At the U. of Colorado at Boulder, an Incomplete Building Waits for State Money

Colorado, it seems, has an unfortunate history with unfinished buildings. People will remember the controversy over the hole in the ground at Denver’s Auraria Higher Education Center, a multi-institution campus. That hole was filled with a building after an outcry from university officials and higher-education advocates.

Now, after a state construction freeze, there is the shell in the ground — that is, a concrete skeleton of a $63-million visual-arts center that remains unfinished. The Daily Camera reports that the state had committed $18.5-million to the project, but it landed on the state’s “construction freeze” list that came out last fall when the economy tanked.

“University leaders say the delay could halt construction on the building
that they expect to become a national model for blending the arts and
higher education,” the Camera reports. “The new 170,000-square-foot building will house the department of art and art history as well as the CU Art Museum, and was originally scheduled to be open for the next school year.”

In the story, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter says, “There is
absolutely an opportunity to request an exemption and make the case to
come off the freeze list,” but the story does not indicate whether the state would grant that request.