘16th Street’?
Recent promotions of downtown's famous corridor have emitted part of its name.
As 16th Street Mall gears up for its reopening party later this month in Downtown Denver, one word hasn’t been mentioned in recent promotions: mall.
“Summer is coming to 16th Street, the Denver Way!” reads a post on the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Instagram page from two weeks ago.
The organization has been promoting the “16th Street Summer Kickoff” on social media and on its summerindenver.com website, where it mentions 16th Street seven times on its homepage with not one mention of “mall.”
Since last year, Denver has been rethinking every aspect of downtown’s attraction for its new refreshed look after years of construction — including its name.
Recent posts also show a potentially new logo for “16th Street” in between two small diamond accents similar to the transitway’s iconic paver design inspired by Navajo rugs or diamondback rattlesnakes.
The only mention of “mall” The Denver Gazette found on downtown’s summer events website is the Mallride, the street’s free shuttle.
The Downtown Denver Partnership announced in October it hired DNCO, a London-based global branding agency, to create a brand for 16th Street Mall within a $100,000 budget ahead of its reopening.
The organization has completed the repositioning of 16th Street Mall’s identity but Downtown Denver Partnership Director of Marketing and Communications Britt Diehl did not confirm or deny the name change.
She added Mayor Mike Johnston and the city would share more about 16th Street Mall’s new look and branding early next week.
“This effort was designed to honor the mall’s rich history while envisioning a vibrant future for this iconic corridor,” Diehl said Tuesday in an emailed statement. “The scope of work focused on uncovering the story of the place, developing a visual identity to support that narrative, and included an optional exploration of a new name.”
History of 16th Street Mall’s name
Discussions of the name began last year after a City Cast Denver podcast episode released June 25 mentioned Downtown Denver Partnership officials were considering deemphasizing, or dropping “mall,” from 16th Street Mall.
The organization said at the time that it made no determinations on whether or not to rename the 1.2-mile corridor but it would leave no stone unturned.
If the name has changed, it wouldn’t be the first time the street’s name has changed or dropped words.
The 16th Street Mall’s first name, during Denver’s earliest days, was “G Street” before the city switched to the numbered grid system still used today.
While Denver’s founder William Larimer planned for the road named after him to act as downtown’s main corridor, 16th Street became more popular during the department store boom of the 1900s.
National chains came to the area as well as movie theaters and it became the commercial and entertainment heart of the city. As cars grew to be a staple of daily life, traffic increasingly clogged downtown’s streets.
The Regional Transportation District enlisted the architect firm led by I.M. Pei, the designer of the glass Louvre Pyramid in Paris, to turn 16th Street into a pedestrian mall with a shuttle bus going across to transit hubs on both ends of the 13-block stretch to ease downtown congestion.
The transformation in 1982 originally debuted as the “16th Street Transitway Mall,” a name that never stuck.
The name “mall” first meant a walkway lined with trees long before it became synonymous with America’s golden era of shopping centers during the 1970s and 1980s, said Mark Barnhouse, historian and author of “Images of America: Denver’s Sixteenth Street,” last year in an interview when the name discussions began.
The term started to fall out of fashion in the 1990s as consumer shopping habits changed and malls struggled to adapt to the rise of Walmart, Target and eventually Amazon.
“When they built the original 16th Street Mall, nobody ever envisioned that there wouldn’t be department stores on it,” Barnhouse said. “They just assumed that department stores, they’d been there for 100 years, they’d still be there.”
Rebranding after declining perceptions
The $172 million construction project to revitalize 16th Street Mall began in spring 2022, but the opening has been delayed and the final cost millions of dollars over budget.
The summer kickoff starting in May is set to celebrate nearing the end of the reconstruction project aiming to fix deteriorating infrastructure, expand pedestrian walkways, add more greenery and move RTD’s shuttle buses to the center of the road.
Downtown Denver has struggled ever since the pandemic hit five years ago, when governments shut down businesses and limited public gatherings. It’s dealing with rising office and retail vacancies, further strained by the years-long 16th Street Mall renovation construction project, homelessness and some high-profile crimes recently.
Foot traffic has yet to fully rebound.
A recent survey said optimism for downtown fell among the public last year. Additionally, Downtown Denver has also fallen as an economic generator for the city, as it made up 13% of the city’s sales and property revenues before the pandemic but now only generates 8%.
Against this backdrop, city officials have launched several campaigns to boost the mall’s image and secure the busy corridor, notably adding a dedicated police unit to the area.
The Downtown Denver Partnership got $1.9 million from the city to host activations for reopening of the mall and the summer kickoff happening from May 31 to June 1 in conjunction with Civic Center Park’s Outside Festival.
The organization plans to host live music, an outdoor bazaar and a speed climbing competition along 16th Street — mall or not mall.
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Is Denver’s 16th Street Mall now just ‘16th Street’?
As 16th Street Mall gears up for its reopening party later this month in Downtown Denver, one word hasn’t been mentioned in recent promotions: mall.
“Summer is coming to 16th Street, the Denver Way!” reads a post on the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Instagram page from two weeks ago.
The organization has been promoting the “16th Street Summer Kickoff” on social media and on its summerindenver.com website, where it mentions 16th Street seven times on its homepage with not one mention of “mall.”
Since last year, Denver has been rethinking every aspect of downtown’s attraction for its new refreshed look after years of construction — including its name.
Recent posts also show a potentially new logo for “16th Street” in between two small diamond accents similar to the transitway’s iconic paver design inspired by Navajo rugs or diamondback rattlesnakes.
The only mention of “mall” The Denver Gazette found on downtown’s summer events website is the Mallride, the street’s free shuttle.
The Downtown Denver Partnership announced in October it hired DNCO, a London-based global branding agency, to create a brand for 16th Street Mall within a $100,000 budget ahead of its reopening.
The organization has completed the repositioning of 16th Street Mall’s identity but Downtown Denver Partnership Director of Marketing and Communications Britt Diehl did not confirm or deny the name change.
She added Mayor Mike Johnston and the city would share more about 16th Street Mall’s new look and branding early next week.
“This effort was designed to honor the mall’s rich history while envisioning a vibrant future for this iconic corridor,” Diehl said Tuesday in an emailed statement. “The scope of work focused on uncovering the story of the place, developing a visual identity to support that narrative, and included an optional exploration of a new name.”
History of 16th Street Mall’s name
Discussions of the name began last year after a City Cast Denver podcast episode released June 25 mentioned Downtown Denver Partnership officials were considering deemphasizing, or dropping “mall,” from 16th Street Mall.
The organization said at the time that it made no determinations on whether or not to rename the 1.2-mile corridor but it would leave no stone unturned.
If the name has changed, it wouldn’t be the first time the street’s name has changed or dropped words.
The 16th Street Mall’s first name, during Denver’s earliest days, was “G Street” before the city switched to the numbered grid system still used today.
While Denver’s founder William Larimer planned for the road named after him to act as downtown’s main corridor, 16th Street became more popular during the department store boom of the 1900s.
National chains came to the area as well as movie theaters and it became the commercial and entertainment heart of the city. As cars grew to be a staple of daily life, traffic increasingly clogged downtown’s streets.
The Regional Transportation District enlisted the architect firm led by I.M. Pei, the designer of the glass Louvre Pyramid in Paris, to turn 16th Street into a pedestrian mall with a shuttle bus going across to transit hubs on both ends of the 13-block stretch to ease downtown congestion.
The transformation in 1982 originally debuted as the “16th Street Transitway Mall,” a name that never stuck.
The name “mall” first meant a walkway lined with trees long before it became synonymous with America’s golden era of shopping centers during the 1970s and 1980s, said Mark Barnhouse, historian and author of “Images of America: Denver’s Sixteenth Street,” last year in an interview when the name discussions began.
The term started to fall out of fashion in the 1990s as consumer shopping habits changed and malls struggled to adapt to the rise of Walmart, Target and eventually Amazon.
“When they built the original 16th Street Mall, nobody ever envisioned that there wouldn’t be department stores on it,” Barnhouse said. “They just assumed that department stores, they’d been there for 100 years, they’d still be there.”
Rebranding after declining perceptions
The $172 million construction project to revitalize 16th Street Mall began in spring 2022, but the opening has been delayed and the final cost millions of dollars over budget.
The summer kickoff starting in May is set to celebrate nearing the end of the reconstruction project aiming to fix deteriorating infrastructure, expand pedestrian walkways, add more greenery and move RTD’s shuttle buses to the center of the road.
Downtown Denver has struggled ever since the pandemic hit five years ago, when governments shut down businesses and limited public gatherings. It’s dealing with rising office and retail vacancies, further strained by the years-long 16th Street Mall renovation construction project, homelessness and some high-profile crimes recently.
Foot traffic has yet to fully rebound.
A recent survey said optimism for downtown fell among the public last year. Additionally, Downtown Denver has also fallen as an economic generator for the city, as it made up 13% of the city’s sales and property revenues before the pandemic but now only generates 8%.
Against this backdrop, city officials have launched several campaigns to boost the mall’s image and secure the busy corridor, notably adding a dedicated police unit to the area.
The Downtown Denver Partnership got $1.9 million from the city to host activations for reopening of the mall and the summer kickoff happening from May 31 to June 1 in conjunction with Civic Center Park’s Outside Festival.
The organization plans to host live music, an outdoor bazaar and a speed climbing competition along 16th Street — mall or not mall.
Get OutThere
Signup today for free and be the first to get notified on new updates.