Boulder moves Ball expansion, Hill hotel, apartment project forward without debate

BOULDER — A trio of high-profile development projects — the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. campus expansion, a new hotel in the University Hill neighborhood and an Arapahoe Avenue apartment complex — moved smoothly through steps in Boulder’s city approval process Tuesday evening when the Boulder City Council declined to call up any of the proposals for additional scrutiny. 

As a result, the Waterview apartment project is poised to begin the final construction permitting process, while elements of the hotel and Ball projects, both in earlier phases of the approval pipeline, will come back before city officials prior to groundbreaking.

Waterview, a mixed-use proposal with more than 300 residential units and 15,000 square feet of commercial space at 5801 and 5847 Arapahoe Ave. in east Boulder, received unanimous support from Boulder’s Planning Board earlier this year. 

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That “politically diverse, viewpoint-diverse” body’s decision speaks to the quality of Boulder-based developer Shutkin Sustainable Living LLC and Denver-based Zocalo Community Development’s proposal, Councilwoman Rachel Friend said. 

Waterview would add 317 residential units across 10 buildings, split between 182 studios, 91 one-bedrooms, 22 two-bedrooms and 22 three-bedroom townhomes. Eighty units would be deed-restricted affordable housing for people earning 50 percent to 60 percent of area median income.

In a first for Boulder, the affordable units would be integrated in the same buildings and same floors as market-rate units.

The 15,000 square feet of commercial space would be divided between ground-floor retail and a potential restaurant or brewpub. The development would also feature 421 parking spaces and 618 bicycle parking spaces.

Ball Aerospace, an arm of Westminster-based metal-packaging manufacturer Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL), intends to build three new buildings at its 1600 Commerce St. campus that would add 375,000 square feet on the roughly 27-acre site. 

In addition to the three new buildings — one of which would total 295,000 square feet and the two others 40,000 square feet each — proposed at Ball’s Boulder campus, the firm wants to build a new 850-space parking garage and a sky bridge over Commerce Street.

The proposed buildings are planned to be up to 55 feet in height and with a floor-to-area ratio greater than is allowed under current zoning regulations, planning documents show.

City officials are considering a measure that would allow the Ball site, along with the Diagonal Plaza shopping center, to be added to Boulder’s list of properties at which buildings up to 55 could be allowed. That ordinance was introduced on the City Council’s consent agenda Tuesday and will be reviewed further at a future meeting. 

“Ball Aerospace is one of the cornerstone city employers,” Councilman Aaron Brockett said. “The [proposal] looks interesting, and it looks like they’re on their way to approval potentially.”

Mayor Sam Weaver praised Ball as an “economic anchor” for the city.

Also seemingly cruising toward approval are plans by Denver-based Nichols Partnership to build a new hotel at 1313 Broadway near the University of Colorado campus.

The proposal calls for nearly 115,000 square feet of space split between two interconnected buildings with 189 guest rooms and more than 9,000 square feet of retail space. 

Nichols Partnership’s plans are distinct from another nearby hotel proposal. The University of Colorado is planning a $130 million, 250-room hotel with a 25,000-square-foot conference center on a roughly 3-acre plot on Grandview Avenue in the northwest corner of campus.

“I think it’s an extremely well-designed project,” Councilman Mark Wallach said of the Broadway hotel proposal. “I think it’s an important step — hopefully — toward the revitalization of the Hill.”

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