A glimpse at Boulder’s future

BOULDER — There are a handful of residential and commercial development projects and initiatives that could significantly impact where and how people live and work in Boulder for decades to come. They include:

Boulder Municipal Airport/Area III Planning Reserve

Boulder officials and city staff are exploring the potential for expanding city limits — and therefore city services and infrastructure — to include about 500 acres of mostly undeveloped land in unincorporated Boulder County with the hopes that thousands of new homes envisioned for the site would help solve the city’s seemingly intractable housing-affordability crisis.

Annexing the property, located just north of city limits and known as the Area III Planning Reserve, would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars — onsite infrastructure costs combined with offsite capital improvements, according to city estimates, could top $1 billion, although much of that could be funded by private developers.

Preliminary studies of development on Area III envision a mix of attached-housing types with ground-floor retail and free-standing commercial spaces. The total commercial space envisioned could total as much as about 1 million square feet of neighborhood retail businesses, offices and flex buildings that could employ more than 3,000 workers. Early estimates put the number of new homes that could be built on the site at about 6,700, meaning that number of new residents and workers in Area III would likely be measured in the tens of thousands. 

Developing Area III is seen by some as an alternative to a proposal to decommission the Boulder Municipal Airport for the purpose of building housing on the 180-acre site.

A local lobbying group ran a successful petition drive for two ballot measures related to the decommissioning of Boulder Municipal Airport for the purpose of building housing on the site, but withdrew those petitions prior to November’s election.

The city government has been exploring the concept of closing BDU, going so far as to preemptively sue the Federal Aviation Administration, which has opposed all decommissioning efforts.

Business and aviation groups are also against closing the airport. Critics argue that the proposal isn’t feasible and could prove economically harmful both to businesses and city coffers. 

CU South

In 2021, Boulder city officials annexed a roughly 300-acre property known as CU South where the University of Colorado plans to build housing and the city intends to take on flood-mitigation efforts.

The city, according to the CU South project website, is expected to begin flood-protection efforts this year and the university is likely to begin site planning work with an eye toward 2027 for the start of vertical development. 

Annexation has proved controversial in part due to concerns about traffic, over-development and a large increase in the student population as CU is contemplating more than 1,000 new housing units.

Alpine-Balsam

Work finally began in late 2024 on Boulder Housing Partners’ long-awaited Alpine-Balsam project in north Boulder, even though flood-mitigation work is first on the agenda before any buildings can rise on the 8.8-acre site of the former Boulder Community Health hospital, which was purchased by the city in 2015 for about $40 million and largely demolished in 2022.

The city spent about $16 million on the “sustainable deconstruction” project along North Broadway, which included repurposing some of the building materials, and city officials have estimated that another approximately $40 million in capital investment will be needed along with $100 million in issuance of debt.

The flood-mitigation project will remove properties from what the Federal Emergency Management Agency deems a high-hazard 100-year flood plain and will include extensive landscaping, an improved bicycle lane, enhanced pedestrian crossings, a plaza and pedestrian walkway improvements, along with underground utility work. FEMA will need to make a final determination that the flood risks have been mitigated, but some construction of the municipal campus can start at the same time. Dubbed the “Western City Campus,” the building designed by Denver-based ZGF Architects will unite various city services and offices under one roof, and estimated completion is scheduled for 2027.

Next will come 217 new affordable and market-rate homes in a range of housing types. Boulder Housing Partners, Boulder’s housing authority, will oversee the development of the affordable housing units at 1100 Balsam Ave. and 1155 Alpine Ave. as part of an intergovernmental agreement approved by the Boulder City Council in late 2021.

Flatiron Park

San Diego-based BioMed Realty LLC spent $625 million in April 2022 to acquire a 1 million-square-foot, 22-building portfolio in the Flatiron Park corporate campus in east Boulder. The company has spent the last few years transforming the park into a life-sciences and technology campus.

In addition to life-sciences tenants such as Enveda Therapeutics Inc. and Corden Pharma International GmbH, Flatiron Park offices are occupied by a number of technology companies such as Apple Inc. In January, the University of Colorado, with the support of Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines and Elevate Quantum, held a ribbon cutting for an incubator for quantum-technology startup companies located inside the business park.

Naropa University campus

Core Spaces LLC, a Chicago-based student-housing developer, is expected to buy Naropa University’s main Boulder campus and build rental units on the site.

About five years ago, the developer made a splash when it bought the Liquor Mart property at the corner of 15th Street and Canyon Boulevard from W.W. Reynolds Cos. for $16.6 million. The parcel had been the home of a grocery store and a liquor store since 1949, and the adjacent property was the former site of Robb’s Music. Core then built the oLiv Boulder apartments on the site. That project features a 190,000-square-foot building with 146 units and 262 beds.The company, through holding company Core Boulder 28th Street LLC, bought the 99-room Best Western hotel site at 770 28th St. in late 2021 for $28.5 million with the goal of converting it into University of Colorado student housing.

See related stories.

Will a return to work fill Boulder’s growing office vacancies?

Boulder inches closer to providing more affordable housing

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