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Metro moves to Larimer locale
Offices relocate to help alleviate space crunch
By Morgan Bia mbia@mscd.edu

Space in Downtown Denver’s Writer Square has been acquired by Metro to create more classroom space, faculty offices and to assist in the renovation of the Administrative and Science building.

Sage Hospitality vacated the property in Writer Square, which gave Metro the opportunity to occupy the space. Jones Lang LaSalle Global Commercial Real Estate will be leasing the office and has a contract with the state to do all lease negotiations.

The sublease for the building is priced at $16.50/ per square foot. Administration, Finance and Institutional Advancement will move to the 8th and 9th floors of the Writer Square building located at 1512 Larimer St. and will occupy 21,434 sq. ft.

The space vacated in the Administration Building totals 18,500 sq. ft. Faculty administration will move to the 4th and 5th floors of the Administration building so students still have accessibility to faculty. Metro will occupy the space in the Writer Square building temporarily for the next three years until 2012 when the new Student Success Building is completed.

“I don’t think there will be any negative impact (on students) and it will help bridge the gap [of] Speer Boulevard.” said Cathy Lucas, Metro Spokesperson. “We walked from the central classroom to Writer Square and it was almost the same amount of steps from the administration building to the Central Classroom.”

Once the Science Building is complete, Human Resources, Accounting, Administration and Finance and Institutional Advancement will be moved back to the Administration Building.

Administrative departments are set to move beginning July 31 and academic departments starting September 12. The Science department will move to the Administration Building in order to complete the current renovation to the Science Building.

One-time funding is paying for the property in Writer Square, Lucas said. The money is funds not built into the base fund and came from salary savings from staff, faculty and administration as well as initiative savings that weren’t used for other projects. These funds may not be available next year, Lucas added.

The campus is simply running out of space and trailers are not the optimum choice for classrooms, Lucas said. “There is not much space left on campus for trailers, we would have to start stacking them on top of each other.”

Sean Nesbitt, Facilities Planner for Metro said the trailers on campus provide 13,000 sq. ft. of space for Metro. The trailers used for offices, are 6,940 sq. ft. The classroom trailers make up the remainder.

“The science departments will be out of the Administration Building within 12-15 months and then we’ll begin renovation on the backfill space,” Nesbitt said.

The backfill space is the vacated space in the Administration Building once the Science Departments move out. It will cost an estimated $10 million to renovate the administration building.

“The cost is built into the Student Capital fee. There will not be an additional fee to pay for that portion of the project,” Nesbitt said. Metro will be saving in construction costs as well by doing these renovations now, rather than later.

“Construction is very competitive right now and with current economical situations, it may be much more expensive to do these renovations two or three years from now,” Nesbitt said. An architect for the renovation of the Administration Building has yet to be hired but design for the building will begin on Sept. 1.

Offices moving to Writer Square:

July 31
Human Resources
Accounting Services and Payroll
Vice President of Administration and Finance
Office of Institutional Research
College Communications

AUGUST 7-8
Development
Vice President of Institutional Advancement

AUGUST 28
Metro State Foundation
Budget Office
Metro State Foundation

Academic departments moving to the Administration Building:

SEPTEMBER 12
Biology
Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Chemistry

SEPTEMBER 19
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences