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UCHealth proposes six-story medical campus and mixed-use plan across I-25; council presses traffic and fiscal details
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Summary
UCHealth presented a multi-phase medical campus concept that envisions a six-story hospital with a compact, vertical footprint, phased growth and an adjacent medical office campus. Council and residents urged more detail on traffic, tunnel/underpass coordination, metro-district reimbursements and the effect of nonprofit hospital status on city tax revenue.
UCHealth submitted a concept review for a large medical campus on the northwest corner of I-25 and Colorado 7 governed by the Northlands PUD. Ryan Roman, president of UCHealth Broomfield Hospital and Longs Peak Hospital, said UCHealth now owns the site and envisions a compact campus that supports advanced specialty services and local clinical trials.
Roman described an initial multi-level hospital and a medical office building with a campus plan that reserves about 30 percent of the site for green space. He said UCHealth is planning for an initial phase and "master planning" toward a future buildout that could accommodate up to 450 beds, but he clarified that 450 beds is a master-plan capacity rather than an initial, immediate build.
The applicant emphasized integration with transit: the campus concept references a mobility hub and two bus rapid transit stops planned for Baseline; UCHealth said it will coordinate pedestrian access, the mobility hub and a regional trail network. The applicant also pledged to donate a parcel for a future North Metro Fire station and said the campus would generate construction and permanent health-care jobs.
Council members and neighbors raised several issues: who will complete the Preble Creek culvert (staff noted IKEA completed roughly 60 percent and the development team will be required to finish the remaining conveyance work), the timing and funding of frontage-road connections with CDOT, the sequencing of retail/hospital/hotel components and how nonprofit status affects property-tax revenues and city finances. Staff and the applicant agreed these matters require additional studies and specific development agreements.
Staff flagged several potential deviations in the conceptual plans for later review, most notably building heights (the conceptual hospital including mechanical penthouse was described as ~140 feet tall, exceeding the Northlands PUD's current 60-foot maximum) and potential parking deviations because hospital parking is bed-based and bed counts are not finalized.
What's next: the concept review does not authorize development. Applicants will be required to finish neighborhood meetings, submit formal development applications, address culvert and right-of-way requirements, and pursue PUD amendments or deviations if they intend to exceed code limitations.
