Former Hospital Site Transforms Into Boulder’s Western City Campus

BOULDER, CO – Construction is underway on the Western City Campus, a new centralized civic hub taking shape at the former Boulder Community Health hospital site at 1155 Alpine Ave.

Led by the City of Boulder, the project is part of the long-term Alpine–Balsam redevelopment effort and is designed to consolidate city offices, customer service functions, and public-facing spaces into a single, accessible campus. The goal is to replace a fragmented network of leased and aging facilities with a modern municipal center that improves efficiency, public access, and environmental performance.

Renderings Sourced from City of Boulder

Adaptive Reuse Anchored by Mass Timber

At the heart of the Western City Campus is the adaptive reuse and expansion of a former medical office building into a 117,000-square-foot municipal facility. Roughly 41 percent of the existing structure is being retained, while a 62,000-square-foot expansion is being constructed using mass timber.

Height restrictions limited vertical growth, so the project expands horizontally and includes a one-story vertical addition. Mass timber was selected not only for its structural efficiency, but also for its ability to reduce embodied carbon, improve daylighting, and create warm, public-facing interior spaces.

The project team estimates a 73 percent reduction in embodied carbon compared to new construction, largely due to the reuse of the existing structure and the use of low-carbon materials.

Renderings Sourced from City of Boulder

Sustainability and All-Electric Operations

The Western City Campus is designed as an all-electric facility supported by rooftop solar photovoltaics that are expected to supply nearly 40 percent of the building’s annual energy needs. Overall energy use is projected to be more than 80 percent lower than the 2030 baseline.

Additional sustainability strategies include a super-insulated building envelope, low-global-warming-potential concrete, salvaged steel from the former hospital campus, and advanced mechanical systems aimed at improving indoor air quality and occupant comfort.

The campus will also be the first mass timber civic project in Colorado to source a significant portion of its structural wood from within the state. Approximately half of the cross-laminated timber used in the building will come from Colorado sawmills, supporting local forestry and manufacturing supply chains.

Renderings Sourced from City of Boulder

A Public-Facing Civic Campus

Beyond office space, the Western City Campus is designed as an active civic environment. Plans include public plazas, pedestrian and bicycle connections, community meeting spaces, and transparent ground-floor uses intended to strengthen the relationship between city services and the surrounding neighborhood.

Public art installations are also being integrated throughout the campus, including murals, sculptural works, and pieces located within the plaza and parking garage.

Renderings Sourced from City of Boulder

Project Timeline

Community engagement, operational analysis, and architectural design took place throughout 2024. Groundbreaking occurred in late 2024, with major construction continuing through 2025 and 2026. The Western City Campus is expected to open to the public in 2027.

The project is one component of the broader Alpine–Balsam Area Plan, which aims to redevelop the former hospital site into a mixed-use district that includes civic facilities, housing, and public open space.

Development Team

Architect: ZGF

General Contractor: Saunders Construction

Mass Timber Partners: Timberlab, KL&A, SmartLam

Flood Mitigation Contractor: CEI Constructors

All project information was sourced from publicly available site plans, renderings, and permitting documents.

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All project information was sourced from publicly available site plans, renderings, and permitting documents.