“Its storied history and prime location make it an ideal catalyst for economic growth and community engagement.”
—Brad Buchanan, CEO of the National Western Center
New life for Denver’s historic Cattle Exchange building
Located in the heart of the future National Western Center, the 125-year-old Denver Livestock Exchange building is being reimagined as The Exchange.
In an ode to its rich history in the heart of what was once Colorado’s largest industry, the daily trade of cattle and other livestock, EXDO Development and its partners, the National Midwest Authority, the Development Group of Elevations and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. will restore and revive the historic landmark. The upgrade will feature a tenant mix that carries forward the legacy of the agribusiness structure, according to a statement from EXDO.
The building will include offices and meeting spaces for food and agricultural organizations, whose work will complement other events taking place at the National Western Center.
Window and brickwork restoration work began in June, and construction work will be done in phases on the building’s three connected wings, originally built in 1898, 1916 and 1919.
Stantec is the architect of record for the project. Construction is scheduled for completion in late 2025 in time for the annual National Western Stock Show in January 2026.
The Northern Border Project improves facilities from the 1960s
The General Services Administration has awarded McGough Construction a $94 million design-build contract to modernize the Dunseith Land Port of Entry in Dunseith, ND. Built in 1961, the Dunseith facility is located near the US-Canada border along US Route 281. they include a new main port building, commercial and non-commercial primary and secondary inspection areas, as well as exit inspection areas.
The net-zero, all-electric, LEED Gold certified building will also be able to better manage visitor queues at the nearby International Peace Garden park.
According to GSA, $27 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding will pay for low-carbon concrete, steel and glass, along with emerging and sustainable technologies such as a new electric boiler and solar array photovoltaic The balance of the project’s funding will come from the Jobs and Infrastructure Innovation Act and the GSA’s reimbursable services program. Construction is scheduled to begin in May 2025 and conclude in October 2028.
Fortis to build $800 million metadata center in Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyo., will be home to a 715,000-square-foot Meta data center campus, which is expected to create 100 jobs upon completion.
Representation courtesy of Meta
Fortis Construction, with offices in Portland, Ore., and Draper, Utah, has been selected to build Meta’s new 715,000-square-foot campus in the High Plains Business Park in Cheyenne, Wyo. This will be the seventh data center campus built by the contractor. for Meta. An estimated 1,000 workers will be on the 960-acre site at the project’s peak, according to the project announcement.
Meta will work with Black Hills Energy to add new resources to the grid, including renewables. Meta has a global goal of restoring more water than it consumes by 2030, and as part of that plan, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp will partner with the Laramie County Conservation District to help restore Crow Creek, which serves Laramie County. , Wyo., and recharges Wyoming’s Ogallala Aquifer.
Engineering nonprofits merge to increase impact
Two engineering nonprofits made up of thousands of volunteer industry professionals, students and others (Engineers Without Borders USA and Engineering World Health) have combined operations to strengthen their capacity to build infrastructure in resource-poor global communities.
Founded in 2002 by a civil engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, EWB-USA has grown from a handful of engineers to 14,000 volunteers working on 350 engineering projects worldwide. Volunteer engineers and biomedical professionals working with EWH have installed and repaired life-saving equipment in under-resourced hospitals in Asia, Africa and Latin America, providing more than $30 million in services since 2004.
According to Boris Martin, CEO of EWB-USA, the merger will integrate EWB’s biomedical team and technical training in EWB-USA’s sustainable infrastructure development in water supply, sanitation, energy, agriculture and other projects. “During the pandemic, it became clear that the state of health care in some of the communities [where EWB-USA operates] it’s really poor,” says Martin. That realization sparked conversations between the two groups about how to leverage more experience installing and repairing life-saving equipment in the U.S. and internationally to build sustainable communities.
RMF Reaches Project Milestone on $80 Million Steam Plant at Utah’s Hill AFB
A new temporary boiler plant was recently constructed for the renovation of the Hill Air Force Base steam plant in less than 90 days. The installation marks a key moment in the construction of the $80 million boiler plant project, taking the existing high-emissions boilers offline and significantly reducing the base’s environmental footprint. RMF is the designer of record for the steam plant renovation project, located between the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake in Davis County, Utah.
The existing building, constructed in multiple phases over the past 80 years, is also undergoing large-scale seismic upgrades to provide reliable operation into the future.
Judge blocks rule limiting methane emissions from oil wells
A federal judge in North Dakota temporarily blocked a new federal rule to reduce natural gas leaks during fossil fuel drilling while weighing a legal challenge brought by North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming and Utah. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published the rule earlier this year. It would require oil and gas lease operators to take steps to prevent waste, such as implementing leak detection and remediation efforts, as well as limiting gas venting and twisting. BLM officials say the percentage of natural gas lost to venting and fracking has more than doubled as the pace of oil and gas development on public lands has expanded in recent decades. According to the agency, the rule’s limits on twisting would generate more than $50 million in royalties each year.
