DENVER — The three new CSU Spur buildings on the grounds of the 117-year-old National Western Stock Show offer a glimpse into the future of the massive complex just north of the Denver Coliseum along I-70.
The City of Denver, along with the state legislature, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars for redevelopment of the area.
“Being part of the National Western redevelopment project is really an opportunity for us to build our brand,” said Jocelyn Hittle, associate vice chancellor of the CSU Spur. “You can see a flurry of last-minute activity behind me as we get close to opening on Friday.”
The CSU Spur features three news buildings: Vida, Terra and Hydro, which is the last of the three to finish and will open Friday.
All three give CSU a much bigger brand presence in Denver, something the land grant university has been working on for years.
“A series of planets had to align for this to come off the way that it has,” said Tony Frank, chancellor of the CSU system.
Frank says part of the goal of this kind of investment at the National Western Complex is to improve agriculture literacy while also sending a message to underserved families that there is a pathway to college for every child in Colorado.
“43% of Colorado kids won’t go to college,” Frank said. “We know that a lot of those kids come from what we call first generation families, where neither mom nor dad has gone to college. And the data are clear that those families, somewhere around junior high, start to buy into the narrative that college is too expensive, I’m going to rack up too much debt, and so it’s probably not going to work for my family. This gives us an opportunity to penetrate that before those attitudes start to set into place and send a message home to parents through the kids that says there is an affordable pathway to college for everyone.”
Frank says another goal of the Spur is to reconnect people to agriculture.
“Far fewer people are connected to the land where their food is coming from,” Frank said. “Big issues in Colorado around water – how do we get people to understand there’s not ag water and urban water? There’s just water, and we have to make it serve all of these needs.”
“Everyone is welcome here at CSU Spur,” Hittle said. “From our neighbors in the surrounding neighborhoods, to the Denver metro, to the Front Range, to the state of Colorado. We want everyone to have an opportunity to come through the Spur's doors or connect with us virtually, to have the kinds of experiences that might open their eyes to opportunity that they don't know exist right now.”
The three buildings — Vida, Terra and Hydro — feature state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind attractions, like the first-ever on-show veterinary clinic where you can watch live as veterinarians perform surgery on pets.
The Hydro and Terra buildings offer the same immersive experiences.
“We’ll allow students to help make the landscape with us,” said Mo Walsh, education coordinator at the CSU Spur. “So maybe they make a large river and see what water does to that.”
“The public will be able to look in and actually see some of our scientists working, testing the drinking water that ultimately goes to 1.5 million people across the Denver metro area,” said Travis Thompson, spokesperson with Denver Water.
The Terra building features the largest green roof in the state of Colorado and a rooftop greenhouse currently growing basil and beans that will be distributed to local food charities.