Hospital razes garage to build anew
Exempla St. Joseph Hospital’s Franklin Street garage is being demolished to make way for a $28 million medical office. The demolition started last week. The new 150,000-square-foot outpatient center will include 668 parking spaces on five levels. The new building is likely to include physician offices, outpatient surgery, a medical imaging center and some retail space. St. Joseph’s is running a shuttle between the hospital and a lot it has leased between East 18th and East 19th avenues near Pennsylvania Street.
Aspen builders get landscape kudos
The team behind the Burlingame Ranch has been honored by the American Society of Landscape Architects for its thoughtful approach to planning the affordable housing project in Aspen. DHM Design, Shaw Construction, and Poss Architecture and Planning have received the ASLA Award of Honor in Analysis and Planning for the project, which preserves half the development’s 31 acres as open space. The proposed project includes 236 units in six neighborhoods centered on a community core.
CSU prof great shakes
A Colorado State University professor has received a $1.24 million grant to develop a new design approach for taller wood-frame buildings in earthquake- prone areas. John van de Lind, associate professor of civil engineering, will work with the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation to test seismic activity on four- to six-story buildings at several large “shake tables” that are part of the global network. The tests, to be conducted at the State University of New York in Buffalo and in Miki City, Japan, could help increase the height of wood-frame construction to six or seven stories in active seismic zones.
Mortgage rates up for fourth straight week
National mortgage rates rose for a fourth consecutive week as financial markets responded to fresh evidence that the economy is picking up momentum. In its weekly survey, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to a nationwide average of 5.77 percent. That was up from 5.73 percent the week ended July 21. Below are average mortgage rates in Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties as of Thursday and the previous 52 weeks. The one-year Treasury bill average reported by the Federal Reserve Bank is 3.68 percent. The Cost of Funds Index for May from the Federal Home Loan Bank (11th District) was 2.622 percent.
