The Metropolitan State College of Denver wants to build a 200-room full-service hotel on Downtown Denver’s Auraria campus to provide a real-world laboratory for students studying in the Hospitality, Meeting and Travel Administration program. The hotel would be built sometime in the next five years. A site has not yet been selected, but two sites under consideration are across Speer Boulevard from the Colorado Convention Center or near Speer and Auraria Parkway where the campus athletic fields are located. A building at either location would represent a major step forward in improving the physical and visual connection between the campus and the rest of Downtown, and strengthen the pedestrian environment along Speer Boulevard–a key goal in the soon-to-be-completed Downtown Area Plan 2007. Here’s an article about this unique infill opportunity from the Metro State student newspaper, the Metropolitan: Prospective Hotel Promises Space, Campus Prestige.