Denver's upscale Cherry Creek North neighborhood is experiencing its biggest construction boom since the 1980s, with more than $500 million in commercial and residential projects going up, recently completed or planned. Demand from businesses and residents is driving the development. Related Links: Redesigned Fillmore Plaza Sderves Mutiple Purposes Haselden Named 2014 Colorado Contractor of Year But the growth has changed the historical profile of the neighborhood, bringing with it taller buildings and increased density. The city and county of Denver passed new form-based zoning for Cherry Creek North this fall that didn't affect current construction projects but will figure into

Specialty contractor Douglass Colony Group Inc. of Colorado has a penchant for tackling tough, often one-of-a-kind roofing jobs—from the historic Colorado State Capitol dome in downtown Denver to a health care company's skyscraper headquarters. Related Links: Douglass Colony Wins 2014 AGC ACE Award Douglass Colony Wins 2013 AGC ACE Award "We do the basic box buildings, but really our niche is difficult work that takes more thought and engineering," says Steve Bechtholdt, Douglass Colony executive vice president and head of its metals division. "We do a lot of fabrication. We have a craft mentality when it's demanded and when someone

Related Links: Week-Long Safety Drive Bendix Collision-Mitigation Technology Orange cones and concrete barricades still may be the norm for keeping workers and drivers safe on road construction projects, but movable barriers are being used more often as owners and contractors look to improve safety and productivity.Such systems—whether they're called mobile barriers, movable barriers, protective beams or zipper walls—generally include a prime mover plus a metal blocking section that extends between the work zone and traffic.The barriers are used largely on congested road, highway and bridge projects, from paving to expansions, and can be driven to the construction site and moved

The I-225 Rail Line under construction through the Denver suburb of Aurora is a key piece of the region's mass transit infrastructure—and a long-awaited link between the metro area's growing southeastern suburbs and Denver International Airport, one of the world's busiest hubs. Related Links: RTD Board Approves Kiewit Proposal for I-225 Rail RTD Breaks Ground on I-225 Rail Project The 10.5-mile light rail line, dubbed the Aurora Line by the city, will connect the Regional Transportation District's (RTD) largely completed Southeast light rail line and its East commuter rail, scheduled to be finished in 2016. The eastern line originates in

Thousands of people will celebrate the May 9 grand opening of the exterior renovation of Denver Union Station into a sprawling $500-million multimodal transportation hub for the Mountain West. Union Station’s transit component includes an underground regional bus facility with 22 bays, an eight-track commuter rail hall with five platforms  covered by a sweeping canopy and significant landscaping and improvements to surrounding streets.The Union Station design-build project stretches over 40 acres in downtown Denver’s Central Platte Valley and was done under the aegis of the Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA) as owner. The redevelopment is part of metro Denver’s

The $50-million, 200,000-sq-ft, Class A build-to-suit office building has indoor and outdoor environments that appeal to the well-educated, ecologically savvy employees who work at companies like Google or Apple.

The University of Colorado System stretches over thousands of acres with hundreds of buildings on four campuses.

The $51-million upgrade and expansion of the 40-year-old University of Colorado Boulder Recreation Center has been a real workout for contractors, led by Centennial, Colo.-based Saunders Construction Inc. Crews gutted the original 235,242-sq-ft building on the Boulder campus and are replacing electrical and mechanical systems as well as adding 70,000 sq ft of new space. The project's mechanical upgrades include one of the most sophisticated, sustainable air-displacement systems ever used in a university rec center. Working as the project's general contractor, Saunders is building the project to net-zero LEED Platinum standards and says it expects to achieve the Platinum rating.

Related Links: Racking Up Big Points for Prefab FMI Says Modular Construction Set to Grow In the late 1960s, Texas general contractor H.B. Zachry Co. built a 500-room, 21-story Hilton hotel in downtown San Antonio for the city's HemisFair global exposition, and ended up creating a benchmark in modular construction.To get the Hilton Palacio del Rio Hotel built by HemisFair's April 1968 start, the contractor—now called Zachry Construction Corp.—built the rooms eight miles off site and placed them in the hotel's steel skeleton. The completed room units included plumbing fixtures, lighting, beds, TVs and even ashtrays. A crane hoisted the

When the two-phase expansion of U.S. Highway 36 between Denver and Boulder is finished in a few years, the roadway will be one of the "smartest" and most innovative in the country. The project, whose first phase is one-third complete, will provide four modes of travel in one place for the first time in Colorado—bus, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes as well as a separate commuter bikeway next to the highway. Related Links: CDOT Selects Ames-Granite Joint Venture CDOT Selects Design-Build Team for Phase 2 The multimodal, design-build U.S. 36 Express Lanes Project is estimated to cost