South Broadway has soccer fever because the Summit will be a force for good in the neighborhood (Opinion)

South Broadway has soccer fever, and for good reason. After years of crawling back from the pandemic — an unusual opportunity has arrived in the form of the Denver Summit stadium project.  We have waited for more than three decades to see the old Gates Rubber factory site utilized for something that benefits the neighborhood.

As someone who was born and raised in Denver and is a local business owner and the president of the Broadway Merchants Association, I am actively engaging with the Summit’s ownership on a Community Benefits Agreement that will ensure South Broadway and the surrounding neighborhoods receive positive impacts from the stadium for years to come.

The team’s ownership has worked with all surrounding Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs) over the past four months to forge a deal that offers millions of dollars in community support, beautification and improvements.

Among the Broadway Merchants, there is palpable excitement that the Summit stadium project could bring increased foot traffic and sales to our storefronts. The Broadway Halloween Parade takes more than five months of planning and more than $100,000 in sponsorships to bring 45,000 people to our street. The stadium will bring a lesser amount, roughly 14,000 people to each event, but won’t cost our small businesses any dollars or time. Not to mention that the stadium will hold sold-out events more than 20 times per year, bringing potentially 280,000+ people to our business district. Small businesses on Broadway need the boost in foot traffic from this stadium.

The value of building a stadium like this in Denver is that the Summit won’t be building a culture on South Broadway so much as becoming a key part of one that already exists. Iconic bars like The Skylark Lounge (owned by Nathaniel Rateliff), Irish Rover, Adrift and Punch Bowl Social are a stone’s throw from the proposed stadium site.

Restaurants like the Michelin-mentioned Mak Fam, Moxie and Maria Empanada already serve as the kind of attraction you won’t find anywhere else in our Mile High City. It would be hard to duplicate the culture density and these magnetic, diverse small businesses in a place like Lone Tree or Commerce City. The team knows that.

I understand the need for due diligence and applaud the City Council for its analysis of the deal. As a fiscal conservative, I appreciate the magnifying glass on how taxpayer dollars are spent. That being said, this dirt lot has been a blight on the community since the Gates Factory closed in 1991.

Given the stigma of past contamination at the site and massive public infrastructure investments needed, I don’t think we will see these parcels reimagined into anything without some taxpayer dollars. If we do not take advantage of the stadium proposal in front of us, we risk going through the same exercise in 10 to 20 years where the taxpayer cost will be exponentially higher.