U.S. 285 Reconstruction Under Way/Denver Police Crime Lab Project Set to Begin/Bear Creek Park Playground Opens

Hampden Reconstruction Design-Build Project Begins

In June, the Colorado Dept. of Transportation selected Concrete Express Inc. and Tsiouvaras, Simmons, and Holderness Inc. as the design-build team for its $40.1-million project to reconstruct Hampden Avenue (U.S. 285) between Kipling Street and Federal Boulevard.

The project will replace the structurally deficient bridges on Hampden Avenue over Wadsworth Boulevard, among other improvements.

Construction is scheduled to begin in November, with an estimated completion date of June 2011. For more information about the project, go to www.dot.state.co.us/us285wadsdb.

Design Under Way on Denver Police Crime Lab

Durrant and SmithGroup have started design on the city and county of Denver’s new Denver Police Crime Lab, to be located on the southeast corner of Delaware Street and West 14th Avenue in Denver.

The new facility will be approximately 60,000 gross sq ft with an overall bond project budget of $39 million. Among other upgrades, the new crime lab will provide more space to analyze forensic evidence and support crime scene investigations. The short list for the construction manager-at-risk or general contractor had been selected when this issue went to press in August. Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2010.

The Police Crime Lab is being funded as part of the city’s $550-million voter-approved Better Denver bond program. For more information, go to www.denvergov.org/betterdenver.

Grace United Methodist Church Addition Dedicated

Eidos Architects and Grace United Methodist Church recently celebrated the dedication of the church’s new narthex and library addition.

The addition is intended to serve as a place to congregate before and after services, to welcome visitors who may be attending for the first time and to hold overflow crowds during large services such as Christmas and Easter.

The architecture is intended to blend with the unique geometry of the original building while creating a clean and modern new entrance to the church.

Access Construction of Palmer Lake served as the general contractor for the addition.

Bear Creek Park Discovery Playground Opens in South Denver

Design Concepts’ renovation of Bear Creek Park Discovery Playground included a focus on the existing Sombrero Slide and the development of a design story etched in a playground wall. (Photo courtesy of Design Concepts)

The recently renovated Bear Creek Park Discovery Playground, located at 3579 Raleigh St. in Denver, south of West Hampden Avenue and east of South Sheridan Boulevard, opened in July. Construction on the $500,000, one-acre playground began in 2008.

Lafayette-based Design Concepts began the park redesign in 2007 for Denver Parks & Recreation. The themes for the playground are nature and history in Colorado. Major elements include play features inspired by Colorado wildlife and history and play areas designed for different ages.

The main Discovery Playground area focuses on the Sombrero Slide, an existing sculpture-slide that was renovated. Design Concepts developed a design story, etched in a playground wall, which incorporates the sombrero as the hat of a giant cowboy who comes across Bear Creek and settles in for a nap. This play area includes the emerging knee and foot of the sleeping cowboy.

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