Boulder takes step to work on ‘civic area’ at St Julien

BOULDER — Boulder’s city manager Jane Brautigam was given the green light Tuesday night to sign a letter of intent with the owners of the St Julien Hotel & Spa to develop the “civic-use” pad, a concrete slab that sits adjacent to the hotel facing Canyon Boulevard.

The council voted 6-0 to let the city’s staff work with the owners of the hotel to develop the pad that preliminary plans call four four floors and a rooftop terrace. Mayor Matt Appelbaum, and council members Sam Weaver and Andrew Shoemaker were not present at the meeting.

The first floor and rooftop terrace is considered the civic-use portions of the building where nonprofits and others could rent space. The civic-use pad was reserved in 2002 in a deal with the city when the St Julien was built. Past ideas for the site have stalled due to financing issues.

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The development restriction expires in 2020, meaning the St Julien would have more leeway in doing what it wants with the property if a deal for the site isn’t reached by then.

Preliminary plans must be modified due to the city’s height restriction of 55 feet, Sam Assefa, senior urban designer in the city’s department of community sustainability and planning, told the council.

The plans call for a first-floor for events that would have an 18-foot high ceiling so the second, third and fourth floors would align with existing hotel floors,

Assefa said the height of an elevator to bring people to the rooftop terrace would exceed the height restriction and “presents a barrier to use the rooftop space.” Council members expressed concern over losing that space that could be used by nonprofits’ events.

St Julien Partners will finance and construct the building and any contributions by the city for the civic-use areas will be identified during the next planning steps.

The letter of intent is not binding to move forward with plans.