Construction on SugarCube Complete/Northern Colorado School Earns Sustainable Honors/Several New Libraries Under Construction

JE Dunn Team Completes Work on SugarCube in LoDo

Construction is complete on SugarCube, a 195,405-sq-ft, mixed-use building located on the corner of 16th and Blake streets in Lower Downtown Denver.

JE Dunn Rocky Mountain broke ground in January 2007 for the 10-story building, which includes three levels of underground parking. The first floor consists of retail, floors two through four are office space, and floors five through 10 offer high-end residential rentals.

Urban Villages, the project developers; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects of Toronto; OZ Architects; and JE Dunn worked together to bring the project to an on-time completion.

Passco Will Develop New Technology Center Near ConocoPhillips Site

A 20-acre site near the Highway 36 corridor and the recently acquired ConocoPhillips office campus will house a multi-phased project creating two business centers within the Colorado Technology Center in Louisville.

The development arm of Passco, a California-based real estate company, announced in September it had acquired one of the primary sites for industrial development within the Colorado Technology Center, which includes two approved PUDs for an 84,000-sq-ft flex/research-and-development building and a 104,000-sq-ft flex/R&D building.

Passco anticipates breaking ground this fall on the first phase of the development, called One Technology Center. Current plans include a LEED-certified building that offers significant commercial real estate for technology-related companies.

The property was purchased for $3.8 million, or $4.25 a sq ft.

Pascal II Addition Project Under Way at Anschutz Medical Campus

The Rocky Mountain Operations division of Baker Concrete Construction Inc. of Aurora recently installed a super-flat slab for Saunders Construction Inc. at the new Pascal II Addition located on the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.

Baker placed and finished 9,300 sq ft of floor consisting of four 220-ft by 10-ft strips in two pours on Sept. 3 and 5.

Baker has also completed additional place and finish services locally for multiple general contractors, including R&O Construction, Catamount Constructors Inc. and Haselden Construction.

Bethke Elementary Earns Sustainable Honors

In August, Poudre School District in Northern Colorado opened Bethke Elementary, the latest addition to a series of sustainable schools designed by RB+B Architects Inc. The 63,000-sq-ft, two-story building is expected to achieve high-level certifications from both the Green Building Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council.

Bethke has been designated as the country’s first school to earn three Green Globe awards with the Green Building Initiative. It is targeting gold certification under the USGBC’s new LEED-for-Schools classification.

Some of the Bethke’s sustainable features include daylighting, a highly efficient building envelope; state-of-the-art, high-efficiency mechanical and electrical systems; operable windows for controlled occupant comfort; as well as the use of renewable energy resources.

Dohn Construction completed the new elementary school.

White Construction Group Completes Green Roof on Central Branch Library

White Construction Group has finished the installation of the city and county of Denver’s first green-roof project on the 7th floor balcony of Denver’s Central Branch Library.

The new roof membrane includes two steel-framed planters with precast concrete panels constructed under LEED guidelines. The Denver Botanic Gardens donated plant material, and Rainbird donated the irrigation system.

Bennett, Wagner and Grody Architects of Denver served as the architect, and Lime Green Design of Denver served as the landscape architect.

Two Colorado Communities Begin Construction on New Libraries

Englewood-based Fransen Pittman General Contractors has started construction on two new facilities for the Rangeview Library District, both designed by Humphries Poli Architects.

The new 20,000-sq-ft Brighton Branch Library is located downtown and is part of the new Brighton Cultural Center, which includes the Historic Armory Performance and the Visual Arts Center.

The single-story, metal-framed Brighton Branch Library has separate areas for adults, teens and children. The $4.9-million library features a tree house-inspired getaway space in the children’s area. When completed in July 2009, the project will be submitted for LEED-Silver certification.

Rangeview Library District’s second groundbreaking was for the new $1.7-million Bennett Branch facility in the town of Bennett, 40 mi east of Denver. The 7,000-sq-ft library will triple the size of the former library located on the same site.

Like the Brighton facility, the Bennett Library will have a tree house-inspired getaway space in the children’s area. The teen area will have a study room, computer stations and comfortable seating. Anchoring the northeast corner of the library will be a 50-seat multi-use community room with a separate entrance that can be used when the library is closed.

New Delta County Library Under Construction

MW Golden Constructors of Castle Rock began construction earlier this year on a new public library for the Delta County Public Library District in Paonia.

Features of the new 8,000-sq-ft library include public meeting rooms, outdoor seating, landscaped areas, study rooms for small groups, wireless computer access, an expanded children’s area, a separate teen area and an area specifically dedicated to Paonia history.

The new Paonia Library was designed by Denver’s Humphries Poli Architects to incorporate green building features, including a geothermal field for heating and cooling, natural lighting, optimum energy efficiency, low-water landscaping, preservation of existing trees, reuse of current library shelving and recycled building materials at the request of the owner.

The building is expected to be complete in January 2009.

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