The challenge for the project team was to design and construct a state-of-the-art facility and community hub to attract and retain Boulder’s biotech and life science start-up companies in under a year. But retrofitting the 33,700-sq-ft structure that was originally built in 1984 presented some interesting challenges, such as creating structural designs around the original grain chutes.

The team obtained the original as-builts to assist with planning around the structural components of the 40-year-old building while also identifying cost saving alternatives where possible. A full second story with floor-to-floor height for laboratory operations was added, and the structure was brought up to code and made ADA compliant. The team converted the former grain chute into the elevator and stair core. Crews excavated down 7 ft in the basement for the elevator pit, working against a high-water table, boulders and rocks.