Denver council authorizes property acquisition for Quebec-AirLawn bridge project

Denver City Council authorized the city Aug. 10 to acquire about 20,519 square feet of property interests for the Quebec & Airlawn Bridge Project and pursue eminent-domain proceedings if affected parties do not agree to compensation or cannot be located.

Council Bill 26-1043, listed for final consideration on the Aug. 10 council agenda, designates two partial acquisitions: 9,733 square feet, or 0.2234 acres, at 4200 N. Quebec St., and 10,786 square feet, or 0.2476 acres, at 7415 E. 41st Ave. Together, they total about 0.471 acres.

The bill text authorizes the mayor and city representatives to negotiate and acquire fee title, permanent and temporary easements, fixtures, permits, improvements, access points and related interests. It also authorizes payments and related agreements without further council action.

The city’s land-acquisition request identifies both property portions as belonging to CBM Two Hotels LP, which it identifies as the owner of the Courtyard by Marriott. The records do not disclose purchase offers, appraisals, agreed compensation, relocation payments or condemnation-award terms.

If an owner does not agree on compensation, is incapable of consenting, is unknown or cannot be located, the bill authorizes the city attorney, at the mayor’s direction, to begin eminent-domain proceedings under Colorado law. The authorization does not show that condemnation has begun or that the acquisition is complete. The filed bill records council passage Aug. 10 but does not include a vote tally, mayoral approval, final ordinance number or publication date.

The project would replace the existing Quebec Street structure over East Airlawn Road with a berm-supported roadway. Denver’s current project page says Courtyard by Marriott access from 41st Avenue will remain, while the route west of the hotel beneath Quebec will become a pedestrian-only path. The project also includes filling sidewalk gaps along Quebec and improving connections to the Sand Creek Regional Trail.

Funding and construction timing remain unsettled. Denver’s July 29, 2025 revised Vibrant Denver bond-package document lists $9.25 million under an executive committee recommendation but $0 under the city’s revised recommendation. It does not establish a final project cost, an active appropriation or the amount remaining to be spent. The current project page says construction funding was removed from the current bond cycle and is expected to come from a future bond issuance.

The project page lists right-of-way acquisition as beginning in summer 2024 but gives the construction start as “TBD.” An earlier 2022 city presentation projected construction from late 2024 through late 2025, but that schedule is outdated.