Plans guiding the possible redevelopment of the former Montana Developmental Center’s South Campus are due out later this month, following more than a year of development and almost as much time taking public feedback and making revisions.
A master plan and preliminary architectural report, which could be available in draft form as early as this week on planmdc.com, will offer a roadmap for possible redevelopment of the South Campus. After multiple rounds of revisions based on public comment over eight months, commercial development along state Highway 69 is included in the plans; a diverse array of proposed development on state-owned land around the fairground and airport will have much less emphasis; and historic South Campus buildings could be retained or razed. The public will have two weeks to comment on the drafts before the documents are hammered into their final versions.
On the South Campus, the documents will detail options for either preserving and reusing, or demolishing, historical buildings five and nine—two large, red, brick buildings at the center of the campus that have been vacant for decades, according to Jessica Holdren, a project manager with FourFront Design, who explained the forthcoming drafts at a Boulder City Council meeting on Feb. 22. Plans for both options, removal or renovation, show commercial buildings with parking areas along state Highway 69 where a roughly X-shaped building—building six—currently sits vacant just to the north of a similar building that houses Youth Dynamics.
