A developer who has built housing around the metropolitan area is under contract to purchase the former Lutheran Medical Center site in Wheat Ridge.
Chris Elliott of E5X Management is set to buy the site between 32nd and 38th avenues for redevelopment, a representative confirmed to BusinessDen.
Intermountain Health, which owns the property, is set to announce Elliott as the buyer Tuesday afternoon.
Elliott has for decades specialized in developing large master-planned residential communities, according to a bio on the website of the Douglas County Community Foundation, where he is a board member. He’s done projects in municipalities across the region, including Parker and Arvada, with one recent acquisition being a 300-acre site in Erie.
The hospital campus is available because Intermountain last year moved Lutheran to a 26-acre site three miles west in Wheat Ridge, at Interstate 70 and 40th Avenue. CBRE has been marketing the former site for sale since spring of 2024.
“While thoughtful and deliberate, the process of requesting bids and interviewing developers moved along quickly to ensure that the site doesn’t sit vacant or fall into disrepair,” Intermountain said in a press release last week.
Last month, Wheat Ridge unanimously voted to apply new custom zoning to the site, a move the city described as “a major step toward implementing a community-driven vision.” That zoning allows for lower-density homes along the edges of the property, and taller buildings capped at five stories toward the center.
It also requires 20% of the property be public open space, double the typical requirement for mixed-use projects, according to the city.
Intermountain has initiated the process of creating a metro district to finance future public infrastructure improvements at the site, according to the city.
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