Colorado Real Estate Journal -

Depot Square brings new neighborhood to Boulder

by Jill Jamieson-Nichols

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Depot Square is on its way.

Pedersen Development Co., along with the Regional Transportation District and city of Boulder, has broken ground on the long-planned transit-oriented development at 3151 Pearl Parkway. Incorporating Boulder’s 1890 train depot, it will bring 71 permanently affordable apartments, a 140-room Hyatt Place hotel, an underground bus rapid transit station, five-level parking garage and restaurant/entertainment venue to a site where a bus station and parking lot originally were proposed.

“This really is built around the concept of using transit and taking advantage of it,” Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum said at the Aug. 19 groundbreaking. “It really is a model of transit-oriented development.” Within the larger Boulder Junction area, Depot Square is part of Boulder’s first new neighborhood in many years, yet right in the center of the city, Appelbaum said.

“This project demonstrates the enhanced value that public private partnerships can accomplish,” said RTD board Chair Lorraine Anderson, who added the project also shows RTD’s commitment to affordable housing.

Planning for Boulder Junction goes back many years, stemming from RTD’s desire for a regional bus transfer station. The city of Boulder envisioned the station as part of a mixed-use, pedestrian oriented area, which led to creation of the 160-acre Transit Village Area Plan. The 3.2-acre Depot Square site is central to the plan.

‘I think we all
can agree that
even a decade
of work is worth
it when it
comes to a project
of this sort.’

– Lorraine Anderson, Regional
Transportation District

Scott Pedersen of Pedersen Development said the groundbreaking represents a big milestone in a project that his small development company became involved with 2½ years ago.

“If good things are worth waiting for, then Depot Square must be really, really, really great,” he said.

“I think we all can agree that even a decade of work is worth it when it comes to a project of this sort,” said Anderson.

Depot Square is across the street from Whole Foods and within a short walk of Twenty Ninth Street.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction will deliver the project within approximately 18 months. The design team includes SEH Architecture and Larsson Design. JVA Consulting Engineers is the civil engineer. Great Western Bank provided financing.

The historic, 5,800-square-foot train depot is being marketed as a restaurant or entertainment venue. It will have two patios with mountain views.

The entire development will be built to LEED for Neighborhood Development specifications.

The apartments are designed for LEED Silver certification.

The surrounding Boulder Junction area is abuzz with several other transit-oriented developments planned and other properties being marketed for redevelopment.

Pearl Parkway, the north side of which borders Depot Square, is being transformed into Boulder’s first “shared street,” elevating the status of bicyclists and pedestrians. On the south side of the street, ReyLenn Properties is under construction on 3100 Pearl, a 319-unit Class A apartment community, and there are plans for a new city pocket park.

The Junction Place Bridge is being built across Goose Creek to connect the area with the Steelyards mixed-use development to the north.