The New Face of The Mile-High City

"The redevelopment of LoDo is one of Denver's success stories and part of its efforts to diversify its economy. The area was helped along by the development of nearby Coors Field, and the Pepsi Center where the Democrats will converge.

'When we first moved down here there were practically more pigeon occupants than people,' says Joyce Meskis, owner of the independent Tattered Covered bookstore that opened downtown in 1994. Today, new loft-style condos are rising all around the lower downtown area and the development has brought many new residents, including Ms. Meskis, here.

'The life it's brought, the energy, just the reinvigoration of the city feels good. When you have the preservation of the urban core with its cultural architecture with the legacy of that it's something special,' she says.

Historian Thomas Noel, who has penned many books on Colorado, says if he were writing a new chapter on the city it would be called 'Return to downtown.'

Denverites have rediscovered a city that was essentially one big skid row until the 1990s when developers started moving in, opening restaurants and converting buildings into lofts, says Mr. Noel.

'Almost from the beginning of Denver's history, there was suburbanization. Now for the first time we see wealthy people moving downtown. The core city is actually growing,' he says.