A massive redevelopment project in Louisville continues to generate controversy. It’s known as Redtail Ridge - a proposed redevelopment of the former Storage Technology Corporation campus.
Once again, the redevelopment project is before the city council for approval. A prior proposal was approved by the council, but voters overturned it. The latest version would include a relocation of AdventHealth Avista Hospital.
Chris Wood, editor, and publisher of BizWest, discussed the topic with KUNC’s Programming & Operations manager Desmond O’Boyle.
The proposed Redtail Ridge includes a more than 400-acre development at U.S. Highway 36 and Northwest Parkway. Storage Technology Corporation had a large headquarters and manufacturing facility there until they sold to Sun Microsystems in 2005. Later, Sun Microsystems sold to the computer software company Oracle, moving those jobs to locations in Broomfield.
The Louisville property was purchased back in 2008 by ConocoPhillips, which planned a large renewable energy research facility there. It was slated to employ 7,000 workers, but that project never came to fruition. Then a Denver company bought the property and envisioned a massive redevelopment that would have included housing, manufacturing, health care, and other amenities.
“It would have encompassed about 5.2 million square feet. They eventually submitted a somewhat scaled down plan that won approval from the city council, but voters forced the council to shift gears,” said Wood. “The current developers, Sterling Bay, out of Chicago, have submitted a new ‘plat,’ which is basically a plan as to how the land will be developed.”
ConocoPhillips removed all of the storage tech buildings in preparation for its since-abandoned plans. The Denver developer, Brue Baukol Capital Partners, proposed a development that has drawn opposition due to concerns over traffic, public spaces, sustainability, and other issues.
“Right now, we're looking at almost two decades of uncertainty about the fate of this property,” said Wood. “Avista opened in Louisville back in 1990. And you can see it on the turnpike there up on the hill. That was after the Adventist health system closed Boulder Memorial Hospital, in part due to access issues. But it turned out that this new location back in 1990 shared many of those same issues.”
Get top headlines and KUNC reporting directly to your mailbox each week when you subscribe to In The NoCo.
Avista is located on Health Park Drive, which dead ends at the hospital. The facility has no room for expansion, and the Marshall Fire demonstrated the particular vulnerability of that location. Flames came right up to the edge of the property, with only one way to evacuate. Hospital officials now want to relocate to Redtail Ridge, where they say access would be vastly improved.
“They actually have a contract to purchase land at Redtail Ridge. They've had that for a couple of years. But those efforts have been stymied by these continuing controversies over the project's fate,” said Wood. “Last week the city council met to consider this new plat for the project, which would include about two-and-a-half million square feet of space, including a life sciences campus as well as an Avista hospital.”
But that city council meeting will continue Feb. 20, during which council members will ask questions of the developers and the public will once again have a chance to weigh in.
