Lend Lease threatens to quit Lowry project
Lend Lease Communities LLC of Denver said Friday that it may quit as developer of the proposed Lowry Range mixed-use real estate development east of Aurora by the end of this year, if it can’t find a sustainable water source for the project at a “reasonable cost,” Lend Lease said on Friday.
The developer submitted a letter to the Colorado State Land Board on Friday, saying it intends to terminate its development agreement on Dec. 31 of this year.
“We have determined that various, essential pre-development conditions set forth in the development management services agreement dated June 22, 2007, are seemingly unlikely to be met by the end of the year,” the letter said.
Lend Lease contends that so far, it has been unable to get an adequate water supply or adequate wastewater treatment facilities at “a commercially reasonable cost” for the project from the Rangeview Metropolitan District and Pure Cycle Corp. (NASDAQ: PYCO) of Thornton. That circumstance has impeded the developer’s ability to look at alternative sources of sustainable water, Lend Lease said.
Pure Cycle owns water rights representing millions of gallons a year of surface and underground water.
But Lend Lease still hopes to find sources of sustainable water, according to the company.
“We have consistently and publicly maintained that our vision for the Lowry Range project includes a sustainable water supply that could consist of an appropriate balance between renewable and nonrenewable sources, and provides adequate wastewater treatment facilities,” the Lend Lease letter said freecreditreport.
Lowry Range, the former bombing range for the now-defunct Lowry Air Force Base, is located at Interstate 70 and E-470 in unincorporated Arapahoe County. Lend Lease hoped to break ground in 2009 on the project at the site, which would have taken roughly 20 years to complete. Lend Lease Communities, through its Lend Lease Lowry Range LLC subsidiary, planned to develop 3,870 acres of the total, 26,000-acre range for residential and commercial use. Its project was to include 13,000 homes as well as retail space, schools, parks and open space.
In preparation for its work at the Lowry Range development, Pure Cycle was to build a $400 million pipeline from the Arkansas River Valley to the Denver area to transport as much as 40,000 acre-feet of water a year. The company also planned to build as many as four reservoirs at the Lowry Range site.
Lend Lease Communities is part of one of Australia’s largest real estate companies, Lend Lease Corp. Ltd.
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