The big question about the old Park Hill Golf Course is settled. It will be a park. The open question is which parts get built first, now that $70 million has been set aside for a plan that costs more than that.
That question gets an answer over the next 14 months or so. On October 28, 2025, the 155 acres at 4141 E. 35th Ave. opened to the public for daylight walking and jogging. On October 13, 2026, Denver named the landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates as lead designer and said it intends to formally designate the land as a park. The plan neighbors helped write in 2025 lists far more than the first round of funding covers. The city's engagement site says so directly: there "is not confirmed funding for everything you see here," and future public input "will inform the strategy for how to phase and budget this project."
So the land in its current, mostly unchanged state is a starting point. The park that people will actually use depends on the order of construction.
The Park as It Stands in Mid-November
A year in, the site is still run as open space. People use it quietly, much as the city described at opening. Here are the basics for anyone heading over this weekend:
- Where: 4141 E. 35th Ave. City volunteer events meet at the main parking lot off 35th Avenue.
- When: Daylight hours only. The site has no park lighting yet, which is part of the "extensive renovations" the city listed when it opened the gates.
- What: Passive use, meaning walking, jogging, birdwatching and taking in the views.
- Dogs: Denver's general park rules require leashed pets under physical control, and owners must pick up after them.
- Bikes: The same rules allow bicycles only on park roads and designated off-street trails, at no more than 15 mph.
The park's own site calls it the city's fourth-largest open space and the biggest addition to Denver's park system in more than a century.
Why It Still Looks Like a Golf Course
Much of what makes the place feel unfinished was planned that way. The city laid out three stages for the land: immediate short-term use, interim use, and the long-term build-out.
For the first stage, Denver Parks and Recreation said it would mow only within four feet of the walkways, control weeds, fix broken paths, prune trees and leave the perimeter fencing in place, with key entryways cut in for public access. A walk there today follows maintained paths through land that is otherwise left mostly as it is.
For the interim stage, the city's list was short and inexpensive: a dog park, disc golf, picnic tables and a walking trail. Disc golf got an early trial. The Park Hill Disc Golf Club ran Future Fairway Fest on June 7, 2025, with a temporary three-hole layout set up for that day only, to build support for a full course.
The golf history shapes these choices. The course opened in the 1930s and closed in 2018. A conservation easement dating to 1997 limited the land to golf. In 2023, voters turned down a proposal to turn part of the site into housing and other uses. The city then closed a land exchange with Westside Investment Partners on October 2, 2025, as The Denver Post reported.
When the gates opened, Mayor Mike Johnston put the year ahead in one line from the city's release, quoted by The Denver Post: "We welcome Denver to see this park not for what it is today but what it can be."
Who Kept It Up in 2026
Volunteers have done much of the visible work during this in-between stage. The Denver Park Enhancement Project, working with the city, has organized stewardship days on the site since before it opened. A tree-mulching day on October 17, 2025 got the grounds ready for the opening celebration.
This year, the city's Engage Denver calendar listed Park Hill Park Trash Bashes on February 28, March 11, March 28 and July 18. The March 28 listing describes the cleanups as a twice-monthly routine. A September 26 session was canceled.
The October 17, 2026 event was different. The same group organized a Park Hill Bioblitz, asking participants to log plants and animals in iNaturalist. Those records describe what lives on the land before a designer redraws it, which gives a baseline for a plan built around native prairie, savanna and a restored creek bed.
What the October Announcement Settled
The October 13 event at the site settled three things and left a fourth open.
The designer. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, known for Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York and the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, will lead design. In the city's announcement, founder Michael Van Valkenburgh said, "We look forward to creating a park that uniquely belongs to Denver."
The protection. The city announced its intent to designate the site as parkland. According to that same announcement, designated parkland under the City Charter can't be sold or disposed of without voter approval and can be used only for park or park-compatible purposes. Denverite reported that City Council is working on that designation, which would move the land from open space to official park.
The target date. Johnston told reporters the city plans to finish construction by 2029, also per Denverite.
Still open: the contract. The city's procurement record lists an award date of September 4, 2026. Axios Denver reported that the contract price was still being negotiated and that Council would likely take it up in December.
The funding is set but limited. The park received $70 million from the voter-approved Vibrant Denver Bond, a $950 million program that covers 58 projects citywide through 2031. That makes it one of the larger single line items in the program. Still, the city's engagement site calls the bond "a big step in realizing a lot of this vision," not all of it.
A Framework With More Pieces Than Money
The Final Framework Vision came out of the third open house on January 22, 2026. Behind it were 7,765 completed surveys, 5,930 written comments, three open houses, five activations and 23 pop-ups and tabling events. It sorts the 155 acres into zones, and the question for 2027 is which zones go first.
| Part of the site | What the framework places there |
|---|---|
| Corners near Colorado Blvd. and 40th Ave. | Field house, destination playground, outdoor adventure areas |
| Colorado Blvd. edge | Athletic fields and sports courts |
| Middle of the site | A meandering, mostly dry creek bed that manages stormwater, labeled Flow Through and Stormwater Ribbon |
| Existing clubhouse | A cultural hub for community gathering |
| Throughout | Restrooms, picnic pavilions, observation structures, a wide multi-use loop |
The framework map names more pieces: a Great Lawn, a Mesa Outlook, native gardens, native prairie and savanna, community gardens, a Pop Up Market Plaza, Adventure Play Pods, a memorial space, a flexible event lawn, mini golf, an off-leash dog park and a 303 Artway connection. The written summary also calls for an aquatic experience and spaces for alternative sports.
Some of these items are expensive. A field house, an aquatic feature and lit athletic fields cost far more than a mowed loop, native plantings and picnic pavilions. With $70 million to spend, Phase 1 will most likely be weighted toward the active corners along Colorado Boulevard or toward the quieter center that people walk now. Which way it goes depends on the design sessions. District 9 Councilmember Darrell Watson said in the city's release that he expects the firm to keep "listening closely to the neighbors who know the Park Hill community best."
The Calendar From Here
- This winter: The site stays open space, maintained by Denver Parks and Recreation and open during daylight hours.
- December 2026, likely: City Council considers the design contract with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.
- 2027: The city and the firm hold public sessions to turn the framework into a detailed final plan.
- 2029: The mayor's stated target for finishing construction.
- 2031: The end date for the Vibrant Denver Bond's 58 projects.
The Park Hill Park newsletter is the sign-up the city lists for staying involved in the park's next steps. Cleanups and volunteer days go up on Engage Denver.
At Graham Group Real Estate, we'll keep following the Park Hill Park timeline through the December contract vote and the 2027 design sessions. If you'd like to talk about how the park's phasing fits into your own plans near 35th and Colorado, start a conversation with us.
