Medical campus to anchor North Park

University of Colorado Health bought 66 acres in Broomfield’s North Park area and plans to build a new medical campus on the land located on the south side of Colorado Highway 7, across from Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Broomfield campus. The price of the tract was $23.9 million. Courtesy McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc.

Michael Davidson
BROOMFIELD — University of Colorado Health has found room to grow in Broomfield, and McWhinney has found a potential anchor for its North Park development.

UC Health bought 66 acres in Broomfield’s North Park area and plans to build a new medical campus on the land. The price of the tract was $23.9 million, according to Broomfield public records.

The deal closed Dec. 21, according to Jay Hardy, McWhinney vice president and North Park general manager.

The deal was announced Jan. 7 by UCHealth and McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc., the company that is developing North Park, a 935-acre mixed-use development. The land is on the south side of Colorado Highway 7, across from Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Broomfield campus.

UCHealth, a nonprofit based in Aurora, has yet to determine what services will be offered in Broomfield, according to spokesman Dan Weaver. Directors of the nonprofit bought the land because they know communities such as Broomfield and others in the north Denver suburbs are growing rapidly, and as of now there are not enough medical facilities to accommodate them.

“We know there will be more services needed there,” Weaver said.

The project is in such an early stage that UCHealth has yet to determine whether it will be a satellite campus with a few medical office buildings or a full-service hospital, he said.

According to the release, more than 400,000 people live within a 10-mile radius of North Park, which is near the junction of Interstate 25, the Northwest Parkway and E-470. That population is expected to grow to 845,000 by 2030, it said.

Hardy said McWhinney is happy to have UCHealth make the investment in North Park, and the company thinks the medical campus will benefit the rest of the development. The Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, a UCHealth hospital, helped drive the growth of McWhinney’s Centerra development, Hardy said.

“This is obviously a major anchor for us,” Hardy said. “We’re big fans of using a medical campus to anchor a growing community.”

Frank Kelley of CRBE Inc. brokered the deal, Hardy said.


LAFAYETTE

HOMEBUILDING TIMEOUT: The Lafayette City Council on Jan. 7 approved a four-month moratorium on the issuance of residential construction permits so city planners can determine how best to comply with changes to the city’s growth plan that were approved by voters in November.

The amendment to the City Charter lifted a provision that limited Lafayette to issuing 200 new building permits per year for the next six years, which is when the city would meet its limit of 1,200 new dwelling units. The 1,200 figure is established in Lafayette’s growth-management plan.

Developments in Lafayette that already are under construction and have received prior allocations of building permits, such as Coal Creek Village, are not affected by the changes to the charter, community development director Phillip Patterson said.

The measure approved by voters gives Lafayette greater flexibility in how it issues building permits, which will better allow it to manage growth in a way that reflects the market for new construction, Patterson said.

The moratorium will give the staff the chance to create a policy for issuing the permits, he said.

The Lafayette City Council has to approve the number of permits that can be issued each year. On Monday it approved a measure that sets the 2013 cap at zero and the 2014 cap at 200. City planners do not expect new developments to be approved and started in 2013, but the cap can be raised by the council, according to a staff memorandum.


LONGMONT

TWIN PEAKS: The Twin Peaks Mall redevelopment project will receive up to $33 million in public financing following a 6-1 vote Jan. 8 by the Longmont City Council.

The owner of the mall, NMMS Twin Peaks LLC, plans to redevelop the mall into a 470,000-square-foot retail center with a large movie theater, club warehouse retailer and natural grocer as major tenants. Retailers, restaurants and the theater will be in a village-style open-air arrangement.

NMMS Twin Peaks LLC, part of Fort Collins-based Newmark Merrill Mountain States, purchased the mall out of bankruptcy last year for $8.5 million. The estimated cost of the makeover is $80 million, according to Newmark Merrill.

The agreement is between the developer, the city, the Longmont Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Twin Peaks Metropolitan District. The certifications of participation and special revenue bonds used to finance the project are to be repaid from new property- and sales-tax revenue the mall generates.

The agreement has a number of conditions, including what kind of tenants Newmark Merrill must find and the amount of taxable sales per square foot they must generate. It also requires work to begin construction by Dec. 31 and be completed by Dec. 31, 2015.

The measure also requires a large percentage of the retailers be new to Longmont in an effort to prevent the mall from cannibalizing sales from other parts of the city, economic development director Brad Power said.

The major component of the deal is a $27.5 million special revenue bond to be issued by the Longmont Urban Renewal Authority, according to a memo provided by the city. Over 25 years, the mall could generate $94.3 million for Longmont, while the total debt obligation over that time could reach $45.5 million.

The deal is not the first time public support for Twin Peaks Mall has been considered. Power said attitudes have changed, and City Council members have been hearing more support from voters about an assistance package.

“Frankly, this community wanted to have it happen. There was a lot of momentum,” Powers said.

Councilwoman Sarah Levison voted against the agreement.

Michael Davidson can be reached at 303-630-1943 or mdavidson@bcbr.com.