Plans have now been announced to repurpose a series of multi-level campus buildings in Boulder into affordable housing.
The project will take place at the site of the Naropa University, a private Buddhist-inspired academic institution located at 2130 Arapahoe Avenue.
The school, which announced last year that it was moving in the direction of primarily online teaching, has sold the 3.6-acre campus for an undisclosed sum to the student housing Chicago-based company Core Spaces.
Naropa was founded in 1974 but has lost money for most of the past decade due to stagnating tuition revenues and rising operating costs.
The campus includes more than a dozen buildings, including a green house, performing arts center, and library named in honor of the late Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg, who served on the school’s campus.
The most famous structure on the campus is the Lincoln Building, which was built more than 120 years ago and designed by well-known Colorado architect Watson Vernon. The building formerly served as the public Lincoln Elementary School.
In selling its Boulder campus property, the school in an email message to faculty and staff said it would now be able to “ensure the long-term financial health and sustainability of Naropa.”
An earlier audit report noted that selling its campus would allow Naropa to “free up needed capital intended to create a stable and financial foundation for the future.”
The school had earlier sold several of its structures individually, including an administrative office building across the street from the main campus for around $2 million.
Core Spaces, which advertises itself as a “vertically integrated ecosystem focused on building, buying, and managing student housing,” has not yet announced its specific plans for the Naropa campus.
March 14, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Naropa University
