CASE STUDY: Adams County Government Center

Site Selection / Land Purchase: Purchasing a 100-acre County Office Campus

Client: Adams County Government
Project Type: Buyer Representation

Diligent & Discreet

By being diligent and discreet, Guidance located land at an attractive price. Three years later, the site is worth at least three times more than Adams County paid!

“… I feel strongly that the services provided to Adams County were far from ordinary. In fact, the quality of services provided to Adams County…during the last three years has been consistently of the highest quality.”

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Pat Myers

Director of Facility Operations & Planning, Adams County, Colorado

Our long-term client, Adams County, Colorado, approached us and requested our help in locating and purchasing approximately 100 acres of land. This site would eventually be utilized to build almost 500,000 SF of office space to house the County’s numerous departments and to provide a wide variety of services to Adams County’s residents.

It was important to find a site that had access to a good transportation infrastructure to accommodate the large number of County employees and visitors. Access to utilities was also important. Site topography was an issue and the site needed to be located within or adjacent (to allow annexation) to Brighton, Colorado, the County seat. Of course, cost was also a key consideration.

This land search was especially sensitive. To find a large a site within or adjacent to Brighton, we needed to locate property parcels that were potentially available but unlisted. If a land seller knew that it had “the perfect, must-have site,” then the seller could have set an exorbitant, above-market price for the land. Additionally, if it became known that Adams County was searching for a site for its future office campus, then other potentially available parcels could have seen huge price escalations.

Consequently, we conducted our search discreetly. In the end, after a year-long search, we located a local developer that was in the process of amassing a sizeable landholding in an ideal location. Quickly realizing the value such a future office development would add to his project, he agreed to carve off a 100-acre site for the County and make it available at an attractive price. The County and the developer have now completed a master plan for the site.