The Colorado Community College System has issued a request for proposals seeking a master developer for its 145-acre Lowry Campus, one of the largest remaining infill sites on the Denver/Aurora border. CCCS posted the RFP through BidNet Direct on September 10, with proposals due November 16.
The campus splits jurisdictions unevenly: 117 acres sit in Aurora and 28 acres in Denver. CCCS expects to consolidate or relocate its own campus operations by the end of 2028, which would free up roughly 136 acres for redevelopment while about nine acres continue to support ongoing college operations. The site currently holds 18 primary buildings totaling approximately 566,000 square feet, some of which the RFP flags as candidates for adaptive reuse rather than demolition.
The property traces back to Lowry Air Force Base, which closed in 1994. CCCS took title through a public bidding process under the Federal Base Closure Act, with a deed restriction limiting use to higher education for 30 years. Those restrictions lifted in August 2024, opening the door to unrestricted development for the first time in three decades. The RFP process itself followed a separate January 2026 solicitation for a consultant to help structure and manage the developer search.
Infrastructure is a central constraint for bidders. The campus's water, wastewater, and stormwater systems date to the 1940s and need substantial upgrades, and the selected developer will be expected to handle utility connections and roadway reconstruction. Tax-increment financing and metropolitan districts are among the tools CCCS has flagged as potential funding mechanisms for that work, given the site's two-jurisdiction complexity.
JLL is serving as CCCS's exclusive real estate adviser, managing the solicitation and negotiations with prospective developers. CCCS Chancellor Marielena DeSanctis has framed the RFP as the next chapter for the property, following years of pressure over the campus's condition. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman previously called for CCCS to sell the land outright, pointing to what he described as three decades of underuse and deferred maintenance leaving large portions of the site blighted.
The Lowry Campus sits near Fitzsimons Medical Campus and Stanley Marketplace, both of which have anchored significant growth on the eastern side of the metro in recent years. It's also adjacent to the broader Lowry neighborhood, the roughly 1,866-acre master-planned community built out on the rest of the former Air Force base and substantially complete by 2009. Whoever wins the RFP will be building the last major chapter of a base-closure story that has already reshaped several square miles of Denver and Aurora.