Gondolas in Denver? One entrepreneur believes it can lift downtown up

Downtown Denver is often referred to as a trailhead — but not often the main attraction — for tourists visiting the Rocky Mountains.

But what if building a gondola, bringing an iconic symbol and transit option from mountain ski resorts to downtown, could turn it into a destination?

This is the idea that Ryan Ross, the owner of a private investigation firm on the 16th Street Mall, offers to revitalize Denver's downtown, which has been struggling with empty offices, businesses closing and disruptive construction since the pandemic.

Ross is proposing a three-loop gondola system connecting downtown’s most popular attractions, people-moving sidewalks on 16th Street Mall and a 1,000-seat indoor-outdoor amphitheater by Skyline Park.

He created a nonprofit to promote the project called New Downtown Denver and submitted the proposal to the newly-expanded Downtown Development Authority, the city’s financing tool expected to inject $570 million into downtown to revitalize the urban core.

"Downtown Denver needs a big infusion of energy and vitality and safety and fun," Ross told The Denver Gazette. "And what they've (city officials) done so far is not helping."

Getting the money for a gondola won't be an easy lift, he said.

His project details building an 8-mile gondola system with 15 stations looping around Civic Center Park, connecting to 16th Street Mall and Union Station or to the Lower Highland (LoHi) neighborhood. The total cost could range from $120 million to $340 million, according to estimates Ross got through informal consultations with gondola manufacturers.

With the amphitheater and the moving sidewalks, his proposal could range between $219 million and $543 million.

Downtown needs 'bolder' ideas, Ross said

Ross, a Denver resident for 40 years, was previously an investigative reporter and writer for Westword before founding his private investigation firm. Ross Investigators PC, Inc. has an office on 16th Street Mall and Champa Street.

After looking out his office window overlooking the $175 million mall construction every day, Ross said, he was disappointed with the results. That’s when he began to think about what he would have done instead.

Gondolas could be a major catalyst to attract tourists and uplift all buildings, he said, rather than giving money to property owners to fix their own properties. 

“Denver would be playing off the state's premier form of outdoor recreation and everyone would see the connection that Denver is the gateway to a series of world-class ski areas,” Ross said.

Some cities have implemented gondolas, including Portland, La Paz in Bolivia and New York City's famous Roosevelt Island Tramway.

And Denver has considered a gondola before.

In 2020, Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure released a multi-modal transit plan titled “Denver Moves: Downtown,” which included an idea for a Central Platte Valley gondola connecting Union Station to LoHi.

“Envisioned as a fast, frequent ride across I-25, the South Platte River, and the railroad tracks, it would reduce the time to walk between Lower Highland and Union Station to approximately three minutes and open up walkable access to the Sunnyside and Highland neighborhoods,” the plan stated.

But it was just a proposal with no source of funding, DOTI said at the time. The plan mentioned conducting a feasibility study for the lift to examine operations and financing options as a potential next step.

DOTI did not respond to questions Monday about the status of the Central Platte Valley gondola system and if any feasibility studies have been conducted. 

Chris Allington, CEO of Whoosh LP, a New Zealand-based gondola company with an office in Boulder, conducted its own case study of building a gondola grid network in Denver similar to a metro system. Whoosh said it's not affiliated with Ross' New Downtown Denver project.

"Think of it as combining a gondola system with an Uber," Allington said. "Elevate above the chaos and go to where you need to be."

Allington said gondolas are a great way to use downtown's empty parking spaces and encourage another mode of transportation without the hassle of traffic. And it could be cheaper, too. 

An 8-mile gondola network between $100 million and $300 million leans on the higher side of costs, Allington said. Conventional gondolas cost about $11 million per mile. And Whoosh is trying to bring the cost down to $5 million per mile by using smaller hubs for stops and lighter infrastructure. 

"You need small infrastructure with a low cost and a small footprint so it can fit in an existing urban environment without affecting existing transit," Allington said.

The CEO of Whoosh said he engaged with state and city leaders on a project last year, but the company's technology was still at an "early stage of development." 

"They've been keen to stay engaged as we work through our development phase," Allington said.

Ross said he hopes the project gets the attention of Mayor Mike Johnston and Denver residents to consider “bigger and bolder” ideas than the ones already out there to revitalize downtown.

He said moving sidewalks on 16th Street can be equipped with cameras to greatly expand security on the mall and the amphitheater would operate year-round and be another source to attract people downtown.

"There has never been a more important — or exciting — time for our entire community to rally around downtown and the potential that exists for this place," Diehl said.

Can it get funding? 

There's a major hurdle to get the gondola project off the ground: money.

The proposal includes seeking Downtown Development Authority funding, Denver general obligation bonds that Johnston is working on putting on the 2025 ballot, private partnerships and federal transportation grants. 

Ross submitted the gondola proposal through the city's registration of interest form instead of a formal application since the DDA's rules limits applications for public spaces and infrastructure only to city agencies. Funding for properties, businesses or art installations goes through a separate application process. 

City officials have said the DDA will primarily act as gap funding to fill the final financial needs of potential developments, such as expensive office conversions through tax-increment financing, rather than fully funding projects from the ground up. And at a public information meeting on the application process, officials said they don’t intend to spend most of the $570 million upfront.

Denver Chief Projects Officer Bill Mosher said applicants who are not property owners should have the support of the property owners — that’s including the city, which owns the right of way and public spaces. 

And only city agencies can apply to use DDA funding for public spaces, Mosher added, so a department like DOTI would have to submit a project like a gondola.

While a gondola system could be considered a catalytic investment into downtown, he said the scale of building one could be worth "more money than we have.” And some of the loops and stations would be outside the DDA's boundaries, which would make those parts ineligible for consideration.

Ross said the criteria limiting applications for public spaces is a “mistake.”

He said there should be more input from the community on how the money is used instead of relying on initiatives from aides in City Hall.

“I hope to persuade them to be more broad minded about it and listen to ideas from others,” Ross said.

While he has done some preliminary work and got cost estimates from a gondola manufacturer, Ross also said his hope is for the city to put out a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to find the best gondola system for Denver.

Ross said he's invested his own time and money promoting the idea because he believes it will benefit downtown properties, businesses, residents and tourists. 

While his resume isn't in the transit space, the private investigator and downtown business owner added he's "putting it out there" for Denver residents to consider.

"I hope that they call Mayor Johnston, and say, 'You know what? You need to take a careful look at this because this is pretty damn cool,'" Ross said.