As per one of the new orders from President Donald Trump, remote work is ending for federal employees, who must return to the office full time. That could be a boon for downtown Denver, which hasn’t recaptured the office workers, visitors and companies it once had.
But the impact of such a move will be a challenge to measure as efforts are already underway to complete 16th Street Mall construction, recruit new retail, restaurant and corporate tenants, and steer tax dollars to the central business district. Many may already be back in their downtown offices, if only a few days a week.
“Government employees have long made up one of the largest shares of employment in downtown Denver, so the prospect of federal employees returning to office full time is meaningful for the downtown economy,” said Kourtny Garrett, president and CEO of Downtown Denver Partnership, in an email. “Government — whether local, state or federal — has an important leadership role to play across the board, including as it relates to return to office, so we’re also hopeful that this move could be catalytic in nature.”
No one knows for sure how many federal workers still have an office downtown, but there are many buildings that house regional offices, like the Region 8 office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wynkoop Street or the Federal Reserve Bank (and Denver Money Museum) on 16th Street. And of those, no one seems to know how many employees are working remotely.
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