Denver opens Carpio-Sanguinette Park after several years of renovations

A large open space and community park have opened in Denver's Globeville neighborhood after years of preparation.

On Saturday, officials held a ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony at Carpio-Sanguinette Park and Heron Pond Open Space. The 80-acre nature park includes a new nature-inspired playground, pavilion plaza, pump track and restored open space.

The City of Denver says the project took more than 10 years as crews worked to develop a stormwater basin into a new regional park. The facility also includes a picnic shelter, a restroom, a graffiti wall and an amphitheater for small concerts and events. Visitors can enjoy features that span all 80 acres, including a nature overlook tower.

Steven Zapien says his father's vision for the park goes back much farther than 10 years.

"He (John Zapien) had an instrumental part to help organize and create the eventual park that you see here," said Steven Zapien. "The vision started years and years ago and not just recently but went back 20-25 years ago when the neighborhood was really downtrodden. To see what's become of it is pretty amazing, beautiful, beautiful place."

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston says the park honors the area's history and "tells the stories of the families that have built this place, and it creates a future that welcomes new families in. And you'll see that in some of the artifacts here. This is unlike any park we've ever built in Denver."

Assistant Director of Urban Ecology and Trails Cinceré Eades says the park is an important step in serving a neighborhood often overlooked.

"Not only are we building a regional park in one of our more underserved neighborhoods, we're also cleaning up some of the historic environmental contamination that was here. So, this project gave us that opportunity to really provide some of that environmental justice that was needed in this neighborhood," she explained.

Planning for the Carpio-Sanguinette Park and Heron Pond Open Space project began in 2017, and designs were approved in 2021.

Eades says the $44 million in funding for the park came from a mixture of grants and the legacy fund, a dedicated funding stream created by Denver voters in 2018 to improve, maintain, and expand the city's parks and open spaces.