Four Seasons Resort Breaks Ground in Vail

Ground was broken in December on the $200 million Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Vail.

The Weitz Co. is the general contractor for the resort - the first Four Seasons in Colorado. The developer is Black Diamond Resorts-Vail LLC.

The resort is under construction on 2.7 acres southwest of the main Vail roundabout, the site of the former Chateau at Vail and Vail Amoco station. It's scheduled for completion in 2008.

The project will feature 120 hotel rooms, 16 condos and 19 time-shares. Hotel rooms will range from 580 sq ft to 3,500 sq ft for the presidential suite.

The development will include a bar and restaurant, a library, spa and fitness center, conference facilities and business center.

City Celebrates Grand Opening of Convention Center Hotel

The Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center - the largest hotel built under the Hyatt name in two decades - opened on Dec. 20 with a day-long celebration that included ribbon-cutting and "illumination" ceremonies.

Hensel Phelps/Walker/Alvarado, A Joint Venture was the general contractor for the $285 million, 1,100-room hotel, designed by klipp-Brennan Beer Gorman LLP-Joint Venture. Construction began in July 2003.

Denver International Airport's FIS Expansion Finished

An expansion and upgrade of Denver International Airport's international arrivals and Federal Inspection Service facilities was completed in late fall, a project spurred by the airport's consistent growth over the last decade.

The expansion and upgrade to the international arrivals facility increased baggage claim capacity by 50 percent by creating a third baggage carousel. Additionally, 5,000 sq ft of new federal office space now accommodates the Customs and Border Protection area during peak hours.

Airport officials also used the project as an opportunity to bring the facility into compliance with new CBP regulations, as well as enhance and update its design. The expansion project was designed by Denver's Fentress Bradburn Architects.

Interior touches feature rich red- and earth-toned carpets accompanied by natural granites in similar hues. The contrasting stainless steel finish on the baggage carousels and stainless steel frames of the baggage information display systems are meant to add sophistication and elegance.

Natural light was incorporated into the passport control area with a window offering views to the Rocky Mountains. Additional lighting helps passengers processing through the facility into the daylit interior of the terminal.

Art C. Klein Completes Its Latest Phil Long Project

Art C. Klein Construction Inc. has completed an Audi showroom and facility for Phil Long Dealerships, the latest project in the 25-year history between the two companies.

Located at 550 Automotive Dr. in Colorado Springs, the new facility has more than 29,000 sq ft, encompassing a 4,000-sq-ft, state-of-the-art showroom, a Quattro Internet Café and 16 service bays, including detailing, car wash and alignment bays.

Other project team members included owner Kip Hampden LLP; architect Bruce Barr, AIA; civil engineer, Associated Design Professionals.; landscape designer, Land Developments Consultants; structural engineer, G.M. Nagel Engineering; mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineer, Farnsworth Group; and specifications consultant, Gregg Voos, RA, CSI, CCS.

Children's Hospital Project Buttons Up for Winter

Denver's Gerald H. Phipps Inc. and joint venture partner McCarthy Building Companies Inc. buttoned up the exterior of the new Children's Hospital on the Fitzsimons Campus in Aurora - just 20 months after the first tradesperson stepped onto the site.

The $360 million project - designed by Denver's H+L Architecture and Zimmer Gunsul and Frasca Partnership of Portland, Ore.- is scheduled for completion by fall 2007.

While it may look like the building is finished from the outside, Phipps/McCarthy is in high gear on the interior.

Since the lower portions of the hospital were enclosed early, interior activity had a head start. Walls are being framed on the first six floors and are substantially complete in many areas. In the operating rooms, in-wall medical systems are installed, and drywall is finished and painted.

The rooftop helipad is in place, and the last of three tower cranes will come down in the first quarter of 2006. By that time, casework, flooring and ceilings will already be well under way inside.

Continuum to Redevelop Old Denver Seminary Site

Continuum Partners has purchased 11.5 acres of land at South University and East Hampden Avenue in Englewood that includes the former Denver Seminary site.

The development - called Kent Place after the Kent Denver School, which was located on the site until 1968 - will be built in three phases in partnership with JVF LLC. The Denver Seminary occupied the site until it moved last year to a new campus at Santa Fe and Bowles in Littleton.

Demolition of the old seminary site will begin in the spring, and construction of phase one of the new project will take place toward the end of the year. It will include luxury residential condominiums and townhomes, as well as retail and office space.

Phase one will consist of approximately 114 high-end, luxury residential units, including 100 condominiums in two mid-rise towers. The additional 14 units will be townhomes. Prices for the condominiums and townhomes will range from $500,000 to $2.5 million. All residential parking will be underground.

Kent Place will also feature 65,000 sq ft of retail and office space.

At full build-out, the site will have 350 high-end, luxury residential units, including 305 condominiums and 45 townhomes, in addition to the retail and office space. With up to 890,000 sq ft of development possible, the total project is valued at more than $400 million.

$18.5M Montrose Memorial Hospital Expansion Complete

GE Johnson Construction Co. completed the design-build contract for the $18.5 million expansion of Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose.

H+L Architects designed the project, which features 91,000 sq ft of new additions, including a new kitchen, mechanical room, emergency department, rooftop helipad with direct access to the ER, intensive and special care units and medical/surgical facility. The work also included 8,000 sq ft of renovations to the existing facility and a fourth-floor shell to accommodate future expansion.

Construction began in January 2004.

University of Denver to Build New Residence Hall

Construction will begin soon at the University of Denver on $37.5 million Nagel Hall, a five-story, 150,000-sq-ft residence hall that will house 200 sophomores and 150 juniors and seniors. It will include several features designed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. Completion is set for fall 2008.

The architect of record is H+L Architecture under the direction of DU architect Mark Rodgers, AIA. A general contractor has not yet been selected.

Nagel Hall will feature a round tower providing a community space on each floor, computer labs and a "home library" with space for groups to study, plus a game room. It will be constructed adjacent to Nelson Hall in the southwest quadrant of the DU campus.

Two smaller buildings - Skyline Apartments and Pioneer Hal - will be demolished to make way for Nagel Hall.

Saunders Begins Work on Broomfield Events Center

Denver's Saunders Construction Inc. broke ground last fall on the new Broomfield Events Center at the Arista development, also under construction along the Boulder Turnpike in Broomfield.

Saunders is serving as construction manager and general contractor for the project, designed by Denver's Sink Combs Dethlefs. Other project team members include the city of Broomfield, Wiens Development, Icon Venue Group and ICC.

When complete, the 6,000-seat, multipurpose events center will host entertainment events such as ice hockey, basketball, concerts and shows, as well as trade shows and other community events.

Memorial Hospital North Project Tops Out

J.E. Dunn Construction, Jonathan Bailey Associates and the Memorial Hospital team celebrated in December the topping out of the new 224,000-sq-ft acute care hospital at Memorial Hospital North in Colorado Springs

Once complete, the $68 million, 89-bed hospital will include radiology, laboratory services, rehabilitation services, urgent and after-hours care, occupational medicine and physicians' offices. The new facility is the first of three hospital patient towers planned for the 82-acre site. Designed with three elliptical-shaped wings, the facility will offer views of the city, the Black Forest and the mountains.

The new hospital consists of 11,000 cu yds of concrete.

On schedule for completion in early 2007, the project reached topping out in 332 days without a lost-time accident.

MW GOLDEN Completes Renovation Projects

MW GOLDEN CONSTRUCTORS in Castle Rock completed two remodeling projects for Arapahoe County and has started a third.

The first, at Arapahoe County's administrative building on South Potomac, was a $41,000 mechanical retrofit accomplished while the facility remained in operation. The project was designed by Abeyta Engineering Consultants.

The second project was a $32,000 design-build remodel of the county's elections warehouse in Littleton, designed to maintain the security of election machines.

MW GOLDEN also completed work for Denver Public Schools' Hilltop Terminal Facility on West Seventh Avenue. The project involved a major renovation of four buildings. The remodeling work, valued at approximately $1 million, began last January.

Most of the facility is used for dispatch and transportation activities. Some of the renovation work required DPS to move out of the buildings; other work was accomplished while the facility remained operational. OZ Architecture is the designer.

MW GOLDEN is now remodeling Arapahoe County's probation office at Altura Plaza in Aurora. The $58,000 project was also designed by OZ Architecture.

Panera Bread Completed in Colorado Springs

Colorado Regional Construction completed a 5,000-sq-ft, free-standing Panera Bread outlet franchise for Nor'Wood Development in Colorado Springs - in record time.

The company had negotiated a 93-day schedule to deliver a temporary certificate of occupancy. Despite a number of challenges, including a cement shortage that hit the area in October, the final certificate of occupancy was delivered in 115 days - beating the chain's national, free-standing record by 12 days.

Located at corner of Powers Boulevard and South Carefree Circle, the new Panera Bread was designed by St. Louis-based architect Frederick Goglia.

Brinkmann Set to Build Third Home Depot Project

Brinkmann Constructors of Colorado was selected to build its third Colorado Home Depot store in the past year, the most recent to be located in Lakewood.

Ground was broken in December on the 133,000-sq-ft store and garden center. It's scheduled to be completed in July.

The architectural sheet metal-sheathed building will occupy a 10-acre site at the intersection of Colfax and Wadsworth. The project will require extensive sitework improvements, including 1,500 ln ft of box culvert, improvements to Colfax Avenue and demolition of eight existing buildings on the site.

Ware Malcomb Wins Bison Materials Industrial Project

Ware Malcomb was awarded the contract to design a 27,000-sq-ft industrial building for Bison Materials Ltd., located at the intersection of East 24th Drive and Uravan Street in Aurora.

The new facility will include approximately 2,000 sq ft of office space and 25,000 sq ft of distribution warehouse space. The single-story, tilt-up building will also be serviced by an outdoor storage yard with rail access.

CMC Group Inc. of Denver will develop the project, set to begin construction this month.

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