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IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo. – It’s been around since 1958, with thousands passing by it everyday. But on Friday night, the last high school football game ever will likely be played at Gold Digger Stadium in Idaho Springs. The property is now for sale, likely being sold for redevelopment.
“It’s really about efficiency of resources and looking into the future for what’s best for our kids,” Clear Creek Superintendent Karen Quanbeck said.
The superintendent said only five football games a year are now held at Gold Digger, and the district has built a new field on the campus of Clear Creek High School in Evergreen. Because of that and the age of the stadium, the school board determined the field and two adjacent properties to be “excess property” and put them up for sale.
The other two sites are a bus garage adjacent to the football field and the former middle and high school on the other side of Interstate 70. The three properties will be packaged together and sold as one.
Superintendent Quanbeck said there are a few “very interested” buyers that are looking at purchasing the land. No one is under contract, but she says that an agreement could be reached any day. She adds that it was not an easy decision.
“We’ve got to find ways to replicate and then transfer over some of those amazing traditions to our new location,” she said, adding that the district will be making improvements to the new athletic complex in Evergreen thanks to a voter-approved bond.
As for what could replace the stadium and older school buildings, the superintendent told Denver7 there are no final plans yet, but the one item that all proposals that she’s seen have included is housing.
“We’re a great location for people who work down the hill who want to ski on the weekends. But there’s very limited housing. Selling all three properties will bring development that will bring multi-family housing up here as well as parks and green space,” she said.
She added that a hotel, conference center, office space, or a combination of all three could go on the site.
Clear Creek takes on Jefferson High School on Friday night at 7 p.m. in what will likely be the last game at Gold Digger Stadium.