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Big profit on Lakewood land

Investors pocket $450,000 in fast sale to city agency

Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 15, 2007 at midnight

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The Lakewood Housing Authority bought land next to a planned FasTracks' West Corridor light-rail stop for $1.1 million from private investors who paid $650,000 for the parcel eight days earlier.

The value of the 2.5 acres rose 69 percent between Dec. 12, 2006, when the investors, Black Creek Communities and MGL Partners, bought the land and Dec. 20, 2006, when they sold the parcel to the housing authority, records show.

"We are completely thrilled to own the parcel," said Bill Luns- ford, the housing authority's development manager.

The Lakewood Housing Authority, a quasi-government entity, used funds generated by other affordable-housing units to buy the land to build more affordable housing, he said.

The land, a vacant lot at 1455 Vance St., is in the same block as the light-rail stop at Wadsworth Boulevard and West 14th Avenue.

"Our goal was to find a property for affordable housing near a light-rail station," said Lunsford. "We were not concerned about their (the sellers') profits."

Property deeds show a bank owned the property for several years and the investors contracted to buy it in March 2005.

Greg Glade, a principal in MGL Partners, said the group had planned to develop the parcel and kept the land under contract as redevelopment plans for the area and the light-rail system were approved.

The FasTracks light-rail buildout for the metro area was approved by voters in 2004. The Lakewood Housing Authority started looking for property along the West Corridor in 2006, Lunsford said.

Lunsford said Glade first contacted the housing authority in 2005 about a partnership to develop affordable housing on the site.

Glade said he contacted the housing authority again in 2006, after the partners decided not to develop the land, this time seeking to sell it for $1.3 million.

"They negotiated a better price," he said. "It's a gem of a location."

Lunsford said the housing authority's interest in the property rose by 2006 because because the light-rail line, the redevelopment of Wadsworth and possible rezoning in the area increased the need for affordable housing.

Lunsford said the housing authority got an independent property appraisal of $1.1 million and the authority's board approved the purchase in November 2006.

"The jump in value (in eight days) is relatively unusual," said Lunsford. "I don't remember it happening before."

While the sale deeds contain the price for the original purchase by the investors, the sale deed for the Lakewood Housing Authority's purchase doesn't include the price it paid.

Margo Green, an administrative clerk in the Jefferson County Clerk's office, and Betty Jamison, an administrative specialist in the county assessor's office, said the deeds usually include that information.

"It's certainly public record. I don't know why it wasn't there," Lunsford said.

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