BOULDER — With COVID-19-related travel concerns on the wane and with the University of Colorado playing host to one of the buzziest college football programs in the nation, 2023 could be a big year for Boulder hotels. 

But visitors will likely have to wait until CU football coach Deion Sanders’ third season leading the Buffs before they can check into Limelight Hotel Boulder, a highly anticipated hospitality project on Grandview Avenue in the northwest corner of campus.

According to a corporate update from the developers, Aspen Skiing Co.’s Aspen Hospitality division (formerly known as Little Nell Hotel Group), Limelight Hotel Boulder is expected to open in early 2025.

Located on a roughly 3-acre plot, the project will feature 250 rooms and contain 25,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 15,000-square-foot ballroom. It is expected to cost about $130 million to develop.

CU has long sought to increase the availability of accommodations near campus, a mission made more critical by the potential redevelopment of the Millennium Harvest House Hotel into student housing.

In addition to the hotel that CU is partnering with Aspen Skiing to build, Denver-based Nichols Partnerships is planning accommodations near campus at 1313 Broadway.

Plans for the project, which is expected to include 189 guest rooms and more than 9,000 square feet of retail space, were approved this spring with construction expected to begin soon.

Combined, the hotel projects create “new synergies in an ongoing revitalization of the University Hill business district,” CU said.