Construction of Colorado’s new history center is officially underway.
A hundred or so dignitaries and history buffs helped break ground Wednesday on the new complex at 12th Avenue and Broadway, which will replace the Colorado History Museum. The existing museum will come down next year to make way for a much larger judicial center.
The museum, which will cost an estimated $111 million, and the new judicial center, which will cost an estimated $258 million, are being financed with a combination of taxable and nontaxable debt that won’t use taxpayers’ money.
State Treasurer Cary Kennedy and the legislature approved certificates of participation, which are similar to bonds but require annual legislative approval. Project manager Bill Mosher said the financial instruments normally carry interest rates in the range of 5.25 percent to 6.75 percent.
Kennedy was able to tap into the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The federal government’s Build America Bonds will reimburse 35 percent of the project’s interest. The result will give investors their normal yield, while taxpayers will pay only 4.24 percent interest.
“We will save $77 million on interest alone in this project,” Kennedy said, “provided we build this year.”
Kennedy said Colorado is the first state to take advantage of the low-cost recovery-act funds. Museum president Ed Nichols said it is one of the largest capital projects in the country using recovery funds.
The 190,000-square-foot history center is expected to be completed in late 2011. The 600,000-square-foot judicial center will be finished sometime in 2013.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
