Unexpected Bombshell Drops On Park Hill Golf Course Land
By Woody Garnsey
Special to the GPHN
Denver administrators and representatives from the Clayton Trust dropped a bombshell Nov. 16 when they announced that they are taking their controversial proposed agreement regarding the future of the Park Hill Golf Course land off the table.
The Clayton Trust Board had approved the agreement, and the administration had submitted it to the City Council Finance Committee on Oct. 3. In a nutshell, the complex proposed agreement would have, among other things:
1. Permitted the city to install an approximately 25-acre stormwater detention facility in the golf course’s northeast corner as part of its Platte-to-Park Hill project;
2. Nullified the 155-acre golf course open space conservation easement purchased by Denver citizens for $2 million in 1997;
3. Paid the Clayton Trust at least $20.5 million; and
4. Permitted potential development of up to 100 percent of the land.
The golf course, which is at Colorado Boulevard and 35th Avenue, and stretches northeast, is currently leased to a subsidiary of Arcis Equity Partners, LLC, a large “real estate and leisure sector” Texas private equity firm. The term of its current lease expires Dec. 31, 2018, but a copy of the full lease is presently unavailable to the public.
What A Colossal Mess – Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC), est