The firm that designed Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City and the landscaping around the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will work out plans for Denver’s new Park Hill Park, the city announced Tuesday.
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, a landscape architecture firm with offices in Denver, Brooklyn, Cambridge and Los Angeles, has also done work in Austin, Tulsa and Dallas.
“These 155 acres are an unparalleled opportunity to create a landscape for gathering and exploration that forges connections across community,” said founder Michael Van Valkenburgh in a news release. “We look forward to creating a park that uniquely belongs to Denver.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, whose administration acquired the park in 2025, announced the firm’s hiring during a news conference at the park Tuesday afternoon. For decades, the park had been a golf course, and the city’s acquisition came after voters rejected a ballot measure that would’ve allowed a plan to redevelop parts of the land to proceed.
“Parks capture the magical moments in people’s lives, and this space has captured millions of such moments and will continue to do so,” Johnston said in the release.
The parkland, which doesn’t have many amenities yet, opened to the public last October. Johnston’s administration swapped 165 acres of empty city-owned land by Denver International Airport to get the land from Westside Investment Partners.
The firm will work based off of a “framework vision plan” that the city developed following a public outreach process. The vision plan calls for a park packed full of amenities, including multiple athletic fields and courts, a field house, a playground, a mini golf course, an off-leash dog park and a bike and pedestrian path. The city and the design firm plan to continue working with the community on the vision for the park in 2027, according to the release.
The city will also officially designate the land as a park, according to the release.
“Designating the site as a park will legally protect its use as a park. Designated parkland in Denver cannot be sold or disposed of without approval of voters,” according to the release.
“This moment is about so much more than just a park,” said Councilmember Shontel Lewis, whose district includes the new park and who is running for mayor against Johnston in next year’s election. “For decades, this land has been part of the fabric of Park Hill. It has been a place of gathering and connection. The best design doesn’t just transform a landscape, it honors the people within it.”
The Vibrant Denver Bond, which voters approved in 2025, included a $70 million fund for the park buildout.
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