Construction on CU Denver’s Wellness Center at the corner of Speer Boulevard and Auraria Parkway is mostly finished, so let’s take a final look at this new Auraria campus building.
The Wellness Center was approved by the university in 2015 after CU Denver students overwhelmingly voted for a fee increase to help pay for the building. The $42 million project encompasses 85,000 square feet and includes weight and fitness studios, basketball courts, a wellness and information center, training and assessment rooms, social lounge, locker rooms, a multi-activity court, and a six-lane indoor swimming pool.
Architecturally, the building’s most prominent feature is the glass-enclosed three-story rock climbing wall that anchors the Speer Boulevard/Auraria Parkway corner.
Situated between the CU Denver Student Commons building and the SpringHill Suites Hotel/MSU Hospitality Learning Center (both constructed within the past five years or so), the new CU Denver Wellness Center represents another step in the process of creating an urban edge to the campus, a key component of both the Downtown Area Plan and the Auraria Campus Master Plan. Doing so brings the campus and downtown closer together—both physically and perceptually—to the benefit of pedestrians. Additionally, the reconstruction of the Larimer Street bridge over Cherry Creek, part of the 2017 GO Bonds approved by Denver voters, will aid in connecting the campus with downtown through wider sidewalks and other pedestrian and bicycle amenities.
The CU Denver Wellness Center also adds to the street wall along Auraria Parkway.
On the campus side of the building, the CU Denver Wellness Centers offers a welcoming glass-walled entry and pedestrian plaza.
Here’s a final view of the new CU Denver Wellness Center from the CU Denver building at 14th and Larimer, home to the College of Architecture and Planning, where I work.
The new CU Denver Wellness Center is getting its finishing touches and will be ready for students this coming fall semester. Another nice addition to downtown’s Auraria campus!
can we get some interior pics? the college would most likely allow you in
Any updates on 9th and Colorado? Block 7S is completed, and a second tower crane is about to arise on the blocks adjacent to 7S.
Thanks for the great update, as always!
It seems lazy. You walk by the student commons building and it’s a whole other ballgame… beautiful tiled exterior walls, wood paneled soffits… all work well together with the grey sheen brick. This building looks like a cheap knockoff… none of those finishes are seen on it. It’s as if they threw their money on the climbing wall that they couldn’t find the resources to compliment its more attractive neighbor. I mean, gravel pathways for landscape and CMU exterior?? Perhaps I’m just being picky…
You are being picky.
“Overwhelmingly” voted in by students- I believe 21% of the current student body voted for this red center.