Denver leaders hope to take a small bite out of the big foot traffic problem the downtown area is still facing with a $350,000 grant program announced Monday that’s designed to bring more special events to the heart of the city.

Unique ideas big and small are welcome.

City officials are working with the Downtown Denver Partnership on the grant effort that will offer applicants between $500 and $25,000 if their proposals are approved.

The application window will open Monday, Oct. 16.  Applications and more information will be available at thisismydenver.com/grants. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis to get as many ideas off the ground as possible before the end of the year, said Kourtny Garrett, the partnership’s CEO.

“This could be a performance, a block party, a community mural. Let’s all get creative in the city,” Garrett said.

The primary goal is to provide a jolt of energy and activity to the city’s economically vital urban core. Retail businesses and restaurants downtown have been struggling to navigate issues including work-from-home arrangments that have left office towers semi-vacant and a disruptive overhaul project on the city’s iconic 16th Street Mall.

In introducing the “Dynamic Downtown Denver Grants,” Mayor Mike Johnston on Monday hinted he would love to see someone organize a pickleball tournament with some of that money.

The program is one piece of a broader effort, he emphasized. The partnership already operates a city-supported program aimed at attracting and launching unique, independent retailers downtown called Popup Denver.

For the mayor, a priority is ensuring that the grant program is low-barrier. That means opening it up to people and organizations who might not otherwise have access to downtown real estate and resources. City agencies including the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and Denver Arts & Venues will be working with the partnership to help grantees get their ideas off the ground, Johnston said.

“We want something that is easy to activate and easy to access for creators, innovators (and) artists all around the city who have their own passion,” Johnston said. “We want to invite you to put (that passion) on display in downtown Denver.”

Foot traffic has slowly rebounded downtown over the last three years since the COVID-19 pandemic upended life and sent thousands of office workers home on a permanent to semi-permanent basis in early 2020.

The most recent data released by the partnership shows that the average number of people downtown on a daily basis eclipsed 200,000 in April, June and July of this year (with totals still pending for August and September). But those counts haven’t climbed over the 250,000-person threshold since 2019. That year, daily downtown foot traffic reached or eclipsed 250,000 people every month from March through September.

Public safety concerns remain a deterrent for some people considering visiting downtown and Johnston acknowledged that his push to provide housing and shelter to people living on the city’s streets runs parallel to activation efforts like the grant program.

A major decrease in the number of people reporting to jobs downtown remains the softest spot in the area’s foot traffic recovery. The Johnston administration is pushing forward with efforts to make a dent there, too, despite some heartburn from other elected leaders.

On Monday, the City Council voted 9-4 to approve an updated lease agreement with the owner of Republic Plaza, the city’s tallest building. The $4.9 million addition to the lease gives the city access to 72,000 square feet of extra space in that tower and close to 145,000 square feet in total over the next three years.

That space will accommodate employees while the city renovates the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building, a $133.5 million project the prior City Council approved in June. At that time, it was projected many city employees would work from home during chunks of the renovation, but as Lisa Lumley, the city’s director of real estate, explained at Monday’s council meeting, Johnston directed city staff to find temporary office space.

“The mayor has been clear that he wants this to support the activation and to support our businesses downtown,” Lumley said.

Councilwoman Shontel Lewis was among the four dissenting votes. She referenced the grant program in her comments. That’s an approach she supports to downtown revitalization, but she viewed the lease at Republic Plaza as more about supporting a struggling office building than actually driving business downtown.

But special events have been a catalyst. The Denver Nuggets championship parade in June generated the highest single-day foot traffic downtown since early 2020, according to the partnership.

Denver arts scene fixture Stephen Brackett — co-founder of the band Flobots and Colorado’s statewide music ambassador — plans to file a grant application to support a family-friendly New Year’s Eve party downtown.

A champion for the idea of Denver creating a so-called “night mayor” focused on fostering a stronger arts, entertainment and nightlife economy in the city, Brackett sees the small program as a piece of something bigger. It’s seeking to empower Denver residents to be part of the solution to the downtown area’s economic struggles, he said.

“If you’re a teacher or a politician, you want your students engaged and you want your citizens engaged,” he said.

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