Cost to repair damage to Colorado Supreme Court building estimated at $35 million

The cost to repair damage to the Colorado Supreme Court building in downtown Denver could reach $35 million, after a man allegedly broke into the building and set a fire that triggered the sprinkler system for hours causing extensive flooding, officials said Friday. 

“It is a disaster recovery site and not a workplace at the current moment,” State Court Administrator Steven Vasconcellos told lawmakers Friday during a meeting of the state House and Senate judiciary committees.

Risk experts continue to assess the damage after a man shot through the window of the building to break inside Jan. 2 and set a fire on the 7th floor. The sprinkler system was triggered and ran for several hours, causing “ankle-deep water” that flowed to the floors below, Vasconcellos said. 

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which occupies the 6th and 7th floors, and the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel on the 5th floor were the most impacted by the incident and will have to be “substantially rebuilt from scratch” and likely won’t reopen for 12 months in a “best-case scenario,” Vasconcellos said. 

There was also significant damage to the 3rd and 4th floors, which house the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender and several other independent state agencies. 

“Where we’re at now is major water mitigation, major material mitigation — carpets are up, ceilings are down, drywall is down. Just the worst of the worst has been addressed. There will be more demolition that will be necessary,” he said. 

Health experts are also analyzing the air quality from the smoke and fire extinguishers that the suspect sprayed on several floors of the building, unrelated to the fire, Vasconcellos said.

The extinguishing foam got inside the HVAC system and was spread through the building’s  office tower. The Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center, which finished construction in 2013, houses the Colorado Supreme Court along with state legal and judicial agencies in a 12-story office building.

“No one is working in the building. (The State Office of Risk Management), understandably, will not approve anyone being in there right now. I don’t want anyone in there right now,” he said. 

Vasconcellos said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the cost will not impact the state budget, adding that he doesn’t anticipate requesting supplemental dollars from the General Assembly. He said the state is working with insurance companies to pay for the repairs. 

The floors that were lightly damaged will require deep cleaning to the carpets, and walls and desks must be wiped down because of a fine dust of “not good stuff” on every floor, Vasconcellos said. Employees working on those floors will likely be able to return March 1. 

“As you can imagine, this is a very — no pun intended — fluid situation,” he said. 

Vasconcellos said “it’s too early to know” if court records or case files were lost. 

“Our No. 1 priority is drying the facility out. That is complicated by our below-zero temperatures this weekend,” he said. He estimated two to three weeks before the building is completely dry. 

Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, told The Colorado Sun no critical records related to the office’s daily work were lost.

The building will reopen to the public Tuesday and Supreme Court and Court of Appeals arguments will take place as docketed, the Colorado Judicial Department said. The Learning Center will remain closed through January and the Ralph Carr Judicial Building’s office tower will remain closed until further notice. 

Authorities arrested Brandon Olsen, 44, in the break-in on suspicion of robbery, burglary and arson. 

Police said the situation began about 1:15 a.m., when Olsen was involved in a two-car crash at the nearby intersection of East 13th Avenue and Lincoln Street, during which he allegedly pointed a handgun at another driver.

Then, Olsen shot out a window on the east side of the Carr building, the Colorado State Patrol said. Olsen took the keys from the security guard and traveled to other parts of the building before surrendering at about 3 a.m. 

The Colorado State Patrol security guard who was confronted at gunpoint  is “healthy and well,” Vasconcellos said.

Chief Justice Brian Boatright told legislators he believed Olsen’s actions to be a “random act” and not politically motivated. The Colorado Supreme Court last month blocked Donald Trump from appearing on Colorado’s 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot after finding that he is disqualified from running for office again because he violated the so-called “insurrection clause” in the U.S. Constitution. 

Days later, Denver Police and the FBI said they were investigating “incidents” directed at the justices. 

“I told people, we could have been a Walmart and it wouldn’t have mattered,” Boatright said. “The gentleman just picked that building.”