Broomfield’s 1stBank Center coming down

BROOMFIELD — Demolition began in earnest over the past few weeks at the Broomfield Events Center, formerly known as 1stBank Center, marking the end of a less-than-spectacular era for the 6,500-seat concert, sports and entertainment venue that opened in 2006.

Crews with Colorado Cleanup Corp. could be seen this week working to tear down the exterior walls and beginning to gut the interior of the venue at 11450 Broomfield Lane.

The demolition project is expected to take about six months and cost about $3.3 million.

Broomfield officials had three options for tackling the demolition project, with cost estimates that ranged from just over $3.3 million to a bit more than $7 million. 

The option chosen by the city directs CCC to “demolish the event center with high-reach excavators, shears, and processors,” according to Broomfield planning documents. “Demolition would be completed in a top-down method with equipment that will be able to reach the top of the structure. Electrical equipment and various other items would be repurposed prior to demolition. Concrete and asphalt would be recycled.”

Ideally, redevelopment of the arena site, which is owned by the Broomfield Urban Renewal Authority, will begin soon after the arena is razed, city leaders have said.

Broomfield economic vitality director Jeff Romine told BizWest on Tuesday that the city soon plans to release a request for proposals for redevelopment partners. Broomfield recently updated its Former Event Center Redevelopment webpage with information about the upcoming RFP to help “developers interested in the development begin to consider the opportunity and pull together the necessary team.”

The city and BURA have put out feelers to the development community to gauge interest in purchasing the 10-acre arena site and/or an adjacent 12-acre parcel of city-owned vacant land.

The 1stBank Center was built in 2006 at the cost of $45 million, financed on the back of $59.8 million in bonds. If the city were to play out the string on the initial bond issuance, Broomfield will have paid $135 million for the venue by the expiration date in 2029.

The finances of the venue, which was managed prior to its closure by Peak Entertainment, are complicated because BURA collects its revenues from different sources than the city’s general fund, staffers said during a 2023 hearing on the 1stBank Center’s future.

The 2023 decision to tear down the venue came amid declining box office revenue for 1stBank Center. Peak Entertainment held only about a dozen events at the arena last year before its doors were shuttered for good in early fall 2023.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from a Broomfield official.

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