Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic upended office life and emptied downtown business districts across the country, Denver's urban core is again showing signs of energy and activity. Convention traffic continues to rebound from pandemic-era lows, restaurants and theaters are busy, sports and concerts are drawing crowds downtown, and younger residents are filling apartment buildings in neighborhoods like LoDo and RiNo. 

While the city's recovery doesn't look like it did before 2020, city planners and business leaders are optimistic about downtown Denver's future. They believe that success will come from continuing the evolution already underway, creating a downtown that serves residents, visitors, students, workers, and businesses throughout the day and evening.

Amidst this transition, employers are rethinking the purpose of office space itself. Office towers still sit partially vacant. Hybrid work has permanently altered commuting habits. Downtown foot traffic patterns have shifted from weekday lunch rushes to evening and weekend crowds.

For downtown Denver’s accounting firms, the office is now less about individual desk work and more about collaboration, mentoring, relationship building, and culture.

The summer 2026 issue of NewsAccount, now available digitally, takes a look at the question facing Denver’s city planners, business leaders, and employers today: Not whether downtown can return to what it once was but instead, if Denver is no longer built around office workers, what is it becoming instead?

Decades-Long Downtown Usage Patterns

For decades, American downtowns were designed around a simple pattern: Commuters arrived in the morning, worked all day, grabbed lunch, met friends or colleagues for happy hour after work, then returned home to the suburbs.

Before the pandemic, downtown Denver was booming. Office development surged, tech companies expanded, and restaurants and retailers followed the growing daytime workforce. But according to Carrie Makarewicz, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver, many of the trends reshaping today's downtowns were underway long before the pandemic.

She points to decades of shifting urban development patterns that steadily changed the role of downtowns. Jobs moved to suburban office parks. Retail evolved. Rail transit systems were designed as hub-and-spoke systems for daily commuters traveling into city centers from outside the core – but not for people who lived and worked within the city, in between the spokes.

Now that many of those workers no longer need to commute five days a week, downtowns have been forced to adapt.

A Tale of Two Downtowns

While parts of downtown Denver continue struggling with office vacancies, other neighborhoods – including Lower Downtown, affectionately known as LoDo and anchored by Union Station – are thriving. It has largely regained its pre-pandemic vitality thanks to its mix of housing, restaurants, hotels, entertainment, transit access, and public spaces.

"People live, work, and recreate there,” says Brad Segal, president and founding partner of Progressive Urban Management Associates, a consulting firm focused on downtown revitalization efforts across the country.

Makarewicz points to LoDo’s walkability, smaller-scale buildings, public gathering spaces, bike path connections, and active street life as reasons it continues attracting residents and visitors.

Farther east, however, large sections of upper downtown remain dominated by aging office towers and wide one-way streets that feel less welcoming to pedestrians. Those areas now face difficult questions about what comes next.

Makarewicz believes downtowns can no longer rely solely on office workers to sustain them. "The key is having activity throughout the day and evening," she says. "Residents, students, visitors, workers, and families all play a role in creating that."

The CPA Perspective

The full NewsAccount article, “Beyond Office Towers: What is Downtown Denver's Future?”, also spotlights the evolving role of the office – still a significant player in the general daily activity, relationships, and economic connections that have long defined city centers – for professional services providers. 

Matt Beerbower, CPA, RubinBrown’s Denver managing partner, says employees use the firm’s LoDo office in a variety of ways, depending on their role. Younger professionals consistently seek opportunities to work alongside colleagues and learn from those around them. "The newer folks like to be in daily. They've always wanted to work together," he says.

Despite changing work habits, he believes one thing remains constant: "The benefits of being together haven't changed."

Check out the newly-released summer 2026 issue of NewsAccount to learn how city leaders have flipped downtown Denver usage patterns as sports, concerts, conventions, theater performances, festivals, restaurants, and entertainment have become critical draws, as well as how accounting firms have leveraged the downtown transition.

NewsAccount Reader Pulse: Take a look at the summer 2026 issue of NewsAccount and let us know what your favorite read was!