Property Disposition

District leaders will review each unused property, including location, condition, demographic projections of the area and future needs. If the leadership team determines the property is no longer needed, they will recommend to the Board of Education that it be considered “surplus” (per Jeffco Policy DN). The Board must vote to classify a facility as “surplus” in order to move forward with the process of selling or leasing it to an outside entity.

Once a property has been deemed “surplus” by the Board of Education, Jeffco staff will advertise and host a public meeting to share detailed information about the property and put out an invitation for an “intent to propose” proposal for future usage. Any person, organization, group or business may submit a proposal during the proposal window.

Once proposals have been submitted, Jeffco will begin a thorough review process involving community members, the Property Disposition Advisory Committee and Jeffco staff. The advisory committee’s assessment of proposals will be shared with Jeffco’s leadership team, which will in turn inform the Board and enter into contract negotiations with one or more “proposers” based on their review.

Below are the criteria the ad-hoc and advisory committees are using to make recommendations when pre-qualification responses and proposals are received from interested parties.

Property disposition process evaluation criteria

• Collaborative partner: Partnership with a buyer that maintains an open, active, responsive and committed approach to collaboration with Jeffco and/or City staff, the community, and immediate neighbors as valued and interested partners.
• Financial capacity and benefits: Partnership with a buyer that has the financial capacity to guarantee the successful completion of the Project and provides return to Jeffco.
• Enhance neighborhood quality: Jeffco seeks to promote the greater community and local economic development. The buyer may achieve this by providing for a range of property types including office, residential, retail, community asset, etc., which respond to the values of the community and meet the needs of an economically and socially diverse community. Preference will be given to those buyers that demonstrate a financially feasible project plan with various amenities and services to meet the existing community needs and to design the product mix in a way that improves the existing neighborhood character over the lifetime of the Project. Permitted and prohibited uses are typically outlined in the city’s development resources page.
• Neighborhood compatibility and design: The site is within a residential community, and the proposed project should blend in with the surrounding community and the residential nature.
• Strategic planning: Thoughtful planning that prioritizes efficient and creative site design, strategic phasing and overall architectural and design excellence.

Municipality property disposition evaluation criteria

• Mutual benefit: Proposed use benefits the City or County and the district’s students, families, employees and neighbors. 
• Zero cost to the district: The property no longer requires any district funding or financing. 
• Adequate compensation: The district stands to receive a fair and reasonable amount of money or some other form of payment or agreeable terms (i.e., the building/property is returned to the district if no longer used by the municipality for its intended purpose; the district retains ownership of a component of the property) to ensure its ability to maximize revenue to serve its current student population. 
• High-quality project: Clear metrics support a contribution to social and economic growth (direct or indirect); project advances the economic opportunities of the people most in need of them. 
• Network effects: Project is uniquely compatible with connected infrastructure.

Jeffco staff will work with interested parties on negotiating the terms of a sale or lease. Once terms are finalized, the Board will receive information about the negotiated contract, including a staff recommendation, to make a final decision.

Jeffco will continue to maintain all properties it owns until the transfer of that ownership is complete.

• Allendale Elementary, 5900 Oak St., Arvada, CO
• Zerger Elementary, 9050 Field St, Broomfield, CO

The Board of Education approved the purchase and sale agreements for the former Allendale and Zerger Elementary School sites at their June 13 meeting. The contract was awarded to Cardel Homes who plans to build single-family homes on each former school site.

An experienced home builder with over 50 years experience, Cardel Homes is:

• A family-owned business that has expanded into four markets across North America.
• A company that has shaped over 150 communities and constructed more than 20,000 homes.
• A home builder that has been in business in Colorado for 18 years.
• An integrated homebuilder and land developer in the Denver metro area.

Cardel Homes will perform their due diligence on each site and continue working their development proposal through the municipalities’ development review process that is outlined on their respective websites.

• Glennon Heights, 11025 W. Glennon Dr. Lakewood, CO 80226
  • Jacob Academy, a local daycare and early childhood education provider, will relocate one of their campuses to this site. They also plan to reuse the building and site as is.
• Thomson, 7750 Harlan St., Arvada, CO 80003
  • Evoke Behavioral Health, a provider of services for children and young adults with autism and other behavioral support needs. They will reuse the building and site as is.
• Vivian, 10500 W. 25th Ave., Lakewood, CO 80215
  • The property is under contract with Carlson Associates, a local home developer. The plan is to build 30-33 single-family homes and to collaborate with the City of Lakewood to develop a roughly 3-acre park.

What Can Neighbors Expect Next?

• Glennon Heights
  • This property has been sold. Jacob Academy is the new owner of the property.
• Thomson
  • This property has been sold. Evoke Behavioral Health is the new owner of the property.
• Vivian
  • This property will have a longer timeline for completion as it involves development requiring additional community engagement with the City of Lakewood’s planning department. This includes the platting of home sites and the development of the park. The total entitlement process will take up to 540 days beyond the initial 90-day due diligence period.

With only a few exceptions, it is not yet known which properties will be retained for future use and which ones will be made available for lease or sale. When/if Jeffco’s leadership team determines that a building is no longer needed for use by the district, the Board of Education will be asked to deem the property as “surplus”, thus allowing for the commencement of the sale/lease process. 

Decisions to surplus property are made only if there is a data supported recommendation from district staff that the property is not currently needed for any district use, and that there is no case for future use based on enrollment trends and area demographic trends. 

Jeffco’s leadership team is in the process of assessing the current and future needs for its students and will make these determinations on a property-by-property basis over the next 12 to 24 months. Properties identified as candidates for surplus designation are tentatively scheduled to be presented to the Board of Education throughout 2024-25.

Per District Policy DN, only the Board may deem a property as “surplus.” The Jeffco leadership team will take their surplus recommendations to the Board, which will then vote to approve or deny the recommendation(s).

Jeffco’s leadership team is conducting a comprehensive self-assessment of anticipated needs for both current and future students. Enrollment trends, birth rates, neighborhood demographics, housing forecasts and evolving student needs are examples of considerations in the decision-making process.

View a list of properties that are currently vacant or will become vacant soon.

Jeffco is committed to ensuring safety and maintaining adequate aesthetics on all properties, whether occupied or not. As such, all vacant buildings will have robust security systems in place, inclusive of monitored cameras, and will be regularly patrolled by Jeffco security and local law enforcement. Exterior building and grounds maintenance will be commensurate with occupied buildings.

We contact municipalities early in our process to inform them about properties in their area that will soon be available for sale. This allows the municipalities to express interest in purchasing the property for community use before it is offered to others. 

Should a municipality express interest in a property, we initiate our Municipal Interest Process.

If a property enters our regular surplus process, it means that the municipality did not express interest in acquiring the building.

Once a building or parcel of land has been deemed “surplus” by the Board, the disposition process will begin. Detailed property information and tours will be made available to the public via a “pre-proposal meeting” and an open invitation for Prequalification submissions will be made available on the website. Once open, intent-to-propose applications may be submitted by any person or organization and will not be contractually binding.

After the submission deadline, all usage proposals for the property will be reviewed by the Jeffco leadership team as well as the Property Disposition Advisory Committee. The advisory committee (including geographic-specific ad-hoc members) will score proposals against a rubric that, once developed, will be available publicly. Once proposals have been reviewed, contracting discussions will begin.

Many properties in Jeffco were either sold to the district for a nominal fee or gifted to Jeffco for the purpose of building schools as the district grew rapidly in the 50s and 60s.

The district met any obligations for those transactions by building and operating a school on the site within the timeframe required by the transaction at the time. Those properties all then become real property of the district.

The district maintains deeds that confirm ownership of all our properties on file with the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder. Per District Policy and in alignment with State Statute, the Board of Education makes the final decision on the sale of any district property.

To learn more about the committee's composition, role and time commitments, view the one-page overview.

The core members of the committee will participate in every site’s recommendation-making process and will be comprised of the following:

• Two representatives from the District Accountability Committee (DAC):
  • Parker Brown
  • Carrie Mumma
• Two representatives from the Capital Asset Advisory Committee (CAAC):
  • Eric Lugger
  • Heather Gasper
• Two representatives from the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC):
  • Gary Colbert
  • Melissa Jamieson
• Two representatives from Jeffco staff*:
  • Jeff Gatlin, Chief Operating Officer
  • Support: Greg Avedikian, Project Manager, Chief Operating Office
• One special advisor*:
  • Jansen Tidmore, Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation

An additional two to three members from the nearby community will be added to the committee and will participate in the recommendation-making process for their local site. These ad-hoc committee members will be selected via an application process.

*Jeffco representatives are non-voting members of this committee.

Because the voices of nearby community members are critical in determining the future use of Jeffco properties, the district is seeking people who live or work near surplus sites to serve as ad-hoc members of the advisory committee.

Members of the Jefferson County community who are interested in serving as an ad-hoc member of Jeffco's Property Disposition Advisory Committee are invited to complete the interest form below.

Property Disposition Advisory Committee Interest Form

Please note: This form is only available when we are actively recruiting new Ad-Hoc committee members.

Jeffco is seeking input from community members about the future use of surplus properties. The following opportunities exist to vocalize opinions and participate in the process:

• Attend a community engagement meeting. View the “Important Dates” section for dates and times.
• Sign up to receive email updates about community engagement opportunities relative to one or more surplus properties.
• Share feedback through the Property Disposition Community Voice form.

View the "Review and Recommend" section to read the evaluation criteria the ad-hoc and advisory committees are using to make recommendations when pre-qualification responses and proposals are received from interested parties.