A Defunct Westside Power Plant: Eyesore or Opportunity?

For more than 100 years, the brick power plant at Zuni Street and West 14th Avenue generated electricity for Denver using steam. But now that the plant has been retired, it presents a conundrum: Should the crusty old building and its two smokestacks be demolished? Or somehow redeveloped into an asset for the Sun Valley neighborhood? Host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi visit the defunct Zuni Generating Station with Denver’s first-ever chief urban designer Eugenia di Girolamo to talk about how the building known to some as “The Devil’s Castle” could become Denver’s next iconic landmark. 

The Denver Post has more on the old Xcel Generating Station, and the Colorado Encyclopedia has more on the Denver Tramway Powerhouse (Aka, the REI building). Bree talked about the latest development in DPS’s “seclusion room” controversy and flu season. 

What non-residential building would you most want to live in? Residential conversions are all the rage, but is everyone thinking way too small! Of all the non-residential buildings in Denver, which would you most want to move into? Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear your pick on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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