Denver Water headquarters loom over 1280 Umatilla St., a vacant lot where apartments are planned. The property owner received a “notice of intent to acquire” from Denver Water in the spring. (BusinessDen file)
Months after telling a host of property owners in central Denver that it wanted to buy their property, Denver Water is no longer interested.
On Tuesday, Denver Water informed owners of 22 parcels that previously received a “notice of intent to acquire” that the utility is “no longer pursuing the acquisition of their property,” according to Denver Water spokesman Travis Thompson.
The notices were sent this spring to 23 properties generally along Umatilla Street between Ninth and 14th avenues.
The properties are just northwest of Denver Water’s headquarters and main operations complex. The utility’s property, meanwhile, is west of Burnham Yard, the state-owned former railyard.
The notices were sent while Denver Water was talking to the Denver Broncos. Thompson said it was clear during those talks that the utility could need to relocate some operations and identified the 23 parcels, which spanned about 14 acres in total, as an option.
Last week, the Broncos announced that they plan to build a stadium amid a broader development on a large site that includes the 58-acre Burnham Yard, 25 of Denver Water’s acres and additional land that the team has been buying since last year.
In conjunction with that, Denver Water said it could relocate operations to several sites, the largest of which is along 40th Avenue in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, where AT&T once operated a call center.
Thompson said Denver Water determined that the area northwest of its headquarters, to which it sent the notices, ultimately had “too many functionality and safety challenges.”
The Broncos will cover relocation costs, according to Denver Water.
The notices alarmed some of the property owners. Speaking to BusinessDen, several objected to the price proposed for their property and the fact that the notices came with information about the state’s eminent domain process. They criticized Denver Water for a lack of communication.
“People need to know that Denver Water tried to pull a fast one,” Dennis Miller, who owns Dakota Drilling and its property at 1380 Umatilla St., told BusinessDen in July.
Brad Eide, a developer with Elevate Cos. planning to build apartments at a site along 13th Avenue, told BusinessDen that month that the notice “railroaded” financing for the project.
“We were slated to be in construction last month. We’re sitting here in purgatory,” Eide said at the time.
Owners said they had their own appraisals done and sent them to Denver Water, only to hear nothing back. Eide said in mid-August he planned to proceed with building his apartment project.
“We were taken for an unnecessary ride,” he said at the time.
Denver Water did make a deal for one property that received a notice, at 1801 W. 13th Ave. The utility’s board voted last month to pay $2 million for the site.
MAP: In this interactive map, properties in blue are those that were sent a “Notice of Intent to Acquire” by Denver Water. The large property in yellow is owned by Denver Water. The large property in green is Burnham Yard. Boundaries are approximate.
Denver Water headquarters loom over 1280 Umatilla St., a vacant lot where apartments are planned. The property owner received a “notice of intent to acquire” from Denver Water in the spring. (BusinessDen file)
Months after telling a host of property owners in central Denver that it wanted to buy their property, Denver Water is no longer interested.
On Tuesday, Denver Water informed owners of 22 parcels that previously received a “notice of intent to acquire” that the utility is “no longer pursuing the acquisition of their property,” according to Denver Water spokesman Travis Thompson.
The notices were sent this spring to 23 properties generally along Umatilla Street between Ninth and 14th avenues.
The properties are just northwest of Denver Water’s headquarters and main operations complex. The utility’s property, meanwhile, is west of Burnham Yard, the state-owned former railyard.
The notices were sent while Denver Water was talking to the Denver Broncos. Thompson said it was clear during those talks that the utility could need to relocate some operations and identified the 23 parcels, which spanned about 14 acres in total, as an option.
Last week, the Broncos announced that they plan to build a stadium amid a broader development on a large site that includes the 58-acre Burnham Yard, 25 of Denver Water’s acres and additional land that the team has been buying since last year.
In conjunction with that, Denver Water said it could relocate operations to several sites, the largest of which is along 40th Avenue in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood, where AT&T once operated a call center.
Thompson said Denver Water determined that the area northwest of its headquarters, to which it sent the notices, ultimately had “too many functionality and safety challenges.”
The Broncos will cover relocation costs, according to Denver Water.
The notices alarmed some of the property owners. Speaking to BusinessDen, several objected to the price proposed for their property and the fact that the notices came with information about the state’s eminent domain process. They criticized Denver Water for a lack of communication.
“People need to know that Denver Water tried to pull a fast one,” Dennis Miller, who owns Dakota Drilling and its property at 1380 Umatilla St., told BusinessDen in July.
Brad Eide, a developer with Elevate Cos. planning to build apartments at a site along 13th Avenue, told BusinessDen that month that the notice “railroaded” financing for the project.
“We were slated to be in construction last month. We’re sitting here in purgatory,” Eide said at the time.
Owners said they had their own appraisals done and sent them to Denver Water, only to hear nothing back. Eide said in mid-August he planned to proceed with building his apartment project.
“We were taken for an unnecessary ride,” he said at the time.
Denver Water did make a deal for one property that received a notice, at 1801 W. 13th Ave. The utility’s board voted last month to pay $2 million for the site.
MAP: In this interactive map, properties in blue are those that were sent a “Notice of Intent to Acquire” by Denver Water. The large property in yellow is owned by Denver Water. The large property in green is Burnham Yard. Boundaries are approximate.
