High-end mixed-use projects to test top price range for downtown Boulder

New downtown Boulder mixed-use projects are popping out of the ground quickly with the prospect of the new St. Julien Hotel finally arriving. Downtown employees carrying their lattes are stepping around closed-off sidewalks, and hard hats are everywhere as work crews pound away.

With such a wet spring and green hillsides, one can’t help but stop and admire the Flatirons views from here. And developers, counting on that downtown desirability, are shooting for top prices.

Speakers at the hotel’s groundbreaking gushed over the prospect of new business that could enliven the area. The hotel’s developer, described as Bruce ?Bulldog? Porcelli…