Getting your player ready...
The developer who had Gov. John Hickenlooper’s rental home under contract in northwest Denver, today told InsideRealEstateNews that he has decided not to buy it.
Mike Mathieson, principal of Form + Function Development, said after looking at the home again on Sunday at 4564 W. Moncrieff Place, in West Highland, he decided today that he had too much on his plate at this point to tackle the home’s needed renovation to re-sell it for a profit.
“I decided to pass on it today,” said Mathieson, who earlier had developed a duplex down the street from the governor’s rental, in which each each unit sold for $575,000. He also has a number of other high-end spec homes on the market in northwest Denver and Platt Park.
Concentrating on the new
“It was just going to require too much work and I decided I should concentrate on my new construction projects at this time,” Mathieson said.
Mathieson said he was planning to buy the home for $325,000, which what the listing broker, Juanita Chacon of RE/MAX Alliance had planned to ask for the home at 4564 W. Moncrieff Place. Mathieson estimated the renovation cost of the home would be in the neighborhood of $75,000 or $80,000.
“I think I could have then sold it for the mid-$500,000s,” Mathieson said, who has fixed and flipped home before, although recently he has been concentrating on new, infill developments from about $500,000 to under $700,00s. He has new homes at 3602 Raleigh St., 3526 Stuart St., the Zuni 6 development in LoHi, 1915 S. Clarkson St. and 1628 S. Grant St., in Platt Park, to name some of his infill projects.
If he wasn’t so busy with new projects, he would have found the house that Hickenlooper has owned for almost 30 years – he bought it in 1983 for $69,500 – as a wonderful renovation project.
“It’s a cool home,” even if it needs work, Mathieson said. “It probably would have taken some reconfiguration of the interior. And I really love the ground. It’s the highest point in northwest Denver and it has a third floor, so it would have great views.” According to Google Earth, the site’s elevation is 5,479 feet – more than a mile high.
Realtor Chacon said she probably will have the home officially on the market within 10 days. She said she thought Mathieson was going to close on it when he put it under contract.
“He was pretty aggressive and I had no reason to think he wouldn’t end up buying it,” Chacon said. “But he did have a due diligence period and decided it wasn’t right for him at this point.”
She said she isn’t disappointed the deal wasn’t consummated, although she said she thinks Mathieson’s take on what it could fetch after it was gutted and renovated is right on the money.
“The way it happened was kind of unexpected,” because it wasn’t officially on the market yet, she said. “We were kind of unprepared, the governor was out of town, and the tenant was still living in it. He only moved out last Saturday. This way we can take our time and really be prepared. This way, we can really showcase the brick walls and the original moulding Were going to move the governor’s personal stuff out of the basement. It’s really a nice house on a nice block. There’s a really a lot of charm to it. Once it is remodeled. And interest rates are likely to remain extremely low, so that shouldn’t be a a worry. People are getting $600,000 on up for new attached homes on the market, so I think once this is gutted and renovated, it will be very appealing for someone who appreciates old homes and wants a big lot with a two-car garage.”
Setting the record straight
However, Mathieson would like to set the record straight on one point.
“I know Juanita told you that I knew it was the governor’s home when I first looked at it,” Mathieson said. “But I didn’t. I knew he had a home on Moncrieff, but I thought it was the home next to it on the corner – the one with the pretty garden.”
Hickenlooper’s home made headlines last year because of high weeds in the front yard. The tenant, who recently moved out, was supposed to have maintained the lawn, but was unable to do so because of health problems.
However, Realtor Chacon was accurate when she said the prospective buyer was a big fan of Hickenlooper’s.
“Absolutely,” Mathieson said. “I supported him when he was mayor and now as governor. I thought he was a great mayor and is a great governor. I’m a big fan.”
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com.
