Denver has almost no open land left for new parks, and on Saturday, Sept. 26, it opened an 80-acre one. Carpio-Sanguinette Park & Heron Pond Open Space opened in north Denver at East 51st Avenue and Emerson Street. The ribbon-cutting with Councilmember Darrell Watson ran from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. As The Denver Post put it, the park reclaims land in a city that has hardly any left for new parks, and it is unlike anything else among Denver's roughly 280 urban parks.
The park started as a drainage project, and the parts most worth seeing are the parts the drainage work left in place.
The engineering came first
The city's project page says the project took more than 10 years and began as a stormwater basin. Crews started on stormwater infrastructure in July 2022 and finished in spring 2024. The park improvements began in January 2025 and wrapped up this year.
That first phase was more than pipes. It also built park trails, a nature overlook, two parking lots and habitat restoration, and it repaved Emerson Street plus parts of East 51st and 52nd avenues. A good share of what you'll walk on was finished before the playground went in.
The basin is big. It treats runoff from more than 700 acres before that water reaches the South Platte River. The total cost was more than $39 million. Funding came from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure's Green Infrastructure team, Park Legacy Funds, Great Outdoors Colorado, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado Health Foundation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Adams County Open Space.
The site is really four pieces joined together. Heller Open Space is on the west. Heron Pond is on the north. Carpio-Sanguinette Park, formerly Northside Park, is on the south. On the east are 20 acres the Denver Wastewater Group bought for stormwater management. New paths run through all 80 acres, so you can cover the whole thing on one walk.
What the designers chose to keep
The site sits on the old Northside Wastewater Treatment Facility. Its concrete bones, covered in graffiti, were preserved as monuments to a neighborhood long shaped by heavy industry. Parts of the land fall within the Asarco Globe Cleanup Site, and the city says those areas were remediated to remove or contain the contamination.
Landscape architect Gretchen Wilson of Dig Studio, the firm that redesigned downtown's 16th Street, told the Post the industrial edges of the park were the hard part:
"Nature really took over in some areas, so we didn't have to do anything there. The challenge we faced was that the borders of the park are still industrial. We had a lot of ideas about whether we would try to screen it out or fight it. But once you're inside it, you really get a sense of how unique it is. So we worked with it."
You'll see that approach all over the park. The retention pools have planters made from slices of concrete drainpipe. The constructed wetland is planted with native prairie grasses and low-water trees, flowers and shrubs. Neighborhood residents decided to keep the popular graffiti walls, and with provisional approval from Denver Parks & Recreation, people can still paint on them. Parks staff will monitor to make sure the paint stays on the walls. Wilson told the Post that some Denver artists got their start there.
The new features sit alongside all of this: a large nature-themed playground, a BMX pump track, a picnic shelter with a restroom, and a small amphitheater with stage power for live music. CBS Colorado also reported a pavilion plaza.
The names on the sign
The park's name honors Sal Carpio, one of Denver's first Latino city council members, and the Sanguinettes, homesteaders who settled the area before that. According to Denver Parks & Recreation's Cinceré Eades, community advocate John Zapien was among the loudest voices in recent years pushing for environmental justice and health improvements in the area.
Eades, assistant director of urban ecology and trails, told the Post she has spent 10 of her 15 years at the department on this project. She said the Audubon Society sat on the steering committee to protect the bird-friendly parts of the site, and that "the community really drove this process, because they were heavily involved over all these years. This is theirs."
Heron Pond is the reason to come in October
The north end is where the "keep what nature built" approach pays off. The Post reports frequent sightings of great blue herons, egrets, migrating ducks and other birds that nest around the pond and the wild area along the park's northern edge. Heron Pond now has a new bird blind and an observation tower.
Audubon led bird walks at the ribbon-cutting. Until another guided walk is announced, plan on going on your own. Bring binoculars, start at the blind and finish at the tower.
Getting in this month
The project is finished, but the roads around it aren't quite done. Here's what to know before you head over:
- Address: The city lists the park at 1401 E. 54th Ave., Denver, CO 80216.
- Parking: The picnic shelter and amphitheater sit beside a new lot a few dozen yards north of the National Western Center. The rebuilt 51st Avenue bridge also makes the park easier to reach.
- 51st Avenue work: Through Saturday, Oct. 31, road and sidewalk work on 51st Avenue between Clarkson and Logan streets means single-lane closures and shoulder work, according to the city's Globeville Elyria-Swansea project page.
- Bikes and walkers: The same page warns of a pedestrian detour at Bettie Cram Drive and National Western Drive. It says bike path detours will continue and change as bridge construction moves along.
- Hours and dogs: I didn't find hours specific to this park, so the citywide park rules apply. Urban parks are open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Dogs must be leashed and under physical control, and owners must pick up after them.
- Bigger groups: Gatherings of more than 25 people need a city permit.
Make a morning of it with the campus next door
Because the park sits right beside the National Western Center, the water theme carries through. Here's a half-day route that follows it:
- Start at Heron Pond early. Walk south from the blind and tower, past the wetland and drainpipe planters, to the graffiti walls and playground near the parking lot.
- Walk over to CSU Spur. It's free and open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. The Hydro building has a water lab, a stream table, a Makerspace and a cafe. Terra has rooftop greenhouses and vertical gardens, and Vida's exhibits include equine treadmills and animal surgeries. The GPS address is 4777 National Western Drive, and visitor parking is paid.
- Time it to a tour. The Spur calendar lists guided tours of all three buildings on Friday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. More tours follow on Nov. 6, 13 and 18 and Dec. 4 and 11. Second-Saturday family events are set for Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, with details still to be announced.
- Save dinner for November. The Stockton, a steakhouse from Bryan Dayton with executive chef Samuel McCandless, is coming to the Exchange at 4701 N. Marion St. As of this writing, its site still says "Coming Soon" with a November 2026 target. No opening date has been announced.
The bigger seasonal shift arrives in January. The National Western Stock Show runs Jan. 9 to 24, 2027, on the campus next to the park. The Post reports the park's edge was designed for food trucks, art festivals, live music and school visits, and the amphitheater's stage power is already in place for them.
At Arlene Burgess, I love finding places like Heron Pond, the kind of spot that changes how a corner of Denver feels on a Saturday morning. If a new park, trail or campus near you has you thinking about how your neighborhood is changing, I'm happy to talk through what I'm seeing across north Denver and the rest of the metro. Let's connect. Schedule a consultation and bring your questions.
