Blair Russell and Steve Wargo kicked off their LoDo theater with a song and a dance.

It wasn’t their first production, but rather, the overly elaborate and frustrating process of getting money from the Denver Downtown Development Authority.

“By the end, it was like CC’ing just 10 people on emails, just hoping that one of the people was the right one,” Russell said.

The duo were awarded a $400,000 loan from the city affiliate last July to help them launch the Denver Immersive Repertory Theater at the corner of 15th and Blake streets. They said what ensued was months of back and forth, with redundant questioning and confusion from city staff.

“Some of them, it didn’t feel like they even knew who we were or what we were asking for,” Russell said.

The men finally got their loan last month. But they said the ordeal pushed back the theater’s opening date by at least two months.

“How do we plan to open a business when we have no idea how many more steps this is going to take, what the process is and what they really, truly expect the timeline is?” Wargo said.

DDA tasked with revitalizing downtown

The DDA has existed since 2008, when it was formed to redevelop Union Station. In the wake of the pandemic and years of construction along the 16th Street Mall, a small group of voters extended the organization’s mandate to the whole of downtown, approving $570 million in bond funding.

That money will be used for a variety of things intended to revitalize the area, from helping launch retailers to renovating parks and partially financing the conversion of offices into apartments. The money is generally expected to be repaid from the increase in taxes created by the new investments.

About $155 million has been awarded so far.

When Russell and Wargo applied for DDA funding in early 2025, their business plan was largely ironed out. The two were looking to open an “immersive” theater, where people come to participate in the play, not just watch. Its first production, “Midnight’s Dream,” will feature 11 rooms with scenes happening simultaneously — 18 hours of acting in each show.

The pair hoped to put DDA money toward the $750,000 build-out of their location at 1431 15th St. When they applied, they were under the impression that the award would be a grant.

“I think everybody went into this not knowing how the funds were going to be delivered,” Russell said. “So you just make some assumptions. And we heard that there were grant funds, we heard that there were loans — that they had different ways of implementing this.”

Ultimately, a loan is what they got. The terms: 10 years at 3% interest, better than they’d be able to get elsewhere. Mayor Mike Johnston announced July 30 that Russell and Wargo’s theater, along with nine other projects, would be awarded a combined $100 million.

“Today launches downtown Denver’s economic recovery into overdrive,” Johnston said at a news conference.

First recipients just now getting money

But as the mayor was speaking, the DDA had yet to even source the money it was awarding.

Among the funding recipients announced in July was Green Spaces, a recently shuttered RiNo coworking, event and retail space that’s opening at 16th and Welton streets.

“It wasn’t smooth, but it wasn’t a terrible, strenuous process,” Green Spaces CEO Jevon Taylor said of working with the city and DDA.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur said his opening date for Green Spaces was pushed back from spring to this summer. But he doesn’t attribute that to one party, instead saying that he faced difficulty getting everyone — the city, his landlord, his subtenants — on the same page.

“I was just playing middleman,” Taylor said.

The city approved DDA for its own loan in November, giving it the first tranche of funds to dole out. PNC Bank provided the authority with a $160 million loan expiring in July 2038 and a short-term, $50 million line of credit.

Denver International Airport expects to see more than 1.3 million passengers go through security during the spring break window between March 11 and 29, a challenging amount of traffic in and of itself.

And doing that with Transportation Security Agency workers who are not getting paid because of the partial federal government shutdown seems like a recipe for massive lines.

 That scenario is playing out in airports across the country already, as security workers are calling out so they can work other jobs to pay their bills.

Denver International Airport has yet to be hit as hard, but the potential remains there. March 20 and 22 are expected to be among the busiest days for screenings during the season, according to the airport.

Here is how to get real-time updates on security wait times.

How to check wait times at DEN?

To check wait times at Denver International Airport, go to flydenver.com/security. The page gives waiting times for each checkpoint, differentiating for those who will undergo a standard screening and the line for those with TSA Precheck and CLEAR.

The page also has other important information, including directions on how to sign up for an appointment to skip part of the line at the checkpoints, the latest directions on what to do with your belongings at the screening and how long average walking times are to go to gates.

How long are wait times at Denver International Airport?

As of 2 p.m. MT on March 19, times were:

• East Security, standard: 3 to 7 minutes  
• East Security Precheck: 3 to 7 minutes
• West Security, Standard: 0 to 4 minutes
• West Security, Precheck:  1to 5 minutes

Denver is considering dropping its two scooter providers in favor of a sole operator — a company called Veo that plans to offer cheaper prices for rides and more scooter options.

If the City Council approves the deal, Denverites would no longer see Lime and Bird scooters on the streets beginning in May. Veo would take over that month, offering the familiar standing scooters now used, along with seated scooters, two-person scooters, cargo bikes and trikes.

The company also plans to offer cheaper rides for all users and a discount for Denver residents.

The current rate is $1 to unlock a scooter or e-bike, plus 44 cents per minute of riding. Under the new deal, the $1 unlock fee would remain but Denver residents would pay 25 cents per minute while other riders would pay 39 cents per minute.

The new provider would also enter Denver as new city rules for riding are taking effect. Veo’s scooters and bikes would have a built-in audio system warning riders when they’re breaking safety rules — like riding on sidewalks or stopping erratically. The council last year passed an ordinance that will require sidewalk-detection technology by July 1, with parking restrictions required for some areas by next year.

The Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure selected Santa Monica, California-based Veo from among several providers through a competitive bidding process, said senior city planner Nathan Pope. The licensing agreement with Veo would last at least three years, with Veo paying the city $250 per scooter device each year for up to 9,000 of them deployed throughout the city.

That would mean a cost of up to $2.25 million annually if Veo maximizes its Denver fleet.

“This decision was not made lightly,” Pope said Wednesday about Veo’s selection. “They were the strongest across all criteria.”

The council began the process of formally considering the deal when DOTI and Veo staff members presented the framework to its Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The panel’s members unanimously decided to delay voting on the contract until April 1, citing an interest in seeing the full contract first.

“You can’t ask this body to vote on things we can’t read,” council President Amanda Sandoval said. “I just want to read contracts. It’s my job.”

Public commenters and some council members expressed an interest in keeping the two-provider system by extending the city’s contract with Lime, which is backed by Uber. Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez said that would create redundancy in case of service interruptions.

“That is a risk that I’m not really sure DOTI considered,” she said during the meeting.