1. Community Engagement

  2. Plan

  3. Design

  4. Implement

Project Overview

The Alpine-Balsam property, formerly the Boulder Community Health (BCH) hospital, was purchased by the City of Boulder in 2015. Plans for redevelopment have taken shape over the past several years. The reimagined site will provide new affordable and market-rate homes in a range of housing types and will be the future location of the Western City Campus to serve customers and house municipal functions. It will include new public spaces both in and outdoors, new streets and paths, sustainable solutions for infrastructure and buildings, increased tree canopy, a greenway for flood conveyance, easy-to-use travel options and managed parking. The vision for the area is guided by the Alpine-Balsam Area Plan.

Project Status

The two primary uses on the Alpine-Balsam site will be the new Western City Campus, a project being led by the city and housing, led by Boulder Housing Partners (BHP). The city and BHP are working collaboratively as co-master developers of the site. The goals of the Area Plan will be realized through development of these two primary uses which will be brought through the city’s regulatory process prior to any construction beginning on the site.

Hospital deconstruction must be completed in order to advance with development of housing and the Western City Campus. Hospital deconstruction is anticipated to be completed by summer 2023. Flood mitigation is also required to be in place prior to any future development. Obtaining a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) by FEMA is an ongoing process and design work is currently in progress towards this end.

Photo: View of deconstruction progress.

Image
Boulder Community Health hospital deconstruction

News and Updates

  • The final phase of the hospital’s deconstruction is now in full swing, and the community can start to see the building coming down. The project is scheduled to be completed by this summer. The steel from the hospital will be removed and reused in several city projects including the new Fire Station 3.
  • The final phase of deconstruction of the hospital began in Aug. 2022. Steel from the hospital will be removed and is planned to be reused on several city projects including the new Fire Station 3. At the completion of the project, a study of the embodied energy preserved on the Alpine-Balsam site will be finalized. The Brenton Building, Pavilion and parking structure have all been adaptively reused and many materials from the hospital are being directly reused in other building projects or preserved on-site.
  • A Request for Proposals for design services on the new Western City Campus was released in April 2022. The team selected to proceed with advancing design of Pavilion Renovation, civic plaza and site elements will be announced in July. Community and staff engagement on the Western City Campus is currently planned for the fall of 2022.
  • Flood mitigation design process update: Anderson Consulting Engineers was hired by the city to design the flood mitigation channel and facilitate the federal FEMA process (known as a Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) and Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) process) to redraw the floodplain map. It is anticipated that a CLOMR may be submitted toward the end of 2022. Stream Landscape Architects was added to the design team in early 2022 to ensure aesthetic and natural elements envisioned in the Area Plan are realized.

Boulder Community Hospital Deconstruction Aerial Photographs

Community Engagement

Please check back here for community engagement opportunities.

Newsletter

  • Sign-up for the Alpine-Balsam Area Plan and Site e-newsletter to receive project updates below.
  • Sign-up for the city’s planning e-newsletter to receive city-wide planning updates.