The plot of land, called Lot M, is in the middle of a key corridor that neighbors want to see changed from an industrial hotspot to a cozier, more pedestrian-friendly community.<\/p>\n
Denver Water officials hope to move part of the utility\u2019s operations there as they make room for the new stadium on its campus next to Burnham Yard. They have identified Lot M as a prime location for Denver Water\u2019s central emergency response facility if the Broncos\u2019 plans for Burnham Yard come to fruition.<\/p>\n
But residents of the surrounding area have complained for years that the nearby cloverleaf interchange for Colfax Avenue and Federal Boulevard divides the community and creates unsafe conditions for pedestrians and drivers.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, opponents and supporters of the Lot M plans have kicked off a series of back-and-forth letters to the city over whether Denver Water should be able to take over the property.<\/p>\n
The complication is symbolic of a larger theme: While the Burnham Yard deal may seem to some like it\u2019s all but finalized, there are still dozens of steps before the Broncos can put shovels in the ground.<\/p>\n
Everything that\u2019s happened so far has been like the setup of a Rube Goldberg machine<\/a> \u2014 an overly complicated system that incorporates things like domino cascades, marbles rolling on a track and rubberband-powered levers to complete a task.<\/p>\n The Broncos, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston\u2019s office, Denver Water and community groups have all begun placing the figurative dominoes, toy race cars and pulley system that will make up the process to build the stadium.<\/p>\n But no one has tipped the \u201cstart trigger\u201d yet by making key final decisions.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s some disagreement among close observers of the project about when exactly that chain reaction must begin to meet the 2031 deadline, the consensus is that major decisions need to be made in roughly the next two months.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timing of everything is constantly on my mind,\u201d said Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres, whose district includes both Empower Field and Burnham Yard. \u201cThe complexity of this is just hitting everybody in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n The Broncos must relocate several components of Denver Water\u2019s sprawling campus<\/a>, much of which sits on the site of the future stadium; begin negotiating with the surrounding residents for a community benefits agreement<\/a>; win various approvals from the often-skeptical council; finalize the purchase of the bulk of Burnham Yard from CDOT<\/a>; and still acquire another critical plot of land from SRM Concrete<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before construction can start, a crew will also have to clean up the area through environmental remediation<\/a>. Team officials will likely seek tax-increment financing for the project, too.<\/p>\n While the overall task isn\u2019t impossible, it becomes more difficult with each passing week, sources familiar with the negotiations say. The team announced Burnham Yard as its \u201cpreferred site\u201d<\/a> for the future stadium in September.<\/p>\n Dispute over parking lot<\/p>\n Resolving the fight over Lot M is just one of the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n In a May 11 letter to Johnston, the council and Denver planning director Brad Buchanan, dozens of advocacy and community groups urged the city to reject plans to use the site for Denver Water infrastructure.<\/p>\n The group called the Colfax and Federal interchange a \u201cphysical and symbolic barrier\u201d that must be addressed.<\/p>\n \u201cIntroducing a new industrial use on Lot M at this critical moment would be a significant step backward. It would preempt ongoing planning, constrain future redevelopment options, and jeopardize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to realize the community\u2019s vision for this area,\u201d according to the letter.<\/p>\n The group cited several city planning documents, including the West Area Plan<\/a> and the Stadium District Master Plan<\/a> for the area around Empower Field. Those plans suggest that the interchange should be removed or redesigned. The federal government provided a $2.4 million grant to begin developing a plan to do just that.<\/p>\n But after over a year of analyzing possible sites, Denver Water identified Lot M as its best option for relocating its emergency response facility. The building must be centrally located with easy access to Interstate 25, Interstate 70 and the Sixth Avenue Freeway so that emergency services can be deployed quickly, Denver Water CEO Alan Salazar wrote in a May 26 letter to Torres.\n<\/p>\n Salazar added that Denver Water never wanted to leave its campus of over 100 years, but that its leaders were working to help make the Burnham Yard stadium a reality \u201cto support the economic prosperity of the largest community we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we must scrupulously protect all Denver Water ratepayers by avoiding any public subsidy for private development consistent with the Denver Charter,\u201d he wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n The Broncos, which have an agreement to cover Denver Water\u2019s relocation costs, agreed to provide most of the acreage necessary to replace<\/a> the parts of its campus that the utility will move to the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, on a property near East 40th Avenue and Clayton Street.<\/p>\n![\"Empower](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TDP-L-MILE-HIGH-LOT-M_JAC0369.jpg\")
Empower Field at Mile High parking lot M in Denver on Saturday, March 21, 2026. (Photo by Andy Cross\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n