A $156-million expansion is underway to consolidate University of Colorado athletic departments into one set of connected facilities. It is the largest-ever design-build sports project for the Denver office of Mortenson Construction, and the largest single-phase athletic expansion underway in the country. Mortenson is leading the design-build team and Denver-based Populous is the project architect.
The project includes a 220,000-sq-ft expansion of CU's iconic Folsom Field; a new 120,000-sq-ft, net-zero energy indoor practice facility (IPF); and a 550-stall, below-grade parking garage. An expansion at the northeast corner of Folsom Field will connect Dal Ward Athletic Center to the east skyboxes and house the athletic department and football team in the new Champions Center. The design also ties in space for physical rehab facilities with a high-performance sports medicine center that will be open to the public. In a novel concept for a university, Boulder Community Health and University Physicians will occupy a 27,000-sq-ft space on the second floor of the Champions Center. "Very few university athletic departments have an interconnected facility [like this]," says Jeremy Krug of Populous. "This is huge for Colorado."