SCL Health’s St. Joseph Hospital is located on dense urban site in the Uptown neighborhood in Denver. To meet a growing need for outpatient medical space on the campus, they teamed with Fidelis Health Partners to create a new outpatient medical office building, with added parking. The vision for the project was to take advantage of its location within an established, thriving urban neighborhood and put in place something that not only would serve patients visiting the facility, but also be an accessible community amenity and asset.

The project site, located on one corner of the multi-block medical campus, also presented an opportunity to establish a high-visibility gateway to the campus. To that end, the team envisioned a mixed-use development that, in addition to medical tenant suites, would have retail and dining components, and wellness services like yoga studios. Challenged by a tight zero-lot line space and lack of existing parking, the Boulder Associates team was able to design a sleek five-story 106,610 s.f. building, adding parking in the form of a 66,260 s.f., 196-car parking structure on an adjacent lot which was previously unused due to its unwieldy triangular shape.

The first floor of the building features a street-level retail and restaurant wrap, fulfilling the goal of an active and engaging façade to the community. The fifth floor of the building is similarly designed to be adaptable to retail or restaurant use with an open-air deck overlooking downtown Denver that features an outdoor seating area and fireplace.

The project is among the first designed to comply with Denver’s newly instituted Green Building Ordinance, featuring a green roof and solar panels. An extended six-month long entitlement process was compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the construction phase. Despite those challenges, the project team of health system, developer, architect, contractor, engineers and subs pulled together to complete the project on-schedule and without any significant hiccups.