Sheridan can use its eminent-domain powers to condemn a blighted 31.5-acre parcel of land along South Santa Fe Drive and Hampden Avenue that will be home to three big-box retail outlets, an Arapahoe County district judge ruled.
The parcel is part of a 130-acre redevelopment site currently occupied by a number of small businesses, including a painter’s supply store, an auto auction, a tire store, a peep show and a junkyard. It also includes a portion of the Englewood Municipal Golf Course.
Judge Nancy Hopf ruled the city had correctly followed condemnation procedures when it determined that the land, a former landfill, qualified as a blighted area.
“This is just the first step in a long process to clean up this entire area,” said attorney Don Ostrander, who represents the developer, Miller Weingarten. “It will take more than a year just to clean up the land before any building can start.”
Mayor Mary Carter said earlier that the project will allow Sheridan to “create its own destiny” after being saddled with such a heavily polluted site.
Initial tenants include a Super Target and a Costco, plus an unnamed retailer. Sheridan has agreed to provide tax-increment financing for 12 to 14 years, Ostrander said.
Miller Weingarten, which developed the Englewood Civic Center on the old Cinderella City site and the Aurora Civic Center at Interstate 225 and East Alameda Avenue, has proposed a $150 million redevelopment project, including $40 million for cleaning up pollution from the landfill.
Eminent domain has been an issue at the General Assembly this year, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that land can be condemned for development purposes.
Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, introduced legislation Tuesday calling for a constitutional amendment about eminent domain that would “tighten up” the current definitions of blighted land. White said he didn’t think that the Sheridan land was questionable.
“My bill is aimed at the very loose definitions, like ‘deteriorating building,’ which may need only a fresh coat of paint,” White said.
The Sheridan issue went to court when two of the 28 landowners refused to sell and sued the city over condemnation.
Mountain States Legal Foundation owns 5 acres. The other owner, developer Daniel Crow, refused to sell his 31.5-acre parcel in the northwest corner of the larger parcel.
Crow and his partner, Christopher Hunt, the son-in-law of billionaire Philip Anschutz, purchased the land in December 2003. They paid $1.85 million with plans to build offices, “impulse” retail and some housing.
Crow paid for an environmental analysis of his land, which showed some pollution but nothing that could be considered blight.
But Sheridan’s environmental report showed that the entire 130-acre parcel was grossly polluted, including leaking methane gas that had caused several explosions and leachate, or garbage, that was oozing up or into the river.
Neither Crow nor his attorney could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Crow’s attorney, Ken Skogg, said Monday that the land is now worth roughly $6.5 million.Now that the city can move forward with condemnation, if the two sides can’t agree on a price, a jury will decide the value of the land.
The Mountain States Legal Foundation will go to court in April to fight condemnation.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
