After five months of renovations, Denver’s building is set to fully reopen to the public Friday with a redesigned Great Hall and remodeled guest rooms at the Crawford Hotel. The work was the first major makeover since the completion of a $54 million overhaul of the building a decade ago as part of into a metro transit hub. The central hall, often referred to as Denver’s living room, has gotten a new layout, look and seating.
“Thousands of people a day walking through this space — (so after) 10 years? It was just time to refresh it,” said Ed Blair, the area general manager for Sage Hospitality who oversees Union Station, as well as the Crawford Hotel on the building’s upper floors. The latest renovation came with an $11 million price tag and kicked off in February. Visitors and attendees of events planned Friday through Sunday to mark its completion will notice several changes to the Great Hall.
Potted flora and custom furniture now dot the space, which has warmer tones and curving lines to make it more inviting. Gone are two central shuffleboard tables. On the opposite end from the Terminal Bar are new kiosks that will host a florist, a pastry chef and an information center run by Visit Denver.
But , circa 1914, remains the same. Back then, some 100 trains a day chugged through Union Station, Blair said. Now, it services only two Amtrak trains each day, but dozens of Regional Transportation District trains pull out of the commuter rail station beside the building .