What's The Buzz At Union Station?

DENVER (CBS4)- There is a new housing development at Union Station that's getting a lot of buzz-- four honey bee colonies.

Urban bee keeping is growing in popularity around the world and now it's finding a place among the latest redevelopment project in the heart of downtown Denver.

There are four colonies or hives located at the urban transit center. Each hive contains 7,000 to 10,000 bees.

The bees will make local honey for area restaurants. The idea behind the colonies is to create "buzz" or awareness about what's happening with the bee world.

The expert beekeeper at Union Station hopes the hives will create conversation in the community and help educate the public on some of the bigger issues at hand.

"People probably won't know that there are bees on the rooftop. Bees just kind of do their own thing so you know, they're not going to get in your way," said beekeeper Caitlin Rose Kenney. "In terms of why it is important for us to be aware of the honey bees and take care of them, it's mainly because when the honey bees die off then a lot of our food sources die off as well."

The restaurants and coffee shops in Union Station are funding the rooftop colonies. The first harvest isn't going to be a big one because the bees are just getting settled into their new home.

Everyone invested in the project believes it more about the bees than the honey. Next year experts expect the harvest to be bigger.