Community members invited to an Open House on Jan. 8 to learn about the flood mitigation project and future of the Alpine-Balsam site

After years of collaboration between the city, our partners and our community, the city broke ground on Dec. 17, 2024 at the Alpine-Balsam site in advance of construction of a flood mitigation project in early 2025.

Join us for an Open House on Jan. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Casey Middle School for an informational session to learn more about the project timeline, the floodway project, new city campus, housing and construction impacts. You can meet our construction partners, learn about next steps, the site plan, order of construction and get an overview of the next few years.

  • When — Jan. 8, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m.
  • Where — Casey Middle School Cafe/Commons C205
    1301 High St, Boulder, CO 80304

The Alpine-Balsam property, formerly the Boulder Community Health (BCH) hospital, was purchased by the City of Boulder in 2015. Plans for redevelopment have taken shape over the past several years. The reimagined site will provide new affordable and market-rate homes in a range of housing types and will be the future location of the City of Boulder Western City Campus. It will include new indoor and outdoor public spaces, new streets and paths, sustainable solutions for infrastructure and buildings, increased tree canopy, a greenway for flood conveyance, easy-to-use travel options and managed parking. The vision for the area is guided by the Alpine-Balsam Area Plan.

“This groundbreaking and our upcoming work come after years of hard work, collaboration and community engagement,” said City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde. “The new site will focus on equity, sustainability and on leading by example — walking the talk of our citywide goals.”

The upcoming flood mitigation project will remove properties on the Alpine-Balsam site out of the high-hazard flood plain and will include extensive landscaping, an improved bicycle lane, enhanced pedestrian crossings, a plaza and pedestrian walkway improvements, along with underground utility work. This project is a necessary step that will allow for construction of the housing projects to advance once the work is complete, including final determination that the risks have been mitigated from FEMA. Construction on the Western City Campus will proceed in 2025, alongside the flood mitigation work.