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82 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / June 2020 / Buell Public Media Center / dia, had never designed a commercial real estate project in her life. But, to her this new venture meant the oppor- tunity for something far more impactful for Colorado. “The original impetus was to build a new space that would allow us to bring together our Denver-based staff who were spread out across two different locations,” says Mountain. “When I took over as CEO, I saw an additional opportunity to expand that vision to include public me- dia as the center of local storytelling and journalism. So, we began to talk to potential partners who would be in- terested in contributing to this vision and through those conversations we arrived at what I would describe as a statewide center for public media.” The location, originally brought to the table by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, was attractive to Rocky Moun- tain Public Media because of its location on the 5280 Loop, in the festival corridor and just a few blocks from Coors Field. The site provided the public visibility RMPM desired. “There was an objective to increase accessibility and transparency of what we’re doing inside the building,” says Mountain. “Generally speaking, media facilities are concrete boxes and you don’t really know what’s hap- pening inside. We did not want to take that tack. We love this neighborhood because it allows us to be more vis- ible, where we will get more walk-in traffic, and where we could be, literally, transparent at the street level, bringing more windows into the space so that you can see media being made.” 2015 Mortenson and Tryba Join the Team With their location secured, requests for proposals went out for an architecture firm and according to Moun- tain, Tryba Architects quickly rose to the top based on “their connection to the community and track record of building dynamic places of engagement.” Tryba helped determine and finalize Rocky Mountain Public Media’s programming needs, paying keen attention to its strict budgetary requirements. Wells Partnership was brought on as owner’s represen- tative and the teams entered into a design build agree- ment with Mortenson Construction. With Tryba’s sup- porting assets, Rocky Mountain Public Media kicked off its capital campaign, the lifeblood of the project. The Buell Foundation, longtime partner of Rocky Mountain PBS, came on as lead sponsor with a $6 million investment and the rest of the $35 million was raised through traditional philanthropic support, property con- solidation, land swaps and tax credits. “It’s the largest fundraising project in Rocky Mountain Public Media history,” says Mountain. “In fact, this is only the second capital campaign in our 67-year history.” The Design Phase As the Tryba-Mortenson-Rocky Mountain Public Media