A 2.6M SF life sciences campus in Louisville is one step closer to reality after developer Sterling Bay closed on $88M in bonds to fund infrastructure for the long-awaited Redtail Ridge project.
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The 389-acre Redtail Ridge site along U.S. Highway 36, the main thoroughfare connecting Denver and Boulder through Louisville, has been vacant for about two decades, stalled by political controversy and local pushback. In 2021, Louisville City Council narrowly approved a previous version of the project, but voters overturned it the following year, Boulder Weekly reported.
The latest plan, approved this past August, includes relocating Avista Adventist Hospital and building a mixed-use campus targeting Colorado’s life sciences industry.
The general obligation bonds, issued through Piper Sandler’s special district group, will fund infrastructure costs. Construction firm Mortenson will handle that work, which was designed by Perkins & Will.
Sterling Bay expects to break ground on its mixed-use megacampus this spring.
Sterling Bay Managing Principal Rodney Richerson called Redtail Ridge a “transformational project.”
The project “will drive economic growth, foster innovation and expand opportunities for the life sciences sector in Colorado,” Shelby Noble, managing director at Piper Sandler’s special district group, said in a statement.
The project arrives at a critical moment for the Denver-Boulder life sciences market, which is showing signs of life after a stagnant 2024. Vacancy rates leveled off to 11.4% in the fourth quarter, while venture capital funding jumped 28% year-over-year to $881M.
Denver-area life sciences developments have remained midsized compared to major projects in larger markets, like Boston’s 555K SF 10 World Trade building and the San Francisco Bay Area’s 1.2M SF Kifer Road campus, both set to open this year.
Sterling Bay’s Redtail Ridge brings the region closer in scale to those coastal biotech hubs and could signal a turning point in Colorado’s biotech real estate market.
Redtail Ridge will benefit from proximity to bioscience programs at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, the University of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver, potentially helping Boulder County compete for bigger life sciences tenants.
At full build-out, the campus will include biomanufacturing space, industrial facilities, offices and more than 20 miles of trails and open spaces.
