Centura Health plans to build a medical complex that will include an outpatient and emergency care facility in Westminster.
The campus, affiliated with St. Anthony North Hospital, will be located in Orchard Park Place, a 126-acre development at the southwest corner of Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue.
The project, which could reach up to 300,000 square feet, still needs funding from Catholic Health Initiatives.
The complex will anchor Orchard Park Place, which is being developed by Biltmore Development and Arizona Gold Properties.
Orchard Park Place will break ground in mid-2008. The $300 million development will include up to 125,000 square feet of shops and restaurants and more than 300,000 square feet of medical facilities, offices and hotels.
The campus is a step toward fulfilling Westminster’s goal of having a large employer in the area, said Susan Grafton, the city’s manager of economic development.
“We are looking to build out the business park and office development in that north area so you have a mixed-use development,” Grafton said. “We have housing and retail. Now we need to have the employment component of it.”
During the housing boom, developers flocked to the north I-25 corridor, building thousands of homes to keep pace with the region’s growth. There are 14 active and five proposed housing developments within a 2-mile radius of Orchard Park Place, including the Biltmore development Huntington Trails.
“We’re familiar with the intersection,” said David Treadwell, a partner with Biltmore and former all-pro placekicker with the Denver Broncos. “We’re very familiar with the trade area and bullish to where it’s going.”
Of the 1,324 homes planned in the area, 1,128 have sold at an average sales price of $377,683, according to Hanley Wood. But only 93 were sold between January and September.
While he’s concerned about the soft housing market, Treadwell said the area near his development hasn’t been hit as hard as others.
“There’s a softening across the board, but this is a niche that has not been hit as hard,” he said of Huntington Trails, where prices range from $750,000 to $3 million. “That’s real estate. It goes through cycles, and you just have to work through it.”
The development also is building on the success of Orchard Town Center, a master- planned community to the north that will include 500 residences and 1 million square feet of commercial space. The project, slated to open in March, is about 58 percent leased, said Brian Wynne, project developer for Forest City, which is developing the Orchard Town Center project.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
