Council gives staff consensus to press forward on Wilmore Davis school acquisition and sale to Spectra Centers

City staff asked Wheat Ridge City Council on July 27 for direction to continue negotiating a two-step acquisition of the former Wilmore Davis Elementary School property, a transaction designed to preserve parkland and keep the school building in community use.

Patrick Goff, presenting the framework, described the structure: the city would purchase the full seven-acre parcel from Jefferson County Public Schools for approximately $2,840,000, then retain about 2.5 acres for a future neighborhood park and convey roughly 4.5 acres (including the school building) to Spectra Centers. "The city would purchase the entire property for approximately 2,840,000," staff said. Spectra would pay about $2,755,000 for the school parcel; after commissions and closing costs the city's estimated net investment to permanently acquire about 2.5 acres of parkland is roughly $172,000, to be paid from the open space fund.

Staff emphasized that both the acquisition agreement with the school district and the sale agreement with Spectra remain drafts and that the transactions would be simultaneous — both must close or neither would. City Attorney Dahl said staff will include protections such as a right of first refusal in the sale to Spectra so the city has the opportunity to reacquire the parcel if Spectra later wishes to sell. The agreements will also include customary contingencies for financing, licensing, and development agreement terms governing shared parking, access, utilities and long-term maintenance responsibilities.

Councilors asked whether the Wilmore Davis purchase should be listed in the ballot language being discussed and requested further packet detail summarizing which projects would remain in the ballot bundles. Council members expressed broad support for continuing the negotiations and for neighborhood engagement; council gave staff consensus to proceed and return with final documents for approval.