Boulder County to sell North Broadway Complex, consolidate operations

BOULDER — Boulder County plans to offload its North Broadway Complex government-services hub in Boulder and will consolidate existing operations there at its newly purchased 28th Street building.

By selling the North Broadway Complex, which encompasses 17.5 acres and houses workers in Boulder County’s housing and human Services, community services, mental health partners and public health departments, the county said it will reduce its office holdings in Boulder city limits by 17% and cut “operating carrying costs by $15 million over the next eight years.”

The property, according to the Boulder County Assessor, had a total actual value of nearly $24.4 million as of 2024. It includes more than 108,000 square feet of existing buildings and adjacent county-owned ballfields.  

“The North Broadway Complex’s location, transit access and existing infrastructure suggests significant opportunity for reuse,” the county said Tuesday.

“Several departments” located at the North Broadway Complex, which has a street address of 1333 Iris Ave., “will relocate, offering services from the new 28th Street location once a modest energy efficiency upgrade and remodeling is complete. This transition is expected to take more than a year,” Boulder County said late last year when it bought the 28th Street property for $14.2 million.

“Relocating in-person service delivery from the North Broadway Complex affords an opportunity to meet several county goals and to explore future uses of the North Boulder Complex property to meet other community priorities,” Boulder County assistant county administrator Yvette Bowden said in a December 2024 statement after the 28th Street building was purchased. “Good governance and the stewardship of public resources is always a county priority thoughtfully considered for both short-term impacts and long-term opportunities.

For years, Boulder County officials have mulled the future of the North Broadway Complex, which was described as being in generally “poor condition” in Boulder County Facilities Master Plan document, last published in 2018.

“The North Broadway site has sufficient land and could be configured in such a way as to create a node along the North Broadway corridor while also providing affordable housing,” that document said. “While it still remains to be seen if the surrounding community would support such a development, the potential of the site is very strong.”

On Tuesday, the county said that “(a)fter careful consideration, Boulder County will not pursue continued ownership and redevelopment of the North Broadway Complex,” but a county spokesperson told BizWest that a potential buyer or type of buyer — an affordable housing developer, for example — has not yet been identified. 

The county said that it plans to “submit a land use change request for the property during the 2025 Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update process.” 

A joint work session on the BVCP, which guides regional land-use decision making, involving Boulder County and City of Boulder officials is scheduled for Wednesday. No action is expected to be taken at that meeting.

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