CU Boulder Chooses Developer For On-Campus Hotel

BOULDER, CO — The University of Colorado Boulder on Thursday announced the selection of HRV Hotel Partners to lead the development of an on-campus hotel and conference center. The company will oversee the design, financing and operation of the facility.

The announcement followed a CU Boulder Board of Regents vote that authorized the university to enter into a ground lease with the development team for 2.95 acres straddling Grandview Avenue in the northwest corner of Main Campus.

The new facility, which will be the first of its size in Boulder County, will create a venue for large and prominent academic, research and other conferences and events, the university said.

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The facility will also diversify revenue sources for the university to help meet its mission of education and research, while helping to contain the cost of a degree for students and their families, CU Boulder officials said.

“I couldn’t be more excited for this long-awaited project to begin coming to fruition,” CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano said in a statement. “The hotel and conference center will provide a new stage for showcasing CU Boulder’s leadership, innovation and impact.”

Preliminary HRV estimates put construction costs at $130 million. The partnership structure being used in the agreement will significantly reduce the university’s investment in the project, CU Boulder officials said.

Tentative plans include a mid-2020 construction start and opening of the hotel by late 2022.

While preliminary designs are expected in the coming months, the hotel and conference center will include 250 guest rooms, a 25,000-square-foot conference facility and underground parking garage. Its amenities will include a 15,000-square-foot divisible ballroom, along with 10,000 square feet of individual meeting rooms and pre-function space.

For 15 years, the university and the City of Boulder have looked at filling the gap in large conference space that exists in the city, officials said.

Through a 2016 memorandum of understanding, the university agreed to drop consideration of a location at Folsom Street and Arapahoe Avenue and build the hotel and conference center in the Grandview area of campus.

The city said the Grandview location will help jumpstart revitalization of University Hill. The university also agreed to build a larger ballroom than originally planned. In turn, the city agreed to dedicate 45 percent of the accommodation taxes generated by room occupancy of the facility for a period of at least 20 years to support the project’s financial feasibility, officials said. The city also agreed to dedicate an additional 10 percent of accommodation taxes to a buy-down fund to support use of the conference center by community groups and nonprofits.

Terms of the proposed ground lease are still being finalized.