The long-planned redevelopment of the former University of Colorado Hospital campus is moving forward under yet another company, though the team that took over the project nearly a year ago remains the same.
Jeff Fuqua has left his position as president of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Sembler to form a new company that will take control of the project. Fuqua Development will be headquartered in Atlanta. Four other Sembler employees, including vice president Heather Correa, also are leaving Sembler to join Fuqua.
Fuqua, a Colorado native, said he is working on several other deals in Denver, in addition to the redevelopment of the former hospital campus.
He declined to disclose what deals he’s pursuing.
“It’s early in the process, but they’re exciting,” he said. “The mayor has decided that Denver is open for business. You can’t say that about a lot of cities. You can really feel it in Denver by the way city officials respond to permitting requests and that sort of thing.”
Sembler agreed in April to buy the 28-acre property for $34.8 million after Shea Properties, the developer the university initially selected to purchase and redevelop the site, was unable to fulfill its contract.
The change in control of the project comes as Sembler founder Mel Sembler and executive chairman Craig Sher are retiring from the company, which now will focus on smaller deals in Florida and Atlanta.
The company said Fuqua could take the larger deals to his new company and continue to work on a big deal with Sembler in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Fuqua said he expects to start demolition on the East Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard site this summer.
He’s received city approval for a slightly modified general development plan and is working with the Denver Urban Renewal Authority for tax-increment financing assistance.
“A site like Ninth and Colorado is a challenge to redevelop because of the number of structures that either need to be reused or demolished in order to make way for redevelopment,” said Tracy Huggins, executive director of DURA, which performed a blight study on the property in 2008. “The property has been vacant for a long time and all the developers looking at it have believed there might be the need for TIF assistance.”
Retailers have committed to about 300,000 square feet of of the commercial space in the $180 million project, which also will have 400 residences, Fuqua said. He declined to disclose who his retail tenants are.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
