The Auraria Campus will soon break ground on its ambitious housing and retail development project.
The first phase of construction is expected to start this summer on the Auraria Campus’ Ballfield Project, which seeks to breathe new life into the Tivoli Quad at 11th Street and Auraria Parkway.
The project will bring non-student residents back to the campus for the first time in decades.
What is now the home to Denver’s three public institutions of higher education — the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver — was once a bustling community of immigrants.
Much of the neighborhood was torn down in the 1960s to make space for the higher education complex.
“We think this is the project that not only will our city council members be excited about, but that our city will be excited about,” said Colleen Walker, the Auraria Higher Education Center’s CEO, to Denver City Council during a Budget and Policy Committee meeting. “It'll be a partnership between the city and the state that we're building something for the full community to use.”
Two buildings constructed on a two-acre vacant parcel of land as part of the project
The project will be constructed on what was once a baseball field. The land became vacant after the campus moved its athletics facilities south of Colfax Avenue.
In the east tower, the campus plans to construct dining and retail space on the first floor. Walker said there’s an unprecedented need for housing for students, marking a shift from the university’s reputation as a commuter campus.
“[MSU Denver] for the first time in their almost 50 year history on our campus, they need student housing,” Walker said. “So we are going to build about 10 floors of student housing, affordable student housing, which we are really excited about.”
The Auraria Campus plans to relocate the Early Learning Center, its daycare center, to the western tower. As part of the move, the center will get a new look and increase its childcare capacity by 30 percent.
Additionally, the Auraria Campus will open 330 units of affordable housing for “faculty and staff and community members”. Rent will be capped for people making between 60-to-120 percent of the city’s average median income.
Construction on both projects is expected to begin this year and finish by 2027.
The Ballfield Project comes as the surrounding neighborhood anticipates major change
Immediately across the street from the development site lies Ball Arena, which city leaders and billionaire Stan Kroenke have an ambitious vision for.
A Denver City Council vote in October paved the way for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment to redevelop Ball Arena’s sea of parking lots into 6,000 housing units by 2050, in addition to a 5,000-seat venue, a hotel, new bike lanes and a three-acre public park.
The deal also ensures that the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche stay in the immediate area until at least 2050.
While the vision for the project received widespread support, including a neighbor-approved “community benefits agreement," activists and community leaders have raised questions about affordability and accessibility.
Both the Ball Arena and Ballfield Project aim to bring housing to Auraria — which has the lowest number of units of all the city’s 78 defined neighborhoods.
It boasts just 63 total housing units, according to city data.
