Ball expansion could double workforce to nearly 2K

BOULDER —  Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s planned expansion at its Boulder campus could more than double its workforce by the time the project is complete, documents submitted late last month to city planners show. 

A traffic-assessment letter drafted on Ball’s behalf by Civtrans Engineering Inc. shows that there are 841 employees working at the Commerce Street campus. That number is estimated to jump to 1,932 by the time the multi-phase expansion is complete in 2034.

Employees at the Boulder campus of the aerospace arm of Westminster-based metal-packaging manufacturer Ball Corp. “have and are creating some of the most significant spacecraft for NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other federal agencies including instruments for the Hubble Telescope, the Kepler Space Observatory, and the James Webb Space Telescope,” according to planning documents.

The expansion, which is making its way through the city’s preliminary planning process, would add 375,000 square feet on the roughly 27-acre site on the north side of Arapahoe Road between 48th Street and Range Street.

New planning documents reveal Ball plans to accomplish the expansion in three phases over about a decade. 

Phase one would include the 190,000-square-foot expansion of the existing Fisher

Building and the demolition of several smaller buildings. 

“Included in this manufacturing expansion will be numerous next-generation, very large spacecraft clean rooms to allow Ball to continue growing as a major national player in the space vehicle arena,” according to planning documents. “A new entry lobby and new security checkpoint for the campus will also be built to the east of the existing Fisher Building, serving as the new ‘front door’ for the Ball Aerospace Campus.”  

The second phase would add another 123,000 square feet to the Fisher Building and a new parking garage. Ball’s Tech Tower would be demolished in this phase.

“Like in Phase 1, this phase will contain numerous next generation, very large spacecraft clean rooms and additional large thermal vacuum test chambers,” according to planning documents.

Phase three includes construction of two office buildings totalling 80,000 square feet and an expansion of the parking garage to allow for 985 total parking spaces, the traffic memo said. 

“Though a phasing timeline is not firmly established, the first phase is anticipated to be

completed by 2025, the second phase following approximately three years after (2028)

and the third phase another three years after (2031). Currently the second office building

is estimated to be completed by 2034,” according to the document.

Currently the campus offers nearly 1,100 parking spaces. At buildout, the number of spaces will total 1,711. 

Ball and its consultants estimate that the expansion will generate 228 morning peak hour trips, 179 afternoon peak hour trips and 2,596 average daily vehicular trips at buildout.

The trip memo and other planning documents account for potential post-COVID-19 work-from-home habits.

“Prior to the COVID epidemic, Ball Aerospace had a flex-time policy. As a result of the

challenges of 2020, Ball learned a great deal about the effectiveness of remote work

with a substantial number of employees working from home,” planning documents show. “During 2020, functional managers were empowered to maximize the use of remote work, and Ball Aerospace made significant investments in remote information technology tools, to

include establishing a program to provide zero-interest loans to employees to purchase home office equipment.”

Ball is “working to understand what the ‘new normal’ will be [and] we anticipate having a formal, long-term, remote work policy in place in 2021, which we project may reduce single passenger vehicle commuting trips by 10 to 20%,” according to the documents.

To accommodate new traffic to the site, Ball’s plans contemplate an extension of Riverbend Road to Arapahoe Avenue.

“The city has expressed an interest in a connection between Riverbend Road across the

Ball Aerospace campus to Arapahoe Avenue. The Concept Plan shows vehicular traffic

loop from Riverbend Road, across the southwest corner of the west Commerce Street

parking lot to Arapahoe Avenue. The design connection provides a Riverbend Road exit

to Arapahoe Avenue while being sensitive to Ball Aerospace’s security requirements

(minimizing cross-traffic on the campus),” according to planning documents. 

The project does not include a residential component, but Ball estimates that its affordable-housing linkage fee could exceed $8 million at buildout. 

In planning documents, the firm has committed to purchasing “100% of its Boulder electricity supply from the renewable market as a corporate initiative to support less reliance on fossil fuels and a lower carbon footprint, in support of the city’s goals.”

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