The Douglas County School District is buying a distressed office building in Meridian to consolidate its administrative staff.
The district has agreed to pay $6 million for the Meridian One building at 9785 Maroon Circle, which is in an unincorporated part of the county.
The districtap board of education approved the purchase in a 5-1 vote at a June meeting. Earlier this month, a judge signed off on the sale of the building, which has been in receivership since December 2023.
The receiver, Judy Duran of CBRE, said in a July 17 court filing that the deal was expected to close Aug. 11.
The deal will mean the districtap headquarters will leave Castle Rock, the county seat. At a June 9 meeting, board member Tony Ryan said that made the deal “a tough decision on my part.”
“I support the decision, but the impact on Castle Rock, as itap been stated, may be a bit understated,” he said.
The Meridian One building is four stories, 140,000 square feet and only 16% leased. It is owned by Portland, Oregon-based Felton Properties, which bought it for $12.8 million in January 2014, records show.
The pending sale amounts to a 53% discount.
Felton defaulted on its loan in 2023, which led to Duran being appointed receiver at the end of that year. The same thing happened with another office building that Felton owned across the street. That one, Gateway Plaza at Meridian, sold to hospital chain Intermountain Health in June 2025.
At the June board of education meeting, Erin Kane, the district superintendent, said the nonschool staff currently work out of nine locations. She said the headquarters along Wilcox Street in Castle Rock, which used to be Douglas County High School, “hasn’t been maintained in any sort of way.”
“I would say itap now in a critical state in terms of safety and the work environment,” she said.
Kane, who was hired in 2022, said the district is looking to cut ongoing costs by at least $15 million by the 2027-2028 school year. It has closed some schools amid declining enrollment.
“We need to consider consolidating central administration in the same way that we have consolidated some of our schools,” Kane said.
That consolidation would take place at Meridian One, which is four times larger than the Wilcox Street building. In addition to paying $6 million, the district expects to spend an additional $23 million to renovate it.
Kane told the board that spending could be largely reimbursed by future sales of properties where staff work now.
“Real estate for office space is at an all-time low right now. … We have an opportunity to purchase at that all-time low,” she said.
Paula Hans, a spokeswoman for the district, said the deal will close in the next month.
“We are still working out the details regarding the building’s occupants,” she said.
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