Broomfield City Council approved plans for a new UCHealth hospital Tuesday, Nov. 10, on land once intended for an IKEA . The project, northwest of Interstate 25 and Colorado 7 (Baseline Road), includes a six-story hospital and a four-story medical office building.
Although the approval moves forward a major medical campus, it also comes with financial and infrastructure trade-offs. According to the city’s planning documents, the hospital and medical offices are expected to have a negative net direct financial impact of about $1.15 million annually on Broomfield. Plans also call for fewer parking spaces than city standards require, along with road and pedestrian improvements.
The 120-acre property has cycled through more than two decades of stalled commercial plans. Broomfield first designated the site for major retail growth in 2005 under the Northlands Urban Renewal Plan, an agreement that committed the city to public infrastructure financing to attract large regional retailers…