BRIGHTON — A small chunk of Adams County farmland changed hands three times in one day last year, costing county taxpayers $1.6 million and netting a local developer more than $700,000.
The 20 acres were donated to the state for a juvenile detention center. But there is no money to build it and the land remains vacant.
For years, farm owners Robert Hattendorf and Anne Anderson had land for sale. But when the state of Colorado requested free land from Adams County to construct a new juvenile jail, the commissioners did not try to buy land directly from the owners.
Instead, they turned to developers Craig Carlson and William Parkhill. The developers contacted Hattendorf and his sister, Anderson, and on Feb. 5, 2009, purchased 36 acres of land at the south end of Brighton for $1.57 million, or about $43,600 per acre. On that same day, they sold the county 20 acres of the parcel for $1.6 million, or $80,000 per acre — giving them a net profit of about $36,400 per acre.
The county then donated the land to the state. Had the county gone straight to Hattendorf and Anderson, they could’ve saved taxpayers about $727,000.
Nineteen months later, that land sits vacant. There is no money in this year’s state budget for a juvenile detention center in Brighton, and there will be no money for one next year. It is unclear whether a juvenile detention center will ever be built on the site.
Meanwhile, some citizens are asking why their county commissioners handed a developer that much money just to buy and resell land that, for now, has no public use.
At a Brighton council meeting last year, “Craig Carlson made the statement that he was not making any profit at all, but that’s exactly what he had done,” said David Gill, a former councilman. “Now we have $1.6 million of county-purchased land sitting vacant. All we have is dirt for $1.6 million.”
In an interview last week, county commissioners Larry Pace and W.R. “Skip” Fischer said they never knew what Carlson Parkhill LLC paid for the farmland they bought and donated to the state.
“We had no idea what their price was,” Fischer said.
Hattendorf said he received a fair price and doesn’t mind that Carlson resold the land for a profit. But he wonders why county officials never asked about the land. It had been for sale for years. The commissioners said they were unaware that the parcel was available.
“How do you know what they want to sell?” Fischer asked. “I had no idea you could spin off a piece of property out there.”
Long history of projects
That land deal was one of several million-dollar projects that city and county officials in Brighton have undertaken with Craig Carlson, a prominent Adams County landowner, his partner William Parkhill and other family members.
• Brighton chose Carlson Parkhill to develop a downtown entertainment area, Brighton Pavilions. That project culminated in a $6.8 million foreclosure this year against the developers. The project still has a 12-screen theater but is bank-owned and otherwise largely vacant.
Brighton City Manager Manuel Esquibel said the city’s urban redevelopment authority invested $2.5 million in Brighton Pavilions for streets, water, sewer and other infrastructure. He said he expects the project to rebound.
• The Brighton Urban Redevelopment Authority gave Parkhill and Carlson a $4.4 million contract to renovate a state armory as a cultural center. According to Esquibel, they were the only bidders.
• The city paid Clarke Carlson, Craig’s brother, and others $2.8 million in July for 92 acres of vacant land for potential open space or park use. That land remains fenced and closed to the public. Esquibel said it may be several years before the city uses it.
• The county is building a five-story government center on land acquired for $3.9 million from Adams Crossing LLC, a company whose principals included Craig Carlson. Adams Crossing now plans a “vibrant community of some 22,000 people” on 780 acres around the new government center. Clarke Carlson owns about 130 other acres directly west of it.
The county inevitably encounters the Carlsons on expansion projects because “they’re probably the largest controller of vacant land out there,” Commissioner Fischer said. “If you’re looking for something to buy, you’re going to find a Carlson sign on it.”
Craig Carlson did not return several phone calls from The Post. But Clarke Carlson said his family’s Adams County holdings have grown over three generations since his grandfather emigrated from Sweden.
“We all have our background in farming and agriculture,” he said, but have become involved in real estate because of “the cities’ growth and annexation process over really the last 40 years.”
Carlson said he sold parkland to the city of Brighton at a reduced price — “they bought at the bottom of the market.”
A specific site search
Adams County’s search for a new juvenile detention site began three years ago.
In a letter to county administrator Jim Robinson, the state Division of Youth Corrections director, John Gomez, envisioned a “state-of-the-art facility” to replace an aging detention center in Brighton.
Gomez didn’t just want to replace the 29 existing beds. He wanted the new detention center to hold 102 people. To achieve that, “the department has identified 20 acres as an ideal parcel size to accommodate the campus design,” he wrote.
Robinson said that he had provided several potential sites that the Division of Youth Corrections found unsuitable. The state was interested in two sites, he said, and in both cases, Craig Carlson had an option to buy the land.
State officials “were certainly working with him on the two sites we were talking about,” Robinson said. “You’ll have to ask them why.”
The Post called Gomez and the Department of Human Services, which did not respond Friday.
County officials said they agreed to the state’s request for a 20-acre site because they recognized that Brighton’s existing juvenile detention center was antiquated and because law enforcement officers were calling it overcrowded and inadequate.
In his 2007 letter to Adams County, Gomez expressed optimism that the legislature “will approve this project in the next funding cycle.”
Instead, the legislature was forced to cut projects as the economy suffered.
Funding hits a snag
The youth detention center was not funded this year. And according to Kori Donaldson of the Colorado Legislative Council staff, it will not be among the capital projects considered for the next fiscal year.
In Brighton, city manager Esquibel said Gomez recently indicated the detention center could be five to 10 years away because of budget constraints.
Other problems have arisen. Brighton has not endorsed using the $1.6 million swath of farmland as a juvenile detention site. At public meetings, some residents have objected to the idea of a new jail for juveniles. Others oppose the loss of farmland at the agricultural end of town.
A committee appointed by the Brighton council may report that “the site they’re looking at now might not necessarily be a good site,” Esquibel said.
County commissioner Fischer said there is no reason to worry that the commissioners spent $1.6 million for nothing.
If no juvenile detention center is built, the land donated to the state returns to the county.
“We can sell it back to the Carlsons,” Fischer said, “or on the open market.”
