Colorado Real Estate Journal - December 16, 2015
The Neenan Co. celebrated the opening of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s first build-to-suit office in more than 30 years. The firm served as the design-build partner for the new Region 4 headquarters, a 47,000-square-foot administrative facility located on CDOT’s former site along Highway 34, at the western gateway to Greeley. The new facility consolidates several CDOT administrative offices and includes the Colorado State Patrol. The facility was designed and built to LEED standards to ensure sustainability and increased efficiency, allowing CDOT to recruit and retain top-level employees, according to Neenan. After determining the ideal daylight conditions for the interior space, Neenan decided on windows that wrap around all workspaces, providing views of the surrounding prairie and mountains as a way to improve occupant productivity and satisfaction. Light fixtures optimize the daylight to reduce the size of the equipment and lower equipment costs. The new headquarters provides a work environment that offers both collaborative and contemplative spaces. This was accomplished through a rate of 90 percent open office to 10 percent closed office as well as a series of collaboration spaces ranging in size from small to large, a divisible meeting room and an interchange space. The interchange space is an indoor, non-programmed area that provides CDOT employees with workspace away from their desks as well as meeting space, a common break room area, and a second exit stairway to encourage interdepartmental interaction and physical activity during the day. “The Neenan Co.’s primary goal for this project was to deliver a building that enhanced the way the CDOT team works,” said Bob Meserve, senior project manager at The Neenan Co. “We are proud to have produced a facility that creates a collaborative work environment that will serve the needs of our state.” In addition to the headquarters, the project also includes a 21,000-sf maintenance facility in Platteville, completed in April, that houses associated office space, regional storeroom and specialty maintenance needs, as well as an 11,000-sf West Yard traffic facility used as vehicle storage, a sand shed and deicer containment basin.