Park Hill Park Designer Michael Van Valkenburgh: What Comes Next

What happens at Park Hill Park now that Denver has picked a designer? On the ground, very little for the next 19 months. The decisions that will shape the park move to a City Council contract vote and a year of design work.

On October 13, Mayor Mike Johnston announced that Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates will design the 155-acre former Park Hill Golf Course. He also said construction should be finished by 2029, and that City Council is working to designate the land as an official park instead of open space. Denverite reported that the designation is meant to protect the park use into the future. October 29 falls one year and one day after the city celebrated the park's initial opening on October 28, 2025.

So the open land along East 35th Avenue now has a designer, a target year and a plan to make its legal status permanent. It does not yet have a signed design contract, a design or a start date anyone has to keep. Until those arrive, the place where the dog gets walked will look the same.

The calendar from here

The dates come from three sources: the city's announcement, Denver's procurement page and reporting by Axios Denver. Some dates are firmer than others.

One date is missing from the table. The city says Council intends to designate the site as parkland, but the announcement gives no date for a hearing or vote.

The table also explains why the designer's name matters less this winter than its order of events suggests. The next item is a contract, then a year of drawings. The bulldozers come after both.

What stays the same until mid-2028

The city says Denver Parks & Recreation will keep maintaining the site and managing it as public open space while design moves forward. The address on the city's project page is 4141 E. 35th Ave.

When the park first opened last October, the Colorado Sun described it as a place for daylight hours and passive recreation like walking, jogging and nature. The Denver Gazette's opening-day report described a single paved path. The city's project page describes a dog park, disc golf, picnic tables and a walking trail as interim amenities Parks & Rec "will" build. That wording describes plans, so it's worth checking the page before heading out with a disc.

The bigger unknown is how the park will work once building starts. Axios reported that officials haven't decided whether the park will stay open during construction. For anyone whose morning loop runs through the old fairways, June 2028 is the date to watch. The design itself matters less to that routine.

Who is drawing it, and what the brief already asks for

Michael Van Valkenburgh's firm designed Maggie Daley Park in Chicago, the Gathering Place in Tulsa, Allegheny Riverfront Park in Pittsburgh and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Denverite reported that Johnston said Van Valkenburgh "personally has committed 20% of his time to this very 155 acres in Park Hill right here." The firm has offices on both coasts and in Denver. Johnston said applicants who were not selected included designers behind Sydney's Olympic grounds, the 9/11 Memorial in New York City and the Washington Monument redesign.

The design hasn't started, but the city's procurement documents, as Axios reported them, already list what the park is expected to hold:

• Athletic fields
• Sports courts
• Playgrounds
• Water features
• "Outdoor adventure" attractions

That list is a starting point, not a site plan. The Park Hill Park project site says the earlier framework from the 2025 visioning process doesn't have confirmed funding for every feature it shows. It also says future public input will guide phasing and budget.

Why the finished park will look less like a golf course

At the press conference, Van Valkenburgh said he was eager to work in a drier climate than usual for his firm:

"One of the things that we're almost more excited about than anything, which is how we're going to make a landscape here that is a dry landscape, that is a landscape that is not going to be sucking up water that isn't available."

Denverite reported the quote. Axios added that he wants an "intrinsically Colorado" feel and plans test plots for native and drought-tolerant plants.

This lines up with what the parks department is doing across the city. Parks and Recreation head Jolon Clark said the department is Denver Water's "No. 1 customer," with more than 1,200 accounts. Its target is a 20% cut in water use, and he said the city is on pace to beat it, partly by converting 40 acres to more resilient landscaping this year and another 40 next year. For Park Hill Park, Clark mentioned smart irrigation sensors and the possibility of recycled water. That's the system City Park and Washington Park already use, and it wasn't subject to watering restrictions.

The ground people know today is a lawn kept green for golf. Everything said on October 13 points to a park with a different color and texture, closer to the native plantings already in parts of the site than to fairway turf.

The money is only partly settled

The city puts $70 million toward the project from the voter-approved Vibrant Denver Bond, part of a $950 million package covering 58 projects. Axios reported a total budget of $100 million and said it is unclear where the rest will come from. Bond money will pay for MVVA's design contract, but the price is still being negotiated.

That leaves about $30 million with no stated source. It doesn't put the park at risk, but it explains the project site's caution about phasing. When the budget is still open, the first round of construction can end up smaller than the full plan, and the items on the procurement list could arrive in stages.

Where residents can still shape it

The 2025 visioning drew a lot of input. The project site reports 7,765 completed surveys and 5,930 open-ended comments. The city says the outreach ran for 10 months. Johnston said the design will build on those ideas.

The project site currently lists no upcoming engagement events and points visitors to its mailing list. The last event on its calendar was January 22, 2026. The city says MVVA and Parks & Rec will come back to the community in 2027 to work out the detailed final plan.

People have already started stating priorities. At the announcement, Park Hill resident Deronn Turner asked the design team to make accessible playground equipment, sensory-friendly quiet spaces and Black history a priority, CBS Colorado reported. Van Valkenburgh promised accessibility would be part of the design.

There's also a more personal task underway. Councilmember Shontel Lewis, who represents the district that includes the park, is working with the Mending Roots Project to gather contact information for families who have trees planted in a memorial at the former golf course. If you or someone you know has one of those trees, the project site is the place to start before design work moves toward the spots where they grow.

Here are the dates in order. The design contract likely goes to City Council in December. Design sessions come back in 2027. Construction is slated to start in June 2028, and only then will the city decide whether the gates stay open.

Mckinze Casey follows Park Hill Park's milestones, from the December Council agenda to the 2027 design sessions, for clients who live near the park or are thinking about the blocks around it. If you'd like to talk through what the timeline means for your corner of Park Hill, Request a Private Consultation.