The would-be developer of high-end apartments near RTD’s Westminster Station claims the city of Westminster is unfairly capitalizing on Xcel Energy’s delays to buy back land.
“It’s like a ‘gotcha’ situation here where they are trying to manufacture a reason not to develop the property,” said Lux Living lawyer Renato Mariotti. “We are ready to develop.”
The Missouri-based developer bought city land next to the station’s parking garage for $634,000 in 2019 with plans to build its 146-unit The Ivy. It was to have a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, a movie theater, a float pod relaxation room and Turkish spa, self-pour beer and wine taps and a top-floor bar.
It has not gone as planned. In 2021, Xcel announced it could not power The Ivy at that time. In 2023, Xcel said it could electrify The Ivy only after building a power line in 2025.
That has not happened. A lawsuit that Lux Living filed against Westminster on Sept. 19 shows company employees and City of Westminster workers routinely asking Xcel when its work would begin and end. They were repeatedly told it would be completed by October 2025.
But that work has not commenced.
“As our communities continue to grow and attract new business, we are committed to working with them to make sure their energy needs are met,” said Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo. “For the Westminster Station project, we anticipate we will complete the feeder needed to serve this area by December of 2026.”
Meanwhile, a deadline for Lux to begin building came and went in June, triggering a clause in its land purchase agreement that allows Westminster to repurchase it if the land is undeveloped. Lux claims it was surprised to receive notice of the city’s buyback plans in August.
“Really puzzling,” Mariotti said. “This is pure speculation, but perhaps they see an opportunity to acquire the property at a below-market rate and not compensate my client.”
“I’ve told them that when they are serious about working with us, I am ready to get started, get to the table and figure something out,” the lawyer added. “This is just not a practical approach. Litigation is wasteful to everybody — to both sides. It’s better to work together.”
Lux claims to have spent $4 million developing The Ivy and is asking Judge Patrick Pugh in Brighton to prevent the city from buying back the land for $570,600 before the Xcel power line is installed and Lux has had an opportunity to construct its apartment project there.
A spokesman for the City of Westminster, Andy Le, declined to discuss the lawsuit.
“I have been really disappointed because I filed that lawsuit and I still have not received any engagement from the city or the city attorney,” Mariotti said. “Really disappointing.”
“I am really hopeful that we can work together to get this development started because that is what’s in the best interest of the people in Westminster,” the attorney added.
The Ivy would be Lux Living’s first Colorado project. The company primarily operates in Missouri, where its executives have been preoccupied with another legal matter.
Last year, three Lux execs were charged with a dozen criminal counts for allegedly defrauding the City of St. Louis’s tax incentive programs for minority- and women-owned businesses. But charges were dropped after the U.S. Attorney’s Office there changed leaders and the new top prosecutor determined the St. Louis incentive programs were unconstitutional.
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