A plan Metropolitan State University of Denver announced in the fall to develop 18 acres in southwest Denver has been canceled because of costs.
with Colorado Heights University in which Metropolitan State would take over a large part of the Loretto Heights campus at Federal Boulevard and Dartmouth Avenue.
The partnership also would have allowed CHU to become the exclusive provider of English classes for Metropolitan State’s second-language learners, and both schools would have created new academic programs.
But after the agreement was signed, Metro officials had a period to evaluate the existing facilities on the campus.
Spokeswoman Cathy Lucas said Wednesday that officials determined that the “expense of getting the campus into shape plus the operating costs” were too much of a risk for Metropolitan State.
Lucas said university officials then drafted a second offer that Colorado Heights University rejected.
The figures that Metropolitan State calculated are not being released as part of a confidentiality agreement, Lucas said.
President Fred Van Liew of Colorado Heights said his college is focused on its own enrollment, which has grown 50 percent since this time in 2012, he said.
