The Colorado History Museum announced Monday it intends to move to the vacant parking lot at 12th Avenue between Lincoln Street and Broadway, south of the blue-glassed ING Building.
State officials signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to purchase the development rights, not ownership, of the 93,000-square-foot parking lot. The proposed project must be approved by the legislature, beginning this morning with a presentation to the Capital Development Committee.
Under the proposal, the history museum will build a 50-foot tall structure with a footprint of 60,000 square feet. The museum said it will use some of its roof for exhibits and activities.
The remaining 33,000 square feet will be used to build a five-story parking garage between the new museum and the ING Building, which is now being referred to as the 1290 Broadway Building.
The parking lot is owned by principals who own the 1290 Broadway Building. They have secured the right to build a 200,000-square-foot office building pushing through the northeast corner of the history museum and rising nearly 100 feet above the history museum. The offices would be leased.
The parking garage would be reserved for the office tenants during the day, then made available to museum staff and visitors during evenings and weekends.
The total cost of the history museum should come in between $100 million and $110 million, which falls near the recommendations of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.
The museum, on the north side of 13th Avenue between Lincoln and Broadway, is being forced to move by the state’s judicial department, which wants to take over the entire block for roughly 600,000 square feet of office space.
The Colorado Historical Society, which operates the museum, attempted to move into Civic Center, across Bannock Street from the City and County Building. Public opposition and a threatened ballot initiative prohibiting the use of Civic Center forced the society to look elsewhere.
City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who supported the move into Civic Center, said she wished the museum could have located closer to Civic Center. “But I’m glad they’re close to the museums and library,” she said. If the 12th Avenue site is approved and funded by the legislature this session, construction could begin as early as spring 2009.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
