CREJ

DECEMBER 2016 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \

ituated on the bustling U.S. Highway 36 cor-

ridor between Denver and Boulder, the city

of Westminster has much to offer – every-

thing from impressive mountain views, to

engaging shopping districts, to historic museums

and landmarks. But it lacks one important thing – a

downtown. That’s about to change.

The city of Westminster has embarked on an am-

bitious journey to transform the Westminster Mall in

the city’s center into the next urban center on Colora-

do’s Front Range – downtown Westminster. The make-

over includes high-density, urban-scale, mixed-use de-

velopments that will put Westminster on the fast track

to becoming a prominent community and regional destination. With

a focus on green and sustainable building, the city of Westminster is

promoting a more inclusive approach to developing the downtown

area with various contractors and developers, versus one master de-

veloper.

Ample space for parking is fundamental to the success of the devel-

opment, so the first ground-up construction project to break ground is

a parking garage. With a sky bridge connection to JCPenney, a five-sto-

ry mixed-use development wrap and the intent to become the first

publicly owned green garage in the country, this isn’t your average

parking garage.

With a goal of achieving Parksmart certification, our firm designed

and is now building a six-level, 268,000-square-foot parking garage

with parking for nearly 880 vehicles. Parksmart is a green building cer-

tification program that defines high-performing, sustainable garages

to reduce environmental impact, increase energy efficiency, offer bet-

ter lighting and ventilation, and promote alternative transportation.

For designing and constructing the parking garage, timeliness and

efficiency were top concerns for the city. They preferred a design-build

model due to the speed of the front-end process and efficiencies

gained from significantly reducing time spent evaluating budgets and

multiple bids. We were selected for our ability to re-envision the site to

contribute to the larger vision for the entire project.

Nick Lauters

Project

Manager,

Opus Design

Build LLC