Work is officially underway in south Lakewood, where Pinkard Construction has started turning the former Emory Elementary School into a sprawling community campus anchored by The Action Center. The adaptive reuse will renovate roughly 82,000 square feet of the existing building and add a freestanding 7,000-square-foot steel food hub for storage and distribution. It is one of the largest projects the nonprofit has ever taken on and is designed to pull services that are currently scattered across multiple locations onto one central site.
According to Pinkard Construction, the scope tied to The Action Center is valued at about $13.2 million. Another $1.9 million in tenant improvements is slated for a Jefferson County Public Health clinic, and the construction schedule is expected to run roughly 12 months. Much of the more than 100,000 square foot building will be gutted and reconfigured to make room for clinical space, offices, a combined free food and clothing market, a café and an education center. Outside, the team plans new stormwater utilities, upgraded parking, a community garden and a detention pond, while mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems will be modernized to handle the new mix of uses.
“Pinkard’s 35-year relationship with The Action Center is one of the proudest and most fulfilling in our company’s history,” Pinkard President Tony Burke said, adding that the firm is “grateful” to help expand the nonprofit’s capacity. Action Center CEO Pam Brier has called the conversion “the most ambitious construction project in the Action Center’s history” and said the former school is expected to become “a center for community wellness.”
What The Campus Will House
Plans for the campus include workforce training, community college classes, behavioral health services, gymnasium programming and expanded family-support offerings, bringing under one roof programs that are now spread across town. Designed by Davis Partnership Architects, the renovation currently focuses on an 82,000-square-foot footprint, with roughly 20,000 square feet reserved so additional partners can join the campus in the future. The layout is meant to cut down on the number of separate trips families have to make to get food, health care and education, as reported by Mile High CRE.
Purchase, Politics And Neighborhood Concerns
City documents show that Lakewood bought the 17-acre Emory site through Jeffco Public Schools’ municipal-interest process. The city plans to transfer 10 acres, including the building, to The Action Center and keep seven acres for municipal use. Officials have stressed that the property is intended to operate as a daytime family resource center and that overnight sheltering will not be allowed on the site. The proposal stirred public meetings, neighborhood concern and a brief injunction that delayed parts of the transaction, coverage by the Denver Gazette shows.
Timeline And Transition
Project leaders say the construction timeline runs about 12 months, and The Action Center plans to keep operating from its West 14th Avenue location while the new campus is built, with room for the scope to grow as additional partners sign on. The team expects permitting and neighborhood coordination to continue over the coming weeks, and the nonprofit hopes the consolidated campus will relieve pressure on its existing facilities as demand for services has grown across Jefferson County. Officials say demolition and heavy site work around the old school footprint will give way later in the schedule to interior build-outs and tenant fit-outs.
Why It Matters
The Action Center has served Jefferson County and the broader Denver metro area for more than 50 years, according to The Action Center, and leaders say the new campus is meant to streamline access to food, health care and education for thousands of local families. With a dedicated food hub, clinic space and room for workforce and education partners, the project brings construction and social services together in a single purpose-built campus. Residents and officials are expected to keep a close eye on tenant agreements, permitting milestones and neighborhood impacts as the yearlong renovation moves ahead.
