DENVER (KDVR) — A key factor in Denver’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will include the city’s 16th Street Mall Improvement Project.

The project is expected to help create and support nearly 1,500 jobs and generate $107 million in labor income and $261 million in sales.

But perhaps the most noticeable change many of us will see is the look of the 16th Street Mall.

The Denver office of the global design firm ‘Stantec’ is leading the landscape architecture and urban development component of the redesign of the mall.

The proposal includes a new canopy look with 240 trees, which is 96 more trees than there are now.

Originally, the 16ht Street Mall had 199 trees, but 55 have been removed due to disease or damage.

Even with 144 trees remaining, the strip serves as the longest continuous canopy in Denver.

“The primary difference you’ll notice between the current 16th Street Mall layout and what will happen with this new canopy is the trees are actually pulled back from the center median on to an extended sidewalk. So the experience of being under the trees and enjoying the shade and all of the cooling properties a tree canopy provides a city will be more pedestrian oriented,” said Michael Griffith, a landscape architect with Stantec.

To help establish a more resilient tree canopy, ‘Stantec’ came up with a design that will include 9 different species of trees.

It could take a three to five years before we recognize any noticeable changes to the tree canopy on the 16th Street Mall, according to ‘Stantec’.