Projects Near Finish, Others Prepare To Begin Work

One major Wheat Ridge development project is nearing the finish line, while another could get underway next year.

Meanwhile, the same can be said about two city traffic improvement projects.

The Clear Creek Crossing project, a 100-acre retail, entertainment, hotel, multifamily residential and business project, is nearing some final work, according to Tyler Carlson, Evergreen Development chief executive officer and managing principal.

Carlson told the Gazette in a mid-October interview construction continued on roads, parking lots and other infrastructure, while negotiations were underway for more businesses to locate on the site.

“A Bonfill Burritos is going up and a Hampton Suites opened last month,” he added. “The Primrose Day Care should open after the first of the year and Prost Brewing should open around April.”

The Agora at Applewood food hall and HashTAG breakfast spot are also scheduled to open next year, Carlson added.

Businesses either under contract or in negotiations included Dave and Buster’s, Bank of America and financial services companies, he noted.

“If they all happen, we would have just two small parcels left, and I anticipate we’ll close those out over the next one or two years,” Carlson stated.

Clear Creek Crossing also includes 550 one– and two-bedroom apartment units.

“I’d say we’ll have around 800-1,000 people or so living on site,” Carlson said.

Evergreen acquired the site at the junction of Interstate 70 and Colorado Highway 58 in 2015.

“We’ve been at this for about the last nine years, and it’s getting to the home stretch,” he stated.

Demolition likely first step at Lutheran site

The longtime former home of Wheat Ridge’s hospital may see some early work begin next year.

In May, Intermountain Health announced E5X as the buyer of the approximately 100-acre Lutheran Legacy Campus downtown parcel that was home to the Lutheran Hospital — also called the Lutheran Medical Center — for more than a century.

Intermountain Health moved to a 26-acre site at Clear Creek Crossing in August 2024.

E5X officials did not respond to interview or email requests for a project update. However, Wheat Ridge Community Development Director Lauren Mikulak wrote in a text message to the Gazette she believed E5X still hopes to close on the purchase by the end of the year.

“Once they do close, I think the first activities we’ll see on the site early next year is deconstruction of portions of the hospital and likely some early site grading and utility work,” she added.

Mikulak stated the city hopes to work with E5X to potentially locate a new city hall on the site.

“They’ve submitted a traffic study, but we haven’t reviewed it yet,” she wrote. “We’re still working through the concept plan and the first subdivision plat.”

In 2024, Wheat Ridge voters approved a ballot measure that limited building heights for the site to 70-foot, five-story buildings in the center. That’s lower than the previous hospital. The measure also set 30-foot building heights next to existing homes.

Wadsworth project in final stages, 38th Avenue in design stage

The Wadsworth Boulevard improvement and expansion project between 35th Avenue and I-70 recently reached a milestone and is to completely wrap up next spring, according to city spokesperson Amanda Harrison.

Construction began in November 2021 to expand about one and a quarter mile of Wadsworth — also known as Colorado Highway 121 — to six lanes to handle traffic demands through 2040. New business vehicle entrances and exits were also built.

A sound wall near 35th Avenue is expected to be complete in January, Harrison added in a mid-October email.

A project ribbon cutting to note the end of most work occurred Friday, Oct. 17, while final landscaping — the last phase — is scheduled to wrap up in the spring of 2026.

The project is on budget with a final cost of approximately $85 million, Harrison stated. Money from the city’s 2016 voter-approved “Investing 4 the Future” half-cent sales tax increase and state and federal grant money paid for the work.

The project was over 90% complete as of mid-October, Harrison noted.

“The first continuous flow intersection is expected to open at the end of the month, with the second one opening early November,” she wrote.

The project’s main traffic change will be continuous flow intersections at 38th and 44th avenues. Instead of turning left from the center lane, vehicles will cross oncoming traffic lanes about a block before each intersection. Motorists then wait on the far left side of the road, behind a raised median, for a signal to turn.

The 38th Avenue West End Improvements project will stretch for 1.5-miles from Youngfield Avenue to Kipling Street.

This project is in the design phase, Harrison wrote, with approximately 30% completed. A final design was expected by spring of 2026, followed by project bidding and construction. Harrison added the city anticipates work to last between a year to a year and a half.

A city web page noted the project does not include major changes to the current width of the street. It does call for dedicated bike lanes on 38th and closes gaps between existing sidewalk segments.

The plan also calls for three mini-roundabouts at Tabor Court, Parfet and Miller streets, the web page also noted. Three new crosswalks are planned at Quail and Lee streets and Union Court.