An early elevation of RedPeak's luxury apartment building along Lowell Boulevard.

Mike Zoellner, the top official at Denver-based RedPeak Properties, on Friday confirmed that his company is studying voluntarily down-zoning one of the three luxury apartment buildings it plans to develop in the Highland Square area to four stories instead of the five stories allowed under the current zoning.

RedPeak, facing heated opposition from some neighbors since last fall, initially planned to develop three, five-story buildings on Meade Street, Lowell Boulevard and West Moncrieff Place, just north of West 32nd Avenue.

Now, however, RedPeak is considering building a four-story building on Moncrieff Place, while keeping five stories on the other two parcels. InsideRealEstateNews first reported that was a possibility a week ago.

RedPeak also pointed out that the heights of the proposed buildings are below the 70 feet maximum allowed under the current U-MS-5 zoning.

The tallest building, at 62 feet tall to the top of the parapet, would be on Lowell, next to the existing church that would be incorporated into the new apartment community. The Meade building would be 56 feet high and the Moncrieff building 46 feet high.

The new buildings would not be as tall as the 65-foot tall church; the 68-foot tall condominium building at the corner of Lowell Boulevard and West 33rd Avenue; and the nearby 12-story Eden Manor at West 32nd Avenue and Julian Street, RedPeak said.

“The current designs are roughly 50 percent of the allowable building sizes when considering height and floor area,” according to RedPeak.

RedPeak said other concessions and solutions to neighborhood concerns it is offering, include:

• Setbacks from the street that are greater than required under zoning. First-floor units along Meade and Moncrieff would be setback as far as possible from the street to more closely mimic single-family home setbacks. Those units also would have exterior entries and front porches.
• Eliminating roof-top decks to address privacy issues of adjacent neighbors. Instead, it would provide smaller patios on the top floor of the building. Fewer than a dozen of the 150 or so units would have balconies and all of those would be facing the street.
• Provide more parking than required under the zoning and work with Councilwoman Susan Shepherd to create a master-parking plan for a three-block radius around the properties.
• Pursuing a car-share and B-Cycle stations to provide additional transportation options. Bicycle storage at the project will exceed code requirements.

Officials with RedPeak have met with a design advisory board to hammer-out details on 23 concerns – including height, density, traffic and parking impacts.

Members of the board include representatives from Councilwoman  Shepherd’s office; the West Highland Neighborhood Association; merchants along West 32nd Avenue; and the grassroots opposition group, No High Rises in West Highland.

“Shape and improve”

“RedPeak is very excited about the progress that has been made with the design advisory committee,” Zoellner said. “There have been numerous changes that have been made to the design of the project to address the concerns raised by the committee, which has helped shape and improve the overall project.  We have received a great deal of support for the project from West Highland neighbors since the release of the Meade and Lowell building elevations.”

Last week, RedPeak for the first time released preliminary elevations, or renderings, of buildings on Meade Streete and Lowell Boulevard. This week, officials from RedPeak and the No High Rise group presented their cases to the editorial board at the Denver Post.

The No High Rise group since the get-go has been concerned about the height and density of the three buildings on the parcels that RedPeak has under contract from an investment group headed by Tom Wootten.

As far as the density, the Lowell and Meade Street buildings would have 81,000-square feet and 40,780 square feet, respectively. That equates to a 24.4 percent reduction from the 53,970 square feet allowed on the Meade Street site and a 16.3 percent drop in the 96,800 square feet allowed on Lowell. RedPeak has not yet released the square footage for the down-sized Moncrieff Place building.

The maximum number of units on the three properties would be about 200 units, while RedPeak is planning 140 to 150.

Before the property was rezoned to U-MS-5 from R-4 in June 2010, Denver-based Mercy Housing considered buying the property for affordable rental housing. Mercy Housing planned to develop buildings to the maximum density allowed under R-4. At an average size of 700 square feet per unit, it would have resulted in more than 300 units. Mercy Housing dropped the plans when it couldn’t get financial help from Denver to help finance the project.

Goode: Not a compromise

Laura Goode, founder of No High Rises in West Highland, which now has about 1,800 signatures from supporters, said that RedPeak is not offering enough.

“Clearly, we would still have two five-story buildings,” Goode said. “That is not a compromise.”

A compromise, she said, would be for RedPeak to build three-story buildings on Meade and Moncrieff, and keep a five-story building on Lowell.

She also doesn’t care that the proposed buildings would not be as tall as the church.

“It’s kind of disgusting that they would even compare their building to the church The church is a historic, beautiful building,,” that has been there for more than 80 years, she said.

Asked if height is height, regardless of the use of the building, Goode answered: “No. The church has a steeped-roof and is steeped in the history of West Highland. I’m kind of offended they would compare their buildings to the church. When you are talking about mass that is comparing apples and oranges.”

Councilman Susan Shepherd, who represents the district, did not immediately return a call on Friday.

Downzoning 

But Goode said that she expects Shepherd to keep to an earlier statement she made that Shepherd would seek a legislative action to downzone the parcels on Meade and Moncrieff to three stories. For such a motion to pass would take a super-majority of 10 council votes, as Wootten has said he would oppose a downzoning.

Last week City Council President Chris Nevitt told InsideRealEstateNews he would not support a downzoning and he doesn’t think most council members would, either. Earlier, Shepherd said she was reconsidering pushing for a forced downzoning in light of a recent incident in her home. On the evening of Jan. 16, two women came to her home without an appointment, and after they brought up the possibility of recalling Shepherd, a shouting match occurred.

However, Goode said even if a council vote on the downzoning is doomed to fail, Shepherd should still introduce it.

“In front of the Denver Post editorial board I committed that our organization will not hold (Shepherd) responsible if she could not deliver all of the zoning for downzoning,” Goode said. “But we will hold her responsible if she does not send a message of solidarity to this community and submit the application to downzone.”

Compromise between the neighbors and RedPeak, is in the interests of both parties, said Mark Lee Levine, Professor and Director of the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver.

“Just because you have the right to build something doesn’t mean you should build it,” Levine said. “Compromise means give and take on both sides. If the choices are single-family homes or 300 units, you want to meet some place in the middle.”

On the other hand, he said if the neighborhood group draws a line in the sand and says under no circumstances will it allow five-story buildings, the deal may not make financial sense for RedPeak and it is unrealistic for neighbors to expect it to develop a money losing community.

“They may need five stories for the numbers to pencil out,” Levine said. “It’s a tough one.”

Goode and other neighbors have repeatedly said they are not against development, only what they consider irresponsible development, such as five-story buildings in a neighborhood of primarily Victorian-style single-family homes.  They have said that the RedPeak proposal would be appropriate on busier streets such as West 38th Avenue, Federal Boulevard and West Colfax Avenue. However, extremely busy streets typically do not have the cachet to draw renters to luxury apartments such as RedPeak is proposing.

Levine said it is not unusual for neighbors opposing a development to take a similar stance to that of the No High Rise group.

“It sounds to me like a traditional conflict between neighbors and a developer,” Levine said. “They are saying not in my back yard, but it is Ok in somebody else’s back yard. It’s NIMByism. Everybody wants to have New York plays, but they don’t want New York traffic.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

Related Posts:

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• Research: High-density good for home values
• 5-story Highland apartments pilloried, praised
• Overlay district proceeds
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M.D.C.’s stock closed at $22.40 on Thursday, up 9.75 percent from Wednesday, following its fourth-quarter report that showed a loss of $18.8 million, or 40 cents per share, an $11.2 million improvement from a year earlier. The fourth-quarter loss included a pretax charges of $20.2 million related to the extinguishment of debt and $2.7 million related to asset impairments and project abandonment charges.

In the 2010 fourth quarter, its net loss was 37 percent higher at $30 million, or 65 cents per share. That loss included a  pretax charges of $19.2 million related to asset impairments and project abandonment charges.  Revenue for the 2011 fourth quarter decreased 5 percent to $247.4 million, compared with $259.6 million a year ago.

“In the fourth quarter of 2011, excluding debt extinguishment and land-related charges, we achieved profitability, thereby providing strong evidence of the meaningful progress we have made in implementing company initiatives over the past few quarters,” said Larry A. Mizel, M.D.C.’s chairman and CEO.  “Our efforts to reduce overhead continued in the fourth quarter, allowing us to decrease general and administrative expense by 33% year-over-year. In addition, since the second quarter of 2011, when we announced a change to our strategy on starting unsold homes, our home gross margins have improved 200 basis points. Also, we completed our previously announced plan to reduce our debt by $500 million, which decreased the company’s annualized interest incurred going forward by $30 million.

“We believe that the actions we have taken so far will continue to positively impact our operating results going forward as we aggressively pursue our goal of returning to full-year profitability in 2012. To start 2012, we implemented changes to our sales process and product offering across our company.  At the same time, January 2012 orders increased approximately 30 percent from January 2011. We cannot be certain that the improvement in net orders is attributable to our recent actions, or that the improvement will be sustained in future months. Nonetheless, we are encouraged by this data point and other increasingly positive signs for the health of the housing market overall and for our individual markets, which lead us to believe that our industry has stabilized and may begin to recover in 2012.”

Fourth Quarter Highlights

Home closings in the 2011 fourth quarter were 792 units, with an average selling price of $291,300, compared with 865 units, with an average selling price of $291,700, in the fourth quarter of 2010.  The ratio of closings to beginning backlog decreased to 60 percent for the fourth quarter, compared with 73 percent in the 2010 fourth quarter.

The decrease is attributable to a year-over-year decrease in the percentage of backlog under construction at the beginning of the quarter, consistent with our change in strategy on starting unsold homes.

Home gross margins in the 2011 fourth quarter were 15.0 percent as compared with 17 percent in the 2010 fourth quarter.

Adjusted home gross margins (excluding warranty adjustments and interest) were 16.8% in the 2011 fourth quarter, up from 16.5 percent in the 2010 fourth quarter.

Marketing costs were $9.1 million in the 2011 fourth quarter, compared with $11.6 million in the 2010 fourth quarter, primarily due to a decrease in product advertising costs.  Commission costs were $8.2 million, as compared with $9.4 million in the same quarter last year, inline with the decrease in revenue we experienced.

General and administrative expenses decreased to $28.7 million for the 2011 fourth quarter, compared with $42.9 million for the same period in the prior year.  The primary driver behind the decrease was a $10.3 million decline in compensation-related expenses.

During the 2011 fourth quarter, asset impairments totaled $0.8 million, compared with $17.9 million in the same quarter last year. We also incurred $1.8 million of expense related to write-offs of land option deposits and pre-acquisition costs associated with lot option contracts that we elected not to exercise during the 2011 fourth quarter, compared with $1.3 million during the 2010 fourth quarter.

Net orders for the 2011 fourth quarter increased slightly to 523 homes with an estimated sales value of $153 million, compared with net orders for 519 homes with an estimated sales value of $150 million during the same period in 2010.

M.D.C. ended the 2011 with 1,043 homes under contract with an estimated sales value of $330 million, compared with a backlog of 842 homes with an estimated sales value of $269 million at December 31, 2010.

Its estimated home gross margin in backlog at the end of the fourth quarter increased from the estimated home gross margin in backlog to start the quarter.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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For the past nine quarters, the vacancy rate has fallen when compared to the same quarter one year earlier. The last time the quarterly vacancy rate rose year over year was during the third quarter of 2009.

From the fourth quarter of 2010 to the same period of 2011, the vacancy rates dropped in Adams, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. Vacancies rose in Arapahoe County and in the Boulder/Broomfield area.

Renters hunting for lower rates

“Vacancies continue to decline year over year as demand grows faster than the production of new rental product,” said Ron Throupe, professor of Real Estate at the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver, and the report’s author. “However, since the third quarter of 2011 we’re seeing some additional frictional vacancy as tenants move around in response to rising rents.”

As vacancy rates moved down, the area’s median rent increased. During the fourth quarter of 2011, the median rent in metro Denver rose to $870, increasing 2.8 percent from 2010’s fourth-quarter median rent of $846.

The median rent rose in all counties measured, with the largest increases found in Denver County and in the Boulder/Broomfield area where the median rent grew year over year by 3.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. The county areas with the highest median rents were the Boulder/Broomfield Area and Douglas County where the median rents were $993 and $1,046, respectively. Denver County reported the lowest median rent at $834.

“The overall median rent in the Denver area has now increased year over year for eight quarters in a row, and the median rent has increased by almost 60 dollars over that time,” said Ryan McMaken a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. “The rent growth we’re now seeing is more robust than what we saw during the last expansion between 2002 and 2008.”

Rental losses due to concessions, discounts and delinquencies fell to a ten-year low, dropping to 8.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 from 2010’s fourth-quarter rate of 9.8 percent. Fourth-quarter rental losses have not been lower since 2002.

2011’s second-quarter vacancy rates by county were Adams, 5.3 percent; Arapahoe, 6.8 percent; Boulder/Broomfield, 4.4 percent; Denver, 4.8 percent; Douglas, 4.7 percent; Jefferson, 4.4 percent.

Median rents for all counties were:

• Adams, $873
• Arapahoe, $840
• Boulder/Broomfield, $993
•  Denver, $834
•  Douglas, $1046
• Jefferson, $836.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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There were 31,914 foreclosure filings in Colorado during 2011, compared to 42,746 filed during 2010, shows the report released by the Colorado Division of Housing.

Foreclosure sales at auction, the event that completes the foreclosure process, were also down during 2011, falling to the lowest level recorded since 2006.  Auction sales fell 17 percent from  23,854 in 2010 to 19,622 during 2011.

Foreclosure filing totals for the fourth quarter of this year were down 20.5 percent, falling to 8,540 this year from 2010’s fourth-quarter total of 10,737. Foreclosure sales at auction fell 13.5 percent to 4,057 from 2010’s fourth-quarter total of 4,691.

From the third quarter to the fourth quarter of this year, foreclosure filings rose 6.4 percent, while foreclosure auction sales fell 12.3 percent.

Foreclosure filings fell for the second year in a row during 2011, falling to 31 percent below 2009’s peak of 46,394. Foreclosure sales at auction fell from 2010 to 2011, following an increase in sales from 2009 to 2010. Foreclosure sales at auction peaked at 25,054 during 2007.  Auction sales totals fell 21 percent below peak levels during 2011.

Quarter-to-quarter, foreclosure auction sales have fallen for the past three quarters, reflecting substantial declines in new foreclosure filings that occurred from late 2010 to mid-2011. Foreclosure filings have risen for the past two quarters.

Legal issues slow foreclosures

“Foreclosures really slowed down during 2011, but not all of that was due to improvements in the real estate markets,” said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. “Many lenders slowed down the processing of foreclosures during the first half of 2011 to deal with legal issues. Nevertheless, we do know that mortgage delinquencies are down and that home prices are stabilizing, so that also helped to push down foreclosure totals.”

While several regions of Colorado saw improvement during 2011, some areas continued to experience growth in foreclosures.

All 12 of the state’s metropolitan counties reported drops in both foreclosure filings and auction sales during 2011. From 2010 to 2011, Adams County filings fell 27 percent and Denver County filings fell 32 percent. Foreclosure filings in Mesa County fell 28 percent during the same period. Most of the state’s 64 counties reported year-over-year declines in foreclosure filings.

Those counties that did experience increases were generally found on the Western Slope and outside the Front Range. From 2010 to 2011, only 12 of Colorado’s 64 counties reported increases in foreclosure filings. Among those 12, ten were mountain counties including Garfield, Routt, San Miguel, Gilpin and Lake counties.

None of the state’s metropolitan counties were found among the counties with the highest foreclosure rates. The five counties with the highest foreclosure rates were Gilpin, Garfield, San Miguel, Grand and Lincoln counties.  Boulder County, on the other hand, reported the lowest foreclosure rate of any metropolitan county and also had one of the lowest foreclosure rates overall.

Still too high

Although foreclosures filings have fallen for the past two years, foreclosure activity remains at unusually high levels.

“Foreclosure sales at auction have basically been flat for the past five years and totals are still twice what we’d consider to be normal,” McMaken said. “We expect more progress to be made in 2012, although the task of dealing with the existing inventory of properties in foreclosure is likely to extend beyond this year.

Foreclosure sales are opened foreclosures that have proceeded through the full foreclosure process to final sale at public auction. Filings denote the beginning of the foreclosure process, and once a foreclosure is filed, the borrower has at least 110-120 days to work with the lender to avoid a completed foreclosure. It is during this period that borrowers work with lenders and housing counselors to work out loan modifications, short sales, or other ways of withdrawing the foreclosure.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

Related Posts:

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Developer Zack Davidson is President and CEO of the company that plans a low-impact, but profitable, development of the 994-acre Hideout Lake community near Telluride.

Vote in a poll at the end of this blog

Zack Davidson, the developer of the Landmark condominium and retail project in Greenwood Village that became embroiled in one of the largest and most highly visible real estate bankruptcies in the Denver area in recent years, has re-emerged as a top executive of a California-based firm that says its mission is to provide attractive returns to wealthy investors, while protecting, preserving and improving pristine property.

Davidson, who filed for personal Chapter 7 liquidation of his assets in Denver bankruptcy court almost exactly two years ago, is now the President and CEO of the Earthkeeper Alliance. A call to the company, seeking an interview with Davidson, has not been returned.

Not broadcasting bankruptcies

The biography of Davidson on the company’s website did not mention the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of the Landmark project that included two condo towers and the Village Shops at the Landmark in 2009, nor his personal bankruptcy in February 2010.

His personal bankruptcy listed $164.6 million in liabilities and $141.3 million in personal property. His real property included a house at 820 Gaylord St. His bankruptcy filing said he rejected an offer to sell it for $2.1 million. Last March, it sold in a short sale for $1.875 million. The largest claim in his Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy was $90.66 million owed to Hypo Real Estate Capital Corp. that  made a construction loan on the Landmark and had been personally guaranteed by Davidson.

Zack Davidson't former Denver home was sold in a short sale.

During the frothy real estate market of early 2007, Davidson threw parties promoting the Landmark that Realtors at the time compared to something out of Cirque du Soleil. Guests dined on chateaubriand, veal scallopini and lobster salad and he handed out lavish gift packages to guests. He later boasted that he would spend $1.7 million throwing a party.

Davidson’s biography on the Earthkeepers’s website said that for the past 13 years he has served as President and CEO of Everest Development Co. and Eikon Investments, with offices in San Francisco, Denver and Dallas.

The bio of Davidson goes on to say that those “diversified real estate development companies have acquired, entitled, developed and redeveloped nearly $1 billion of extremely complex and diverse real estate assets throughout the western United States.”

“Un-developer” developer

It does not say when Davidson joined the privately held Earthkeeper Alliance, headed and founded by Adam C. Hall. In 2007, Hall, who had previously made millions of dollars in real estate, began to “acquire large tracts of land for conservation and un-development,” according to the company’s website.

The firm’s goal is to do well by doing good.

Its mantra is to “conserve, protect and restore,” pristine land, keeping it from being over-developed. It says there are millions of acres in the U.S. that could benefit from those three principles.

Its brochure is filled with aphorisms such as:

• We are committed to leaving the world a better place.
• We honor both those that came before us and those that will follow.
• We are guardians and custodians of our time.
• Our endeavor is to create a Legacy that endures for many generation.
• It is not just about what we leave behind, but what we give forward!

In Colorado, it said it has Hideout Lake, between Montrose and Telluride, under contract.

$1 million minimum

It take a minimum investment of $1 million to participate in what is called Earthkeeper Legacy Fund I, which will buy and sell  the 994-acres Hideout Lake.

Development drawing for Hideout Lake.

Alternatives for the land include creating 50 “family compound ranches” with an average size of five acres each, distributed throughout the property, with shared access on 744 acres that will be conserved. It also said it will develop a ‘world-class” amenity program that will include fly fishing, cross-country skiing, an equestrian center, a clubhouse with pool and spa, mountain biking, ski cat, hiking, white water rafting, lake fishing, hunting, mountain climbing and spelunking.

Documents obtained by InsideRealEstateNews, show under that development scenario an investments is projected to provide a “preferred return” of 8 percent per year and a projected investor internal rate of return of 27.1 percent. The projected total return is 63.4 percent, with a projected holding period of three years. Some 65 percent of the profit splits beyond the preferred returns would go to the investors and 35 percent to the sponsor. The sponsor management fee is 2 percent per year and would invest 3 percent of the total capital. The fund is expected to be in place for seven years.

In keeping with the company’s ethos to tread lightly on land, its proposed development is far less than the 284 single-family home lots, 91 “cabin” sites, and six “estate” lots entitled to be built on the property.

Earthkeeper’s documents say it is scheduled to close on Hideout Lake on April 1. The acquisition price is  $5.7 million and the total project cost is just under $11.2 million, if it is developed.

Another alternative is to sell the entire property as a “single legacy ranch” with defined places construct buildings. It estimated it can sell the property as a ranch with a minimum of $10 million with a 3 percent cost of sale. Under this option, the total investment internal rate of return to the investor group is expected to be 20.2 percent.

“A third option always exists in that  we can sell the entire property to a land trust,” the firm notes. “We have not modeled this option, but in light of the market comparable s and the severely distressed pricing we have secured, we are confident that selling to a land trust would result in a return in the low teens.”

Horseback riding by Hideout Lake.

Map showing Hideout Lake

Earthkeeper said that $43 million already has been invested in the property, which had been operated as a working ranch until Pacific Development bought it in 2004 and “began the lengthy entitlement process for a large golf course.” A Jack Nicklaus signature golf course was planned on the property, 9,000 feet above sea level with panoramic views of the San Juan Mountains. In 2008, the property was appraised at $121.85 million. The discounted present value of the property is now $74.63 million, according to Earthkeeper. The $120 million Cornerstone Club, with a Greg Norman golf course, is within walking distance of Hidden Lake.

In the 1800s, Hideout Lake was occupied by the Ute Indians and the Tabeguache tribe.

Earthkeeper has identified 136,700 acres of “additional opportunities” in 15 states with a total ‘transaction size” of $213 million. Those opportunities include 2,200 acres for $10 million in Colorado.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

Related Posts:

• Landmark moves to Ch. 7 Bankruptcy
• General contractor and subcontractors protected at Landmark/Meridian
• Hypo commits another $30 million to Landmark
• Landmark plans to reorganize, not liquidate
• Landmark developer updates bankruptcy

Marsha Badger

Many Boulder residents could not imagine living anywhere else.

Marsha Badger moved to Boulder, north Boulder, to be exact, when she was just celebrating her first birthday – and is still there.

She did go through a period, though, when she wasn’t sure Boulder would be her permanent home.

“When you grow up in a small town, you always think there is some place else you would rather livr,” said Badger, a broker with 8z Real Estate.

But working for Continental Airlines for 10 years, before she entered the world of real estate, she did a lot of traveling and saw a lot of places, and came to the conclusion so many non-natives have drawn: “Boulder is a fabulous place. A college town with great weather, lots of restaurants, great trails and great amenities.”

Badger, who received a business degree with an emphasis in marketing from, where else, CU-Boulder, traded life with an airline for real estate, after Continental has one too many bankruptcies.

“You know, after the company went through a number of bankruptcies  I decided it was time to get a new career and chose real estate.”

She started selling new homes in Boulder in 1985.

“I worked for McStain and Richmond Homes and Lifestyle Homes,” Badger said. “I  love new construction. I enjoy the building process and helping people find and create the right home from plans to finishes. It was a perfect match for me. I still have clients who I help build new homes and remodel homes. I’m still very connected to the construction industry.”

In fact, she and her husband “knocked down our house in Newlands over 15 years ago and rebuilt it.”

Newlands, bordered by Broadway, Alpine and Juniper avenues and the foothills, is her neighborhood for 8z.

Before joining 8z about a year ago, she had previously worked for RE/MAX Alliance in Boulder, where she met Lane Hornung, the co-founder of 8z and COhomefinder.com.

She spent 10 years at RE/MAX. While there, she was inducted into the RE/MAX International Hall of Fame, the Platinum Club and the 100% Club.

She was also part of the CoHomefinder team, when it was still part of RE/MAX, and was ranked No. 1 in Colorado and heralded as one of the Top 10 RE/MAX teams in the U.S.

As a broker, she has earned a number of industry designations, including:

• Certified Sales Professional
• Accredited Buyers Representative
• Eco Broker
• Certified Negotiation Expert

Having all of those designations places her in the top 10 percent of all real estate brokers, she says.

She switched to being a residential broker from an onsite person selling new homes, because the construction activity had migrated east of Boulder and she started a family.

While she only joined 8z about a year ago, she has been involved wtih COhomefinder since Hornung and a partner started it about a half-dozen years ago.

And she has been a big fan of Hornung since she met him, which is what drew her to 8z.

“I think Lane is a great person and I have great respect for him as a business person. Plus, all of the people at 8z are committed to success. Lane has created a great team of people. They are all very authentic – there is just not any other way to say it. And the technology is state of the art.”

And while she loves all of Boulder, Newlands is the ultimate neighborhood, in her estimation.

“Newlands is what beachfront property is to California; with a mountainside landscape and a hub of businesses centrally located, Newlands offer the best from  Mount Sanitas’ trails and North Boulder Park plus Ideal Market and the many local shops.” She added it is easy walk or bike ride to the Pearl Street Mall.

“A lot of people aspire to live in Newlands,” she said. “I have a number of clients who would love to live there.”

The most expensive home in Newlands last year sold for $2.5 million, although smaller, older homes can be found in the $500,000s and $900,000s.  COhomefinder.com puts the median asking price in Newlands at $850,000 and the median sold price at $1.125 million.

this 4,292-square-foot home in the Newlands is on the market for $1.499 million.

“Because of its price point, it is a little quieter than some parts of Boulder right now,” Badger said. “But I’ve noticed that for a lot of people moving to Boulder from out of town, Newlands is their top choice, which it has been for many years. Boulder is popular with start ups and high-tech companies. ’ve seen people come to the area from all parts of the country.”

One of the charms of Newlands is its history. The Newlands family started cultivating orchards on the property in 1871. The orchards began to be replaced by homes in the 1940s and 1950s.

“There are still some great apple trees in the neighborhood,” she said.

Marsha Badger with Sophie

When she isn’t selling homes, Badger and her husband enjoy their new Golden Retriever named Sophie. It is her fifth Golden Retriever and replaces a 10-year old that died in 201.

During the interim, she fostered rescue puppies at different times through a Brighton-based non-profit, Lifelinepuppy.org.

“It was great to help puppies get ready for new homes,” Badger said. “But I’m very glad to have my own dog again.”

And she is glad that Boulder is her home, and she can help so many others find the right home in Boulder.

An Insider’s Guide to a Neighborhood is a monthly feature of InsideRealEstatenews. 8z Real Estate is a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews.

To contact or learn more about Marsha, please visit this link. To learn more about the Newlands, please visit these links.

• http://8z.com/neighborhoods/newlands
• http://www.cohomefinder.com/browse-ci-Boulder-sub-Newlands-homes.htm

Related Posts:

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• Hornung: A tale of two markets
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This 4,836-square-foot home in Aurora sold for $417,000 last year, the top of the price point where home sales where increasingly sellers are getting full-priced offers.

The closely watched Case-Shiller index ranked Denver’s housing market No. 3 of the 20 major market it tracks, in a monthly report it released today.

The Denver-area housing market fell by 0.2 percent in November 2011 from November 2010, with only Detroit and Washington, D.C. performing better during that period, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Detroit gained 3.8 percent and Washington, D.C. rose by 0.5 percent during that time period.

“Once again, we maintained our position in the Top 5,” said independent broker Gary Bauer. “It shows the resiliency of this market. Detroit has no place to go but up, while Washington will stay up there because of what it is.”

November marked the 17th consecutive month Denver showed a year-over year drop, but it also was the lowest percentage drop during the time period. The last time the Denver-area showed a lower drop was in July 2010, when home prices fell by 0.1 percent.

Denver in November vastly out-performed the 20 MSAs, which showed a composite drop of 3.7 percent.

From October to November, Denver prices fell by 0.5 percent, tying for second place with Charlotte and Miami. Phoenix was the only city in positive territory on a month-over-month basis, rising by 0.6 percent. Overall, the 20 MSAs fell by 1.3 percent from October to November.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Denver was No. 2, showing a 0.4 percent gain. Only Phoenix performed better, with a 0.6 percent gain, the same as it did on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The overall drop for the 20 MSAs was 0.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Lane Hornung, CEO and co-founder of 8z Real Estate, a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews, noted that the Denver-area housing market is bucking the national trend of still substantial declines.

Hornung: Ignore national headlines

“Because our market is decoupling from the national market and actually one of the markets leading a slow motion recovery, I don’t spend too much time on the national headline and am more interested in the performance of the Denver MSA,” Hornung said. “I was a bit surprised that the Denver non-seasonal index fell from October to November. That just did not jive with the strength we saw in the market two months ago. However, this disconnect was cleared up when I took a look at the seasonally adjusted index which increased and confirmed what we already experienced in the field. On both a non-seasonal and a seasonally adjusted basis, the index is within 0.2 percent of last year and the overall trend for prices in our market is up.  I look for a positive year-over-year figure for Denver in the coming months.”

Bauer agrees with Hornung’s prospects for this year.

A snapshot of Denver housing by Case-Shiller

“If you talk to “experts” or consumers, there is a belief that 2012 is going to be better than 2011,” Bauer said. “No one is predicting dramatic gains – this is not going to be a gang-buster year by any stretch of the imagination – but just a slow, steady increase.”

Gloomy national housing outlook

Nationally, however, even historically low mortgage rates and overall economic growth were not enough to pull the overall housing market out of its doldrums, said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices.

“Despite continued low interest rates and better real GDP growth in the fourth quarter, home prices continue to fall,” Blitzer said. “Weakness was seen as 19 of 20 cities saw average home prices decline in November over October.

He noted that Phoenix was the only MSA to be in positive territory on a month-over-month basis, adding that it was “one of the hardest hit in recent years. Annual rates were little better as 18 cities and both Composites were negative.”

Blitzer added that nationally, home prices are lower than a year ago.

“The (national) trend is down and there are few, if any, signs in the numbers that a turning point is close at hand,” Blitzer said. “The crisis low for the 10-City Composite was April 2009; for the 20-City Composite the more recent low was March 2011. The 10-City Composite is now about 1.0% above its low, and the 20-City Composite is only 0.6% above its low. From their 2006 peaks, both Composites are down close to 33% through November.

“Atlanta continues to stand out in terms of recent relative weakness. It was down 2.5% over the month, after having fallen by 5.0% in October, 5.9% in September and 2.4% in August. It also posted the weakest annual return, down 11.8%. In addition, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa all reached new lows inNovember.”

Niederman says Denver poised well

But Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate, like Hornung of 8z Real Estate, said it more important to focus on the Denver- area numbers, than the national performance.

Niederman likes what Case-Shiller reported for Denver.

“In my opinion, I think these numbers are phenomenal,” Niederman said. “The are very strong numbers. ow, a month never makes a market. But with Case-Shiller reporting 11 months of the year, with Denver solidly and consistently in the Top 5, what bodes well.”

He said that Denver is clearly stronger than most of the 20 MSAs tracked by Case-Schiller, which gives him confidence that Denver will be one of the first markets to emerge from the housing downturn.

“We’re going to be one of the first out of the starting blocks,” Niederman said.

At the same time, he thinks Denver will get some help from some national economic data points.

“In the first four weeks of this year we have seen some calmness in the financial markets,” Niederman said. “We have not seen any big downswings nor any big upswings. If we can see some more jobs created and more people going back to work, we could start to see an increase in consumer confidence, and that will be great.”

The low supply of unsold homes in the Denver area also should help homes regain some value, he said.

“We are increasingly hearing that homes the conforming market, those at $417,000 and below, are more frequently getting full-priced offers and on some occasions even a bit higher than than the full-price, when there are multiple offers,” Niederman said. “There are people who want to get into the market, but they can’t because they have no equity. They might be 5 percent or 10 percent underwater and they don’t want to bring a check to the closing table. If their home prices could rise enough so they have a little bit of equity, these people sitting on the sidelines could get into the market.”

MSA	Change from January 2000	October-November(non-seasonly adjusted)	1-Year Change from October
Atlanta	-11.07%	-2.5%	-11.8%
Boston	50.34%	-1.6%	-1.6%
Charlotte	11.25%	-0.5%	-1.9%
Chicago	12.46%	-3.4%	-5.9%
Cleveland	-1.06%	-0.8%	-1.1%
Dallas	13.97%	-1.3%	-0.8%
DENVER	24.79%	-0.5%	-0.2%
Detroit	-29.34%	-2.4%	3.8%
Las Vegas	-8.59%	-1.0%	-9.1%
Los Angeles	63.92%	-1.0%	-5.4%
Miami	37.47%	-0.5%	-4.4%
Minneapolis	13.25%	-0.6%	-5.0%
New York	65.66%	-1.1%	-2.3%
Phoenix	1.12%	0.6%	-3.6%
Portland	33.26%	-1.6%	-4.8%
San Diego	51.45%	-0.9%	-5.4%
San Francisco	29.78%	-1.9%	-5.5%
Seattle	32.65%	-1.2%	-6.3%
Tampa	25.32%	-1.1%	-6.1%
Washington, D.C.	84.75%	-1.1%	0.5%
Composite-10	51.90%	-1.3%	-3.6%
Composite-20	38.49%	-1.3%	-3.7%

Month	How Denver ranked out of 20 MSAs	1-Year Change
January 2010	6	2.6%
February	5	3.6%
March	7	4.1%
April	8	4.4%
May	8	3.6%
June	9	1.8%
July	11	-0.1%
August	11	-1.2%
September	9	-3.1%
October	7	-1.8%
November	6	-2.5%
December	7	-2.4%
January 2011	6	-2.3%
February	5	-2.6%
March	7	-3.8%
April	6	-4.1%
May	5	-3.3%
June	3	-2.5%
July	4	-2.1%
August	3	-1.6%
September	5	-1.5%
October	4	-0.9%
November	3	-0.2%

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An overlay district is being proposed to preserve the charm of the Highland Square area in West Highland.

Denver City Council President Chris Nevitt said today that he would not support a downzoning of three parcels in northwest Denver where RedPeak Properties plans a trio of five-story buildings, but one West Highland neighbor is pursuing another option to stop the development – an overlay district for a wide-swath of land that includes the parcels earmarked for five-story buildings.

Marie Benedix this week filed a “pre-application review request” with the Community Planning and Development for the overlay district, which would limit the height of all new buildings in an area that is bordered by West 33rd and West 30th avenues and Julian to Perry streets to 35 feet. That includes the three parcels that RedPeak has under contract north of West 32nd Avenue on Lowell Boulevard, Meade Street and West Moncrieff Place.

Trevor Greco, who said he will act as Benedix’s “representative throughout the process,” has not yet responded to a request for details regarding the overlay proposal. Earlier, the West Highland Neighborhood Association narrowly voted to support the overlay district, as well as recommending new zoning for the three parcels, if the City Council decided to consider a downzoning – a remote possibility, according to Nevitt, as it would undermine the integrity of the zoning process, in his opinion.

“The intent of the proposed overlay is to provide additional height limitations that create a transition from the adjacent residential properties and that respects the character of the West Highland neighborhood…We would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience and will do our best to accommodate your earliest opening,” Greco, an engineer, said in a letter to the planning department.

Theresa Lucero, a senior planner for the city, in an email to another planner, said “If this application goes forward it will involve both a language and a map amendment.”

Steve Kite, zoning chairman for the West Highland Neighborhood Association, speaking at a WHNA meeting, said an overlay is a zoning change, and would require a super majority of the council. Kite voted against the overlay.

Kevin Neimond, president of the WHNA, said he is just learning how an overlay district, sometimes called a conservation overlay, would work. “No way is an overlay district a magic bullet, but it is another option, and we’re not opposed to it.” On the other hand, he said the group is more focused on trying to get a maximum of three stories on the West Moncrieff Place and Meade Street sites.

Many of the properties in the proposed overlay district are single-family, detached homes. A number of those homes, possibly the majority, already have a maximum height of 30 feet. Some houses with especially wide lots could have a maximum height of 35 feet.

Benedix, for her part, has spoken frequently and passionately against not only the zoning change that allows the five-story buildings, but new zoning that allows three-story buildings along much of the popular West 32nd Avenue shopping and restaurant district. She worries that the charm of the neighborhood could be lost, adding that similar well-known districts along South Gaylord and South Pearl streets escaped such development threats during the rezoning in June 2010.

Benedix recently posted this missive on the No High Rises in Highlands Facebook page:

During re-zoning 2009-2010, most parcels along 32nd Ave at Highland Square were wrongly up-zoned to 3-stories. They are now zoned to be scraped. This is morally wrong and in blatant disregard for Blueprint Denver, a document created to accommodate growth in a sustainable way, balancing the needs of the city as a whole. Blueprint Denver does NOT advocate scraping stable 100-year old neighborhoods. Please help us stand for what is right according to Denver City plans and for protecting Historic Highland Square from being scraped; just like we are glad that South Pearl, South Gaylord were protected from the same fate through appropriate 2-story zoning. Thank you.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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A first look at what the RedPeak apartment buildings could look like.

Denver City Council President Chris Nevitt appears to have dashed any possibility of downzoning a trio of parcels in West Highland where a grassroots group is opposing five-story buildings by RedPeak Properties.

Nevitt told InsideRealEstateNews this evening that under no circumstances will he vote to downzone the parcels where RedPeak Properties a luxury apartment community.

Nevitt also said that he think is highly unlikely that downzoning would receive the 10 council votes needed to downzone the property against the wishes of the property owner. The land is owned by an investment group headed by Tom Wootten. RedPeak has the parcels under contract.

“I haven’t counted the vote – I have other things to do – but, yeah, I could’t imagine the council would go along with a downzoning,” Nevitt said.

Earlier City Councilman Charlie Brown also said he would not vote in favor of a downzoning. It would take a super-majority of 10 of the 12 council members to approve a downzoning. If Councilwoman Susan Shepherd submits a motion to downzone the land, she would need to recuse herself.

A grassroots group called No High Rises West Highland vigorously opposes the current development and wants Shepherd to support a downzoning the parcels north of West 32nd Avenue on Lowell Boulevard, Moncrieff Place and Meade Street. Neither Shepherd nor members of the No High Rise group could immediately be reached this evening.

“I wouldn’t want to opine whether five stories is right or wrong there,” Nevitt said. “There is a five-story building that would totally suck there and a properly designed five-story building that could work there. But that is not really the issue.”

The issue, he said, is that “property owners must be able to rely on their zoning. Fundamentally, the zoning asserts what a property owner can or cannot do on their property. Zoning is a property right. Property rights are a serious thing. If you can’t rely on the zoning, if you abandon zoning, you would need to go through a PUD (Planned Unit Development) on every single project and we are not going to do that.”

Not a zoning error

He said that he doesn’t put any stock in the argument of members of the No High Rise group that the zoning change on the parcels to U-MS-5 from R-4 was an “error” and needs to be corrected by downzoning.

“That is not true,” Nevitt said. “There is absolutely no evidence that happened.”

The zoning change, he said, occurred in an extremely open environment.

“Some people seem to think that there is some kind of algorithm to that determined what new zoning would replace the old zoning,” he said. “If there was an algorithm it was that you considered three factors: what is on the property now; what Blueprint Denver says; and the current zoning. But there was no formula that you just plug in that produced a uniform outcome.”

Should vs could

Arguments could have been made for a variety of different zoning for the parcels, Nevitt said.

“Some people say it should have been such and such zoning. More correctly, it could have been such and such zoning. You could make an argument it could have been MS-3, MX-3, MS-5, MX-5. A number of R-4 parcels were rezoned to MX-8, I think.” The number indicated the maximum number of stories while the letters designate the permitted uses, such as residential, retail or mixed-use.

Earlier, the West Highland Neighborhood Association had overwhelmingly voted to recommend possible new zoning for the three parcels, if the city council considers downzoning them.

“I think that, as always, we appreciate Councilman Nevitt’s candor in sharing his opinion and thoughts on a complex topic,” said Kevin Neimond, president of the WHNA. “We also understand many of the issues being outlined by Councilman Nevitt.”

3 stories sought on Meade, Moncrieff

The WHNA is part of a design stakeholder group, which he said hopes to preserve the character and charm of the neighborhood.  He said its two priorities would be to try to have a maximum of three stories on Moncrieff and Meade and get a variance that would allow setbacks on those two parcels to be similar to the frontage on nearby homes. In layman’s terms, homes are farther back from the curb and sidewalks than commercial buildings, and the WHNA would like something similar on new developments on Meade and Moncrieff.

Shepherd had asked RedPeak to voluntarily downzone the Meade Street and Moncrieff Place sites. Reportedly, RedPeak is exploring the possibility of voluntarily downzoning the Moncrieff Parcel to four stories.

“I doubt it,” Nevitt said. “I do think that Susan Shepherd, especially considering that she is brand new on the job, is doing a great job in bringing all of the different people to the table. That is very admirable and will result in a better design and a better project. Often, these are zero-sum games, where there is a winner and a loser. This is a really good process that Susan has going.”

Very rarely, in the past, before the new zoning code was adopted unanimously by the City Council in June 2010, were there some ‘broad-brush” rezonings, he said.

Chris Nevitt

“That happened in West Washington Park in my neighborhood and I pushed that, and (former northwest Denver councilman) Rick Garcia did the same thing in his district. But never have we said, “Now your zoning is in place, and you can’t do what the zoning allows.” It’s not even that allowing a downzoning would set a bad precedent. It just violates the very principle of a zoning code.”

Shepherd was recently involved in an incident in her northwest home that devolved into a shouting match.

“I found that appalling,” Nevitt said, who earlier released a letter calling for civility, and saying such behavior cannot be tolerated.

“But that has nothing to do with this. Property rights are a serious thing that is totally separate from that.”

One of the women who says she went to Shepherd’s house has been anonymously talking to some members of the media, saying that Shepherd was the aggressor.

Nevitt isn’t buying her story.

“I do not even know what the means,” he said. “They went to Susan’s house in the evening, without an appointment. End of story. If someone had given that even 10 minutes of thought, they should have realized that is inappropriate and is something you just do not do.”

He said that Shepherd made a mistake by inviting them in.

“She should not have let them in. She should have said this is my family time. Make an appointment with my office during business hours and I will be glad to meet with you.”

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate.

Kentwood Real Estate will exclusively represent Christie’s International Real Estate in the Denver area under an agreement announced today.

Christie’s, a world-wide luxury real estate network, has awarded Affiliate status to Kentwood Real Estate , which has about  165 real estate professionals operating from three offices in Denver.

“We are very pleased to be affiliated with Christie’s International Real Estate,” said Peter Niederman, CEO of Kentwood Real Estate. “While we serve all segments of the real estate market in a wide range of prices, we are also firmly established as the leader in the luxury home market in metro Denver and select mountain communities. This is an exciting affiliation and we look forward to working with Christie’s experienced professionals in 2012 and beyond.”

Wholly owned by Christie’s, the world’s leading art business company, Christie’s International Real Estate is represented in more than 41 countries. Kentwood Real Estate joins this carefully selected organization of brokerages with proven records of success in both high-end property sales and exemplary client service.

“Kentwood Real Estate has established a reputation for integrity, discreet client service, and exceptional professionalism that has won the company respect throughout the Greater Denver market,” said Zack Wright, Senior Vice President of Christie’s International Real Estate. “The brokerage is comprised of an exceptional team of the area’s top luxury real estate professionals. We are delighted to invite the company to join the globally-renowned Christie’s International Real Estate network.”

Christie’s is the largest international real estate network in the world and nearly twice the size of its closest competitor with 1,112 offices and 32,300 real estate professionals. There are more than 9,300 properties priced above $1 million posted on www.ChristiesRealEstate.com. In addition, numerous luxury homes can be viewed on Kentwood Real Estate’s website at www.DenverRealEstate.com.

There are nearly 600 luxury homes on the market in metro Denver priced at $1 million or more.

Since its inception, Kentwood has had a high profile presence in Denver’s most affluent communities, including Cherry Hills Village, Castle Pines Village, Greenwood Village, Denver Country Club, Cherry Creek, Lower Downtown Denver and many more exclusive neighborhoods. Kentwood’s real estate professionals serve the luxury home buying and selling needs of corporate executives, professional athletes, philanthropists, entertainers, industrialists, doctors and lawyers, and others who have achieved financial success.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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