LOCATION
Denver, Colorado
OWNER
City and County of Denver
SQUARE FOOTAGE
65,400
CONSTRUCTION COST
$30 Million
COMPLETION
2018

BACKGROUND
The Carla Madison Recreation Center is the first urban regional recreation center in Colorado. Located at the corner of Colfax and Josephine in central Denver, the facility connects to and extends City Park into the urban environment along Colfax Avenue, the longest continuous street in the nation.

The City Park Esplanade which extends south from City Park along the eastern portion of the Recreation Center’s site provides opportunities to restore the historic connections to East High School and the historic Esplanade. This pivotal location also provides an opportunity to strengthen connections between the renewed energy of a quickly redeveloping Colfax and the adjacent historic residential neighborhoods to the north and the south.

This facility provides greatly needed recreation opportunities to a currently underserved population in the surrounding areas. The site was designed in a way to create a new venue for community gathering and the five-level, LEED Gold certified facility includes a leisure pool, 8-lane lap pool, gymnasium, fitness areas, community gathering spaces, classrooms and outdoor amenities.

BRS conducted a pedestrian study to see the desired paths of students. The street level of the Center was purposefully angled away from Colfax to preserve a view to the High School and encourage foot traffic from students.