The Colorado Rockies moved to Coors Field in Denver’s Lower Downtown as a major league baseball expansion team in 1995. Often among the league leaders in attendance, the team has partnered with developers to generate revenue for maintaining and improving the field while also drawing activity downtown year-round. The Rockies’ ownership leased a parking lot adjacent to the stadium in order to construct McGregor Square, a 3.2-acre (1.3 ha) mixed-use development that serves baseball fans, tourists, and the broader community.
Those who attend the 2025 ULI Spring Meeting will have the opportunity to visit McGregor Square as part of “Turning a Historic Downtown into Something New: A Tour of Denver’s LoDo District,” which will also cover two other mixed-use developments nearby—the Dairy Block and Market Station.
Named for a past president of the Rockies, the late Keli McGregor—who first envisioned transforming the parking lot—McGregor Square opened in 2021 with three towers: the Rally Hotel and McGregor Square Residences, which both rise 13 stories, and an 11-story office building. Two stories of parking and building services are tucked underground. The 75,500 square feet (7,000 sq m) of ground-floor retail space includes bars, restaurants, and a food hall.
Creating More Outdoor Space
At the heart of the complex is a 17,000-square-foot (1,580 sq m) outdoor plaza. “McGregor Square is a significant part of our downtown Denver fabric,” says Jason Whitlock, principal of Stantec, which served as the project’s architect. “It features a central gathering space—Denver’s outdoor living room to watch all of the great games.” An outdoor LED screen billed as Denver’s largest, at 66 feet by 20 feet, broadcasts watch parties for the Rockies, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Denver Nuggets. A grass berm opposite the screen has become a favorite spot for people to hang out, Whitlock says. Other programs in the square include a skating rink in winter, fairs, concerts and movie showings. “The weather in Colorado is beautiful enough that the square is used almost every week . . . of the year,” Whitlock says.
Whitlock and fellow principal Shannon Jones will describe how the development team created a human-scaled civic space. “McGregor spans a couple of our important districts—the ballpark district and our historic lower downtown area,” Whitlock says. The red brick and glass buildings reference the exteriors of surrounding buildings to fit into their context.
The development team paid careful attention to scale and materiality to ensure the space would feel welcoming. “We right-sized the space, using canopies and other physical elements, so it can hold enough people when it serves as a destination, but it can also feel homey and cozy at the same time,” Whitlock says.
Circulation through the square was designed to be intuitive, he adds: “It follows the line of desire from the front door of Coors Field stadium to one of the most important pedestrian-centered streets in our lower downtown area—Wynkoop Street and Wynkoop Plaza.” The development also sits along the 5280 Trail, a pedestrian circuit that the city is implementing to ring the city center and connect downtown destinations.
Award-Winning Concept
The mix of uses includes Tom’s Watch Bar for sports viewing and high-end restaurants that offer a range of dining experiences. The McGregor Square Residences offers 103 for-sale condominiums, and the office building has 227,000 square feet (21,100 sq m) of Class A space. A sky bridge links the residential and hotel buildings, which share fitness facilities and a swimming pool for residents and guests alike.
The development has garnered numerous honors, including a ULI Colorado IMPACT Award, a Denver Mayor’s Design Award, and a Downtown Denver Partnership Award, and has catalyzed further transformation of the ballpark district. “It has become one of the key destinations for downtown, both for visitors and locals,” Whitlock says.
Learn more about 2025 ULI Spring Meeting tours and register today.
Ron Nyren is a freelance architecture, urban planning, and real estate writer based in the San Francisco Bay area.
