DENVER — After years of questions about its future, the site of the former Park Hill Golf Course will be acquired by the City of Denver, which plans to turn the space into an urban public park.

The announcement came down on Wednesday morning just ahead of a press conference.

You can watch Wednesday’s announcement in the video below.

Full press conference of Park Hill Golf Course announcement

The acquisition was the result of a land exchange agreement with Adams County and Westside Investment Partners, which currently owns the Park Hill property near Colorado Boulevard and E. 35th Avenue in northeast Denver. Denver traded 145 acres of city-owned, undeveloped, industrial land in Adams County for the Park Hill land. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston will work with Adams County Commissioners and Denver City Council to formally approve the land exchange, the city said. This marks the city’s largest single acquisition of private property for an urban park.

This development means the 155-acre Park Hill will become Denver’s fourth-largest park, behind City Park, Sloan’s Lake and Washington Park. Community groups had asked for years that the city protect the space and preserve it. The community will have input on the park’s name during future meetings.

“This is not just another park — it’s a space that will bring diverse neighbors together and breathe new life into an area that has been neglected for far too long,” said Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who oversees District 8 and Northeast Park Hill, during the press conference on Wednesday. “It is a symbol of hope, of equity, a commitment to climate and of our shared future. Many of our neighbors have lacked access to the green spaces that other parts of the city take for granted. Parks are not just recreational areas. They’re community hubs, places where we gather, places where we connect, and places where we find peace.”

She stressed that as the work on the park begins, the city must stay vigilant about the impacts of gentrification on long-time residents in the Park Hill neighborhood.

“We must be intentional about how we develop this space and ensure that this park, while a beacon of progress, does not contribute to the displacement of those who have called this place home for generations,” she said. “The transformation of this land should lift up existing residents, not push them out. This park represents a future where our community is stronger, healthier and more connected, where we protect the environment and each other and where no one is left behind. This is a new chapter for our district, and while it is a privilege to be here to announce it, it is my duty to ensure the process stays aligned with the needs of this neighborhood and provides our Park Hill community with all the benefits that they deserve for years to come.”

Denver Mayor Johnston acknowledged the same — saying that while Wednesday’s announcement was exciting, there is still a need to ensure the neighborhood around the park remains affordable and that it does not continue to be a food desert.

“We think there is a way to do both and and that’s why today’s commitment is really, we think, a coming together of both sides of a community conversation about a shared interest in both park space affordability and food access, and there’s a way to do all of those in collaboration,” the mayor said.

The new park, which Denver Parks & Recreation will oversee, will open to the public by this upcoming summer.

“As Denver continues to grow, protecting open space and providing high quality park space for all of our residents is critical,” said Denver Parks & Recreation Executive Director Jolon Clark. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a new regional park in the heart of the city, and we look forward to engaging with the community to shape what park amenities will be built on this remarkable parcel of land.”

He said the city is within a month of closing on the deal.

“We are going to open the gates of this and for the first time ever, you’ll be able to walk as a Denver resident — this will be your park,” Clark said Wednesday. “Get your dog, bring your kids, bring your family. You’ll be walking through this park within a month of closing.”

Click on the link below or here to see Denver7’s detailed timeline about the Park Hill Golf Course.

In addition to open space, those amenities may include walking trails, sports courts, exercise stations, shaded pavilions, performance stages and more. The park’s development will unfold over three stages, starting with the plan to open by this summer. Crews will address immediate issues, such as broken walkways and overgrown foliage. While fencing will stay in place during this initial phase, multiple entryways will allow guests to come inside.

The second phase includes building low-cost amenities, which could include a dog park, picnic tables, walking trails or a disc golf course. The third and final stage looks at the long-term use of the park, which will include heavy community input about their visions for the area.

Wednesday’s announcement came in the wake of years of work by a myriad of people passionate about the neighborhood and future of the former Park Hill Golf Course. That has included former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, Save Open Space Denver members, and others.

The city said a $2 million deal reached between former Denver Mayor Webb and previous land owners in the 1990s preserved the land through a conservation easement. Without his “foresight in preserving the site through a conservation easement, this property would not have the opportunity to return to the people as a space for all,” the city said Wednesday.

“Under the provisions of the conservation easement, we can have recreational programs, park space and other items here on this land,” Webb said during the press conference. “And that needs to be reviewed with just not the rich Black people that have got involved, but with everybody in a process.”

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The announcement was a victory for the people, Webb said, and he was proud to be a part of it. Parks are important, he stressed, and he hopes Denver continues to protect its open spaces. But Wednesday was a day of celebration, he said.

Penfield Tate, member of Save Open Space, also spoke on Wednesday. He said that over the past eight years, he never thought this day would come. The neighbors wanted to preserve the land for the community, but the “powers that be” kept denying them, and when the choice landed in the lap of the voters in 2021 and 2023, they supported the community members, he said.

“So, if there’s any question about what the community wanted, we all collectively made it clear, and now we’re here,” he said. “Now it’s time to celebrate. I want to start by celebrating all of you and all of the commitment we’ve shown over the years. I want to thank Mayor Webb for his foresight, for his commitment and his understanding that we got one planet and we don’t get it do over, and if we screw it up by paving it over, we’ve destroyed our own home and will never recover again. Preserving this land is the start of that.”

For the first time, the land will be a part designed for gathering — a place of inclusion, not exclusion, he said.

The Park Hill Golf Course — which has been and still is nestled in a neighborhood of mostly Black residents — first served as an orphanage for white children before the Park Hill Golf Club opened in 1932, the city said. But up until the 1970s, Black guests were not allowed to play at the club. That decade brought in massive talent from Black golfers, including Tiger Woods.

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The Park Hill Golf Course closed in December 2018 after the City of Denver suspended a proposed plan to purchase the land in November 2017, and the land was fenced off from the public.

About six months later, in July 2019, the defunct Park Hill Golf Course was officially sold for $24 million to Westside Investment Partners., who still own the property today.

The former Park Hill Golf Course found its way onto the ballot a few times over the years.

Competing ballot measures — Ordinances 301 and 302 — which both aimed to decide what would happen with the Park Hill Golf Course, fell into voters’ hands in November 2021. Ordinance 301 would require a citywide vote before the conservation easement could be lifted. Ordinance 302 — which was put forth by Westside Investment Partners to get around the city-wide vote bar set by 301, according to The Denver Post — was essentially the same as Ordinance 301, but would exclude the golf course from the vote requirement.

Watch our September 2021 report about these two ordinances and their impacts ahead of the 2021 election.

Park Hill Golf Course debate will now have an impact on all Denverites

Voters on Election Day 2021 decided to support Ordinance 301, with about 63% of the vote, and reject Ordinance 302, with 62.5% of the vote.

In January 2023, the City of Denver rejected a petition from residents of the Park Hill neighborhood that would have required a supermajority vote of 10 councilmembers to rezone the vacant Park Hill Golf Course, as developers and city leaders eye the space for housing and commercial development.

City council voted 11-2 in favor of putting an ordinance about what to do with the land up to voters to decide in a special election that April. In that election, Denver voters rejected the proposed development at the former Park Hill Golf Course, with about 60% voting no on Question 2O to lift the conservation easement on the land. With this vote, the easement stayed in place and blocked the proposed housing and commercial construction.

Watch our coverage on the vote from April 2023 below.

After voters rejected the proposed development, what lies ahead for the Park Hill Golf Course?

Denver7 asked a city spokesperson what this would mean for the space. They confirmed that the golf course will once again be fenced off to the general public “as is common with every privately owned site and golf course in Denver.” The spokesperson also confirmed that a TopGolf driving range remained “on the table.”

One year after residents voted no Question 2O, there was still little to no apparent progress, and Save Open Spaces Denver noted “we find it somewhat vexing that no action has been taken after not one, but three election victories to preserve the conservation easement.”

With Wednesday’s announcement about the city acquiring the land, it noted that city officials “will continue to push for the development of world-class affordable housing” around Park Hill, while preserving “the neighborhood’s character.”