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CMC building matriculates at Steamboat planning meeting

Public to see drawings of new building for 1st time at planning meeting Thursday

Tom Ross

General contractor Adolfson and Peterson selected

Colorado Mountain College Facilities Director Sam Skramstad said national contractor Adolfson and Peterson was selected from among 20 hopefuls for the role of general contractor for CMC’s new 60,000-square-foot building on the Alpine Campus in Steamboat Springs.

Although CMC is not required to take the low bid, Skramstad said the college did in this case.

Skramstad said Adolfson and Peterson, which has offices in Aurora, has been instructed to hire as many qualified local subcontractors as possible for the project.

Construction will begin when the weather permits in spring and is scheduled to be completed by July or August 2012. The first signs will be earth moving and drilling for a geoexchange energy plant.

Adolfson and Peterson was the general contractor on the Bud Werner Memorial Library and is scheduled to be active on the Casey’s Pond Senior Living project in Steamboat, Alpine Campus CEO Peter Perhac said.

The contractor also has completed a number of projects for colleges, including the new Maverick Center, which opened in January 2010 on the campus of Mesa State College in Grand Junction. It includes 14 classrooms for Mesa State’s health sciences program, a student gym, an Olympic-size pool and a student recreation center within 125,000 square feet of renovated space and 200,000 square feet of new building space.

General contractor Adolfson and Peterson selected

Colorado Mountain College Facilities Director Sam Skramstad said national contractor Adolfson and Peterson was selected from among 20 hopefuls for the role of general contractor for CMC’s new 60,000-square-foot building on the Alpine Campus in Steamboat Springs.

Although CMC is not required to take the low bid, Skramstad said the college did in this case.

Skramstad said Adolfson and Peterson, which has offices in Aurora, has been instructed to hire as many qualified local subcontractors as possible for the project.



Construction will begin when the weather permits in spring and is scheduled to be completed by July or August 2012. The first signs will be earth moving and drilling for a geoexchange energy plant.

Adolfson and Peterson was the general contractor on the Bud Werner Memorial Library and is scheduled to be active on the Casey’s Pond Senior Living project in Steamboat, Alpine Campus CEO Peter Perhac said.



The contractor also has completed a number of projects for colleges, including the new Maverick Center, which opened in January 2010 on the campus of Mesa State College in Grand Junction. It includes 14 classrooms for Mesa State’s health sciences program, a student gym, an Olympic-size pool and a student recreation center within 125,000 square feet of renovated space and 200,000 square feet of new building space.

— Steamboat Springs residents will have an opportunity to size up the new 60,000-square-foot building being planned on Colorado Mountain College’s Alpine Campus on Thursday when the plan is presented to the Steamboat Springs Planning Commission.

City planner Seth Lorson said after the recent dissolution of an intergovernmental agreement between the city and CMC, the Planning Commission will not be called upon to make a recommendation of approval or denial but will provide feedback to college officials.

The city retains influence over landscaping, signage and sidewalks associated with the changes on the CMC campus.

“The college has agreed to maintain a sidewalk all the way to Lincoln Avenue,” Lorson said. “We find that’s a great benefit to the community.”

Construction on the new building will begin as soon as the snowmelt permits in late April or May and is scheduled to continue until July or August 2012, CMC Facilities Director Sam Skramstad said last week. He added that the public would get a better chance to view the new classroom and administration building during an open house to be scheduled as soon as a 3-D architectural model is complete.

The building drawings the public will see at Thursday night’s Planning Commission meeting will show a gently curved southeast-facing façade reminiscent of the Bud Werner Memorial Library’s elevation facing the Yampa River. An enclosed pedestrian bridge that is part of the new building will link the classrooms and administration office, as well as the student dining area to the multipurpose building. It also will create a natural pedestrian route up the steep grade to Bristol Hall, one of the newer buildings on campus.

“We struggled with that and spent a lot of time deciding how best to do that,” Skramstad said.

The utility room for a new geoexchange energy facility will be built beneath the pedestrian bridge, he added.

The new building will include classrooms for emergency medical training, resort management, the arts and outdoor education as well as increased space where students can gather.

“That’s something that’s been missing up there,” Skramstad said. “We want to create the feel of a student union.”

There will be a cyber cafe, bookstore and student lounge to accomplish that goal. The new dining area will double as a study hall, and the kitchen will be designed to double as a culinary classroom.

The CMC administrative offices also are moving to the new building.

That will open up substantial space in Bristol Hall. It will be remodeled to provide more classrooms as soon as summer 2012, but not until after the new building is complete, Skramstad said.

Multipurpose auditorium

A 250- to 300-seat auditorium on the west side of the new building is designed for many uses, Skramstad said.

Its elevated seating will be designed to telescope in on itself and out of sight against the wall, much as a basketball gym’s bleachers do, “only the chairs will be upholstered and have arms,” Skramstad said.

Ideal for use as a lecture hall, it could host an art show or a banquet, he said. It will feature acoustic “clouds” along with audiovisual and lighting equipment. Although the lighting will not be up to theatrical standards, it would support live performances in the space, Skramstad said.

The new building was planned to encompass 52,000 square feet, but a classroom wing was added after Willett Hall joined Monson and Bogue halls on the list of those to be removed to make way for the new building, Alpine Campus CEO Peter Perhac said.

He’s confident that the new building will achieve silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The possibility of attaining gold LEED status will depend upon how the new geoexchange features score in the certification process.

— To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205 or e-mail tross@SteamboatToday.com


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