A trio of high-profile development projects – Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s campus expansion, a new hotel in the University Hill neighborhood, and an apartment complex on Arapahoe Avenue – went smoothly on Tuesday night when the Boulder City Council was running the boulder approval process, and it refused to to call up one of the suggestions for an additional test.
As a result, the Waterview Apartment Project is near the beginning of the final approval process for construction, while elements of the Hotel and Ball projects, both in earlier stages of the approval pipeline, will return before the groundbreaking ceremony before city officials.
Waterview, a mixed-use proposal with more than 300 residential units and 15,000 square feet of commercial space on Arapahoe Ave. 5801 and 5847 in East Boulder, were unanimously endorsed by Boulder’s Planning Board earlier this year.
The decision of this “politically diverse, different from various points of view” body speaks for the quality of the Boulder-based developer Shutkin Sustainable Living LLC and the proposal of Zocalo Community Development from Denver, said councilor Rachel Friend.
Waterview would add 317 units in 10 buildings, divided into 182 studios, 91 one-bedroom, 22 two-bedroom and 22 three-bedroom townhouses. Eighty housing units would be paid housing for people earning 50 to 60 percent of the area’s median income.
In a first for Boulder, the affordable units would be integrated into the same buildings and floors as standard units.
The 15,000 square meters of commercial space would be split between the retail area on the ground floor and a potential restaurant or brewery. The development would also include 421 parking spaces and 618 bicycle spaces.
Ball Aerospace, a division of Westminster-based metal packaging manufacturer Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL), intends to erect three new buildings on its campus at Commerce St. 1600, which will create an area of 375,000 square meters on the approximately 27 hectare site.
In addition to the three new buildings, one totaling 295,000 square feet and the other two each 40,000 square feet, proposed on Ball’s Boulder campus, the company would like a new multi-storey car park with 850 spaces and a sky bridge over Commerce Street to build .
The proposed buildings should have a height of up to 30 meters and a floor-to-surface ratio that is greater than permitted by the applicable building regulations, as the planning documents show.
City officials are considering a move that would allow the Ball site along with the Diagonal Plaza shopping center to be included in Boulders’ list of properties where buildings up to 55 could be allowed. This ordinance was put on the city council’s approval agenda on Tuesday and will be further reviewed at a future meeting.
“Ball Aerospace is one of the top employers in town,” said Alderman Aaron Brockett. “The (proposal) looks interesting, and it looks like they are on their way to potential approval.”
Mayor Sam Weaver praised Ball as an “economic anchor” for the city.
Also on the way for approval are plans by the Denver-based Nichols Partnership to build a new hotel at 1313 Broadway near the University of Colorado campus.
The proposal envisages nearly 115,000 square feet of space divided between two connected buildings with 189 guest rooms and more than 9,000 square feet of retail space.
Nichols Partnership’s plans are different from another nearby hotel proposition. The University of Colorado is planning a 250-room hotel with a 25,000-square-foot conference center on 3 acres on Grandview Avenue in the northwest corner of campus.
“I think it’s a very well-designed project,” Councilor Mark Wallach said of the Broadway hotel proposal. “I think it’s an important step – hopefully – in revitalizing the hill.”
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