Ball Aerospace expansion cruising through regulatory approval process

BOULDER — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. won preliminary approval from the Boulder City Council to continue moving forward with plans to expand its east Boulder campus. 

A site review for the expansion project was approved on first reading Tuesday, with a public hearing and final vote set for March 1.

The aerospace arm of Westminster-based metal-packaging manufacturer Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) intends to add 310,000 square feet of new building space to its campus at the roughly 27-acre site on the north side of Arapahoe Road between 48th Street and Range Street. That would bring the total square footage to just under 751,000.

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“This is such incredible work to see the evolution of Ball because in many ways, the legacy of this company is the legacy of our community,” Boulder City Council member Matt Benjamin said. 

Once the site plans are approved and building permits issued, construction of the expansion is expected to occur in four phases over the next 15 years with full build-out expected by 2037.

Ball has requested certain land-use-regulation variances to allow buildings to be built up to 55 feet and with a floor to area ratio greater than is allowed under current zoning rules.

The expanded campus could house as many as 2,000 Ball employees. 

“I’ll give a congratulations to Ball Aerospace,” Boulder mayor Aaron Brockett said. “Ball has been an important part of our local community for many, many years and does extraordinarily important work.”

Ball has operated in Boulder since 1956 and has since spread operations to surrounding communities with cheaper, more-plentiful land for expansion.

In 2019, Ball broke ground on a new four-building, 186,000-square-foot Westminster headquarters located at the existing site of Ball’s Packaging Office Center at 9343 W. 108th Circle in Westminster.The same year, the firm unveiled plans to add 137,000 square feet of office and research and development space to Ball’s existing roughly 121,000-square-foot Broomfield R&D operation on 10 Longs Peak Drive.