Sad that we lost a bunch of cool buildings to parking lots.

But then again, I am an Infill-Public Transportation-Pedestrian snob.

'Surface parking lots multiplied in the early '80s, when speculative developers demolished old buildings to make way for shiny new office towers aimed at supporting the high-flying oil industry. Before the bust, downtown land was selling for up to $1,500 a square foot.

When the market crashed, new construction came to an abrupt halt, leaving downtown with an abundance of parking. Twenty years later, downtown Denver has begun to boom again.

The number of people who work downtown hasn't budged since 1986 - about 110,000, and 45 percent of them commute on mass transit, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership Inc.

The number of people who live downtown has grown from about 6,500 in 1986 to more than 9,000, but most of their homes come with parking spaces.'

The Denver Post