The local historian Mark Barnhouse described 16th Street as “the heart of a great city” in his book about the 1.7-mile commercial strip.

But lately, that heart has been struggling to pump blood.

Mayor Mike Johnston and downtown boosters are betting big that a $175 million construction project and a $100,000 rebranding will bring life back to the former 16th Street Mall — now renamed 16th Street.

The mall is a one-mile portion of the strip, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei and built in 1982. It serves as Denver’s main pedestrian street. Boosters long heralded it as a must-visit destination, a concentration of the best Denver has to offer — even as national chains took up many storefronts.

But in the last five years, downtown’s restaurants, retail, tourism and commercial real estate

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