CMC’s new building is going vertical in Steamboat

This story originally appeared in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. Story by Scott Franz

Steamboat Springs — Standing on a top story deck of Bristol Hall on Wednesday afternoon, it was easy for Brian Hoza to point to the concrete outline of the stairways, elevator shafts, hallways and auditorium that will be part of the Colorado Mountain College Alpine Campus’ new 60,000-square-foot academic building.

Hoza, dean of student affairs for the Alpine Campus, also was able to point to a line of vertical steel beams that will reach up to the roof of the three-story building being constructed below him.

“You can see the excitement that’s generated on campus by this development because everyone is really starting to see the presence and the shape of the building now,” he said. “It’s taking shape in a way they can allvisualize.”

Construction crews on Tuesday started to erect the steel frame of what will be the front of the $18 million facility and are expected to finish pouring its foundation this week. Hoza, who attends weekly meetings about the building’s construction, said that after the concrete is poured, the public easily will be able to imagine what the finished building will look like in July 2012.

“We are starting to go vertical,” he said.

Workers now will start to build up and enclose each floor of the building so work can continue into the winter, Hoza said. Crews also are installing a manifold inside the building to connect its heating system to a geoexchange field that harnesses energy from temperature changes in the soil hundreds of feet below the building.

“We’re on schedule, and soon, we will witness the number of people working on the project increase because more trades will start to be involved,” Hoza said.

Alpine Campus officials last month announced the college had secured enough funding to erect a 286-seat auditorium inside the new facility on its third level.