LOUISVILLE — Balfour Senior Living, a Louisville-based owner/operator of senior-living rental communities, announced it will build a $74 million senior-living community in Denver.

Balfour at Riverfront Park will be located at 15th and Little Raven streets, near Union Station and across from Commons Park.

“Colorado has a new generation of seniors who want to enjoy downtown Denver’s dynamic urban lifestyle,” said Michael Schonbrun, chief executive and founder of Balfour Senior Living. “Until now, seniors have had few options for upscale downtown living and few anywhere in the state will offer what Balfour at Riverfront Park will provide: an urban lifestyle in a parklike setting where residents have easy access to the city’s leading restaurants, cultural events, entertainment and sports venues.”

The project originally was designed by Robert Stern, an internationally acclaimed architect based in New York City, and later revised by klipp Architects of Denver, the architect of record.

The site is adjacent to the Moffat Train Depot, a landmark historic building that will be incorporated into the project. Upon renovation, the 1,200-square-foot depot will serve as the Great Room for the 275,000-square foot, five-story community.

The project will feature:

• 112 independent-living rental apartment homes, ranging in size from 600 square feet to 1,600 square feet, with one- and two-bedroom units available.

• 65 assisted-living apartment homes with specially designed dining and outdoor areas.

• A 27 memory-care apartment home community.

• Condo-style finishes in all the independent-living apartments with full kitchens, high-end appliances and bathroom fittings, large windows and walk-in closets, many with outdoor terraces, balconies and fireplaces.

• European-style central piazza with gardens.

• Three dining rooms, each with a unique dining experience. Also included will be a bistro/pub, rooftop bar and art studio and several private dining rooms.

Costs to live at Balfour at Riverfront Park have not yet been established.


BOULDER

VACANT BUILDING SOLD: A vacant three-story building in downtown Boulder that had been home to a medical-marijuana dispensary has been purchased for $3 million by a local investor.

The top floor of the 11,950-square-foot building at 1327 Spruce St. had housed Top Shelf Alternatives LLC, a medical-marijuana dispensary, and the first two floors had been used for storage. It was owned by Michelle Sue Tucker of Denver, who had purchased the building for $3.5 million in 2006. The shop had won Best of Boulder recognition in the Colorado Daily in 2010, but the company was voluntarily dissolved Feb. 25 after a series of court battles with the city.

Angela Topel of Gibbons-White Inc. represented the seller, MTLB LLC, owned by Tucker. Todd Walsh of The Colorado Group Inc. represented the buyer, 1327 Spruce St. LLC. Walsh would not disclose who the principals are of 1327 Spruce St. LLC. Space is available for lease in the building, Walsh said.

The sale closed March 8.

“The building is in good condition and 100 percent vacant at present,” Walsh said. “It’s an excellent location for expanding government needs and for companies desiring prime downtown real estate.”

The first floor could be used for a restaurant or coffee shop, according to the listing on The Colorado Group’s website.


FORECLOSURE RATE DIPS: Boulder County had the lowest rate of foreclosure sales per household in Colorado during February, according to a report released Wednesday by the Colorado Division of Housing.

Boulder County had 19 foreclosure sales, or one for every 6,283 households, the report said. Broomfield County had the second-lowest rate of foreclosure sales in February: four sales, or one for every 5,490 households.

Mesa County had the highest rate of foreclosure sales during February with one for every 1,022 households per foreclosure sale.

Foreclosure filings in Colorado’s metropolitan counties were down 43.6 percent during February, falling year over year to the lowest level recorded in any month since the Division of Housing began collecting monthly totals in 2007.

Foreclosure auction sales in Colorado’s metropolitan counties were down 41.9 percent in February compared with February last year, falling from 1,248 to 725. Over the same period, foreclosure filings dropped from 2,056 to 1,160.

For the first two months of the year combined, from January through February, foreclosure filings were down 34.5 percent in 2013 when compared with the same period last year. Foreclosure auction sales were down 31 percent over the same period.

Foreclosure filings are the initial filing that begins the foreclosure process, and foreclosure auction sales totals are the number of foreclosures that have been sold at auction at the end of the foreclosure process.

“There are few ways to describe this other than as a big drop-off in foreclosure filings,” said Ryan McMaken, an economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. “It’s getting easier to sell a house to get out of trouble. Low mortgage rates and low inventory continue to be big factors.”

The full report is available on the Division of Housing blog: http://www.divisionofhousing.com/.


LONGMONT

YEAGER FARM: A homebuilder has purchased the remaining 45 undeveloped lots in the Yeager Farm subdivision in Longmont.

Henry Walker Homes, headquartered in Salt Lake City with an office in Westminster, will open a sales trailer this weekend in the subdivision, located west of Francis Street on 15th Avenue. According to Tom Zieske, division president, the company will build a display home and two more on speculation. It has three more homes under contract to be built, Zieske said, plus reservations for four other lots and plans for more awaiting city approval.

Financial terms of the purchase were not available at presstime.

Harold Yeager and his brothers bought the farm in 1942. It was purchased by Leo Simons and John McCarty for development in 1977, but remained an undeveloped tract surrounded by existing northwest Longmont neighborhoods until 2006, when Markel Homes started developing it despite some Longmont residents’ insistence that it be preserved as an island of open space.

Infill was slow as economic recession hit, however, and today the development between 14th and 16th avenues still consists of a mixture of existing homes and vacant lots.

“When I first saw this, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is a hidden gem,’ “Zieske said. “This is quintessential infill.”

Lot sizes will vary between 7,000 and 12,000 square feet, Zieske said, and two models of one- to two-story houses – the “Collegian” and the “Metro” – are planned. A “Collegian” in Yeager Farm would range from 1,200 to 2,400 finished square feet and sell for around $300,000, Zieske said, while a “Metro” could hold 1,500 to 3,200 square feet and sell starting at about $350,000.

The homebuilder already was active in Firestone and Dacono. Its portfolio in Colorado and Utah includes more than 2,500 lots.