Academy Expands to Mapleton Hill

By Aimee Heckel

It’s easily one of the most beautiful places in Boulder to live, stretched across 16 acres of land at the base of the Foothills right between the historic Mapleton Hill neighborhood and the Mount Sanitas hiking trails. Thousands of acres of open space right out the back door.

Not to mention a 75-foot-long pool with four swimming lanes. A warm-water therapy pool. A private movie theater, grand ballroom, private hair salon, 3,000-square-foot gym, sprawling porches and multiple on-site, high-quality dining rooms with private chefs. Boulder’s got more than its fair share of luxurious homes, but this one’s hard to top.

This one also happens to be a retirement community.

It’s the newest location for Academy, an elevated retirement establishment that has been a part of Boulder for decades. It’s celebrating its 25th birthday this summer.

Academy at Mapleton Hill has been nine years in the making, and it’s finally scheduled for completion this summer.

“We’re taking what we learned over 25 years and one of the most beautiful spots in Colorado, and we’re merging those two together,” says Gary Berg, founder and owner of Academy Boulder.

Berg was part of the original group that founded Academy. In the 1990s, he was practicing law in Boulder, and one of his clients was worried about moving away from his aging parents. The client told Berg he would feel much better if he could move them into an amazing retirement community where they’d be excited to live.

A keystone of that: restaurant-worthy food that not only would please the residents, but would also be tasty enough to encourage friends and family to visit frequently. Food that would turn the retirement community into a culinary destination.

“Food is where our community is based. People love to gather around food, and even more so if the food is really good,” Berg says.

That sparked the idea for what would become Academy about a decade later.

Berg enlisted the expertise of Boulder restaurateur Joe Romano (you might recognize his name from Brasserie TenTen, The Med and Via Perla) to oversee the food, instead of hiring an outside caterer or food prep company.