The Boulder City Council on Nov. 20 unanimously approved a student housing development near CU Boulder’s Williams Village that will replace a strip mall and parking lot and create what developers said could function as a new neighborhood center.
The project at 2952 Baseline Road has drawn significant attention because it will demolish the building occupied by the Dark Horse, a bar and grill dating back to the 1970s and a fixture for generations of students, as well as Sprouts, the only supermarket in the area.
The project team, including Coburn Architecture and Morgan Creek Ventures, both with offices in Boulder, has proposed building 427 housing units at the site located between the towering Williams Village undergraduate dorms and US 36. Nearly a third of the housing units would be market-rate homes ranging from studios to six-bedroom apartments intended for students.
None of the homes would be deed-restricted as affordable to people earning certain incomes, though the developer is expected to pay millions of dollars into the city’s Affordable Housing Fund as a requirement for approval. A member of the project team said the units are designed to be modest, with builder-grade cabinetry and vinyl flooring to keep the units more affordable for renters.
The project also includes nearly 60,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The four and five story buildings would be all electric except for gas-powered stoves in the commercial spaces and gas heating for the pools. The architects on the project worked with Sprouts to design space for a grocery store, according to the project team, though there is no guarantee the supermarket will occupy the space.
Trees, parks, plazas and rooftop decks would be located throughout the development, according to development plans. A village green is located at the center of the site and is intended to be used for community events, according to the project team. The buildings would include brickwork with metal accents as well as composite and wood siding. The buildings are designed to look different, with varying heights and deep recesses throughout partially intended to help reduce car noise from US 36.
“This project has really grown in leaps and bounds since we’ve seen it last and I always appreciate someone coming in and doing something a little bit different and new,” said Mayor Pro Tem Lauren Folkerts, who the project team credited with helping shape parts of the development’s design through her earlier feedback.
The developers have characterized it as an urban infill project that seeks to bring housing, sidewalks, paths and green space to what is otherwise a sprawling parking lot and shopping center. Bill Holicky, a principal at Coburn, an architecture and development firm, said strip malls have historically been designed to make it as easy as possible for people to visit by car.
“It turns people from community members into motorists,” Holicky told Boulder Reporting Lab. “And so the whole idea of this project is to turn people back from motorists into neighbors. And in order to do that we need to get them out of their cars.”
Part of the project includes a “woonerf,” a type of shared street intended to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists over vehicle traffic. The private road would be smaller than many city streets. Much of the vehicle parking is within structured parking garages.
The development has highlighted some trade-offs associated with urban infill projects that often displace businesses to make way for much-needed housing.
Much of the initial pushback to the project came from patrons of the Dark Horse, which has always rented its space. For some, the potential loss of the Dark Horse reflects a broader concern about the gentrification of Boulder. The McDonald’s and Boulder Broker hotel would not be demolished.
Under a 2024 memorandum, the developers had said they would work with the Dark Horse’s owner to look for possible relocation sites and help move and store the bar’s interior memorabilia. In exchange, the owner agreed to oppose any efforts to landmark or preserve the existing building. Management at the Dark Horse previously declined to comment.
Demolition would occur as part of the broader construction timeline, which the project team said could begin in phases within the next year once remaining permits are approved. The timing for when the Dark Horse would close or whether it would relocate remains unclear.
The city’s Planning Board approved the project in September. Member Jorge Boone voted against it in part because the development plans lacked guarantees to return businesses to the area. “I’m very concerned that we’re taking out a 15-minute grocery for a neighborhood, with no guarantee of getting it back,” he said during the Planning Board meeting.
In order to ensure the space is affordable to businesses, the developers have designed smaller spaces, according to the project team.
Some of the project site is located in the 100-year flood plain and includes flood mitigation work. About half the site still needs flood permits before breaking ground. The project team estimates construction would occur in phases and could begin within the next year.
Correction, November 21, 2025 8:47 am:
A previous version of this story said Coburn Development is part of the project team. It is Coburn Architecture, another one of the company’s divisions.
Just terrible. More of Boulder’s history, charm and convenience down the drain in the name of infilling, and another original neighborhood trashed with construction, noise and crowds. Don’t we have enough cookie cutter box buildings already? So sorry to see this.
Which city council members voted and how did they vote?
All nine City Council Members voted in favor
of redeveloping the Williams Village Shops site.
All nine Boulder City Council Members voted in favor of the proposal to redevelop the Williams Village Shops site.
As the story states, it passed unanimously, with all nine councilmembers voting yes.
Non afforadable student housings vs afforadable housing for the worker bees? Why? What is the reasoning?
After looking at the pictures they showed last night, it certainly will no longer be a “strip mall.” Though the developer seemed to state that it would be a unique style in CO, it is really not that different from what was done to revitalize housing and village like stores, to what had been Westminster Mall.
I’m disappointed/shocked/baffled to hear that the Broker Inn building will remain standing. When we first came to Boulder 17 years ago we made the mistake of staying there , and was a crumbling crack den of a place *then* (we dubbed it the “Broken Inn”). I can only imagine the shape it’s in now…
I’ve heard that the Broker has new ownership recently and the place has been improved drastically (although rooms are still being renovated). And there’s supposed to be a really good restaurant and a kind of athletic/activity club based out of there now. The city insisted that the Broker not be included in the new development; not quite sure what the reasoning was. Maybe it’s one of the last remaining “affordable” hotels in town?
That’s really good to hear!
Will Carelli’s be affected?
Will be demolished
What about the other businesses in the strip mall? Cosmo’s pizza, the BBQ place etc?
Demolished
Yes Certainly. Have they decided to get new space? Probably. Rumors are thatchy will move to BaseMar. But there will be spaces in the finished new shopping “village” for some. Cosmos and Moes BBQ and Sprouts may get new spaces. You can watch the developers presentation about the project on YouTube Boulder City Council meeting 11/20/25.
Yes Certainly. Have they decided to get new space? Probably. Rumors are that they will move to BaseMar. But there will be spaces in the finished new shopping “village” for some. Cosmos and Moe’s BBQ and Sprouts may get new spaces. You can watch the developers presentation about the project on YouTube Boulder City Council meeting 11/20/25.
Yes, it’s a totally worn out property. I wish they had torn it down too but I think it may be privately owned and not part of the Williams empire on that corner. Just like McDonalds who had the foresight to rebuild before this starts.
Yes everything else will be demolished but McDonalds and the Broker. Other will move and see will get new spaces. I thin Carellis will move. Rumors they took the former Whole Foods space t Baseman but I have no confirmation on that. Sprouts will be rebuilt in the new project supposedly.
Are they really keeping the Broker Hotel? The maps and renderings from the architectural firm show a new building where the Broker Hotel currently stands. Otherwise, it’s great to see an infill project that changes an ugly strip mall into housing and shared public spaces. Hopefully the Dark Horse can find a new home.
I don’t understand why the City Council continues to allow new developments with no affordable units. The Council needs to be held accountable for this! From the article, it seems like the only guarantee City Council has from the developer is a promise to build the development cheaply, but not keep rates affordable. ha! The prioritization of green space in the new development is commendable though.
What a SHAME. Just killing more of what makes Boulder – Boulder.
What about Carelli’s???
For a building like the Dark Horse, this is a far heavier blow than people who haven’t seen it may realize. Fifty years of use, expansion, decoration, and habitation are reflected not just in the miscellany placed about, but in the floors, walls, ceilings, and architecture itself. It’s a wholly unique labyrinth of a bar. Places like it around the country, local watering holes that have been around for longer than most residents, that have seen so many additions and changes, have become painfully rare as bigger fish brush them aside for “something new”. This is a substantial loss for a type of building that plainly isn’t respected by modern standards, a pub that can’t fully relocate what makes it iconic by simply moving out the tools and ornaments to a different assortment of wood, brick, and mortar. That it’s being replaced by something that isn’t universally beneficial to the city’s residents shifts the reception from a mournful loss to a slap in the face, especially for a building that could have qualified as a historic location. Put simply: I’m not happy about this. I doubt any who’ve spent time there are.
I like the Dark Horse too – it’s a cool old building and a place I’ve gone to many times to meet friends, feed kids, or even just to watch a game. But let’s be real, the Dark Horse sits in a sea of asphalt and one beloved business does not make a neighborhood. I hope that 50 years from now we will look back in horror to imagine that we built bars that were explicitly designed to be driven to and driven FROM. And, in fact, all that parking was required at the time – our lip service against drunk driving notwithstanding. So much surface parking on such valuable land is a crazy stupid waste in my opinion.
I believe the Dark Horse opened the year I moved to Boulder. 1974. Maybe not so historic. It was not landmarked.
No current business’s will be able to afford the new lease rates in a brand new complex. Base-mar has had many vacancies for years just like the rest of new/bought out commercial/mixed use space in boulder. Just look at the sparks complex that has been empty for years and is brand new…tear down established business to ‘refurbish’ old complex’s with new spaces that look pretty…you wont like the $25 sandwich they have to sell.
The Dark Horse, Sturtz and Copeland, The Boulder Dinner Theater, JJ McCabe’s, the Oasis; all taken from us, all town treasures, only to make one or two rich men richer. They make this town suck!! But wait, they have their eyes on the Boulder Library’s north building now too. Let’s move on over and let them turn that cultural center for the community into a restaurant!!! After all, a few rich white men getting even richer is what’s important around here.
Just say “no.”
This is so incredibly sad!!😢 I live in this neighborhood and all these establishments are a great support of the community. Go there on a Friday night and it’s hard to find parking. Relocating beloved restaurants like the dark horse and carellis for a strip mall chain is tragic!
Progress without remembrance. The worst kind. Farewell, Dark Horse and old Boulder.
So let me get this straight:
– developer pays off board/bolder with a few million bucks to avoid otherwise required affordable housing
– developer gets the ok to build to the lowest standards allowable by law under the guise of ‘more affordable ‘, as if quality is what is driving Boulder housing prices (lmao)
– the drug depot (Broker Inn) stays for no apparent reason.
Even if I accept that one of the most historic businesses left in boulder must be sacrificed for much needed housing, it’s hard to imagine a worse possible outcome.
Another shady cash-in-lieu deal strikes again…which every single City Council member voted for, and after all that lip service about Affordability before the election. Does anyone remotely believe these elected leaders are serving this town anymore? Because it seems like they’ve never failed to deliver every concession for Developers and let them park more dark investment money into real estate only for it sit empty. This is going to end up just like Transit Village; wildly underutilized, overpriced and a testimony to how openly capitulated our city is to monied interests that would rather conspire to keep space vacant to claim a tax write-off that see it occupied.
Payment in lieu- where does that money go? It sure doesn’t seem fair that developers get to avoid low income housing.
It goes into the Affordable Housing fund and mostly gets built by Boulder Housing Partners who then lease them to low income qualifying tenants. It does get used for the right purpose and the properties are managed by BHP too. They can build more for less money when the whole project is one cost category. In some cases the land has been donated. The buildings come from the cash in lieu fund.