(The following story by Jeffrey Leib appeared on The Denver Post website on May 6.)
DENVER — RTD is paying nearly $15 million for about 300 acres of Weld County farmland it doesn’t need.
The Regional Transportation District arranged to buy the land as part of its proposed deal to move key Union Pacific Railroad operations from Denver to Fort Lupton.
RTD planned to use vacated UP property in central Denver for the FasTracks train to Denver International Airport and a commuter-rail maintenance center.
To get a head start on the possible relocation, Union Pacific started acquiring key properties last year in the Fort Lupton area, with RTD pledging to reimburse the freight railroad for the purchases.
In January, RTD said a UP study put the full cost of the relocation project at about $700 million — more than RTD could afford. That killed the relocation.
Now, fulfilling its obligation to Union Pacific, RTD is in the process of taking title to six Weld County properties east of U.S. 85 and the UP’s main north-south freight line.
RTD is paying between $28,000 and $83,000 an acre, according to Weld County land records and information supplied by RTD.
Lynne Derby, a real estate agent who specializes in Fort Lupton properties, said the current market value for similar agricultural land in the area is between $10,000 and $15,000 an acre, depending on available water rights.
“I’m just astounded,” Derby said when told the price RTD is paying for the land.
“Why would anybody put that much money on the line when they were not sure it was going to happen?” Derby said of the tentative UP move.
UP’s early acquisition of some Weld County properties was one of the risks RTD had to take if there was going to be a timely relocation of the freight railroad, said FasTracks spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas.
RTD also is getting title to an 8-acre property in Denver near Quebec Street and Interstate 70 that it acquired for $3.5 million to facilitate the proposed shift of Union Pacific freight operations, said RTD property manager Susan Altes. The transit agency plans to sell that property as well, she said.
Later this month, RTD’s board of directors will be asked to offer the Weld County properties back to the former owners at the original sale price, Altes said.
“If they do not want to acquire it for what they paid for it, the property will go on the open market,” she said.
Noting that one seller got more than $80,000 an acre from UP for a 39-acre parcel, Fort Lupton city planner Tom Parko questioned who would buy it back at such a premium price.
“No one will offer to buy back 39 acres for $3.3 million unless there’s a gold mine there,” Parko said.