Boulder County purchases building in Lafayette

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The County Commissioners today approved a purchase agreement for a newly constructed 40,000 square foot building at 1755 S Public Road in Lafayette for $12.8 million.

The purchase is intended to create a new location for county-managed human services along with state-mandated programs (such as Motor Vehicle and Elections) serving the southeast region of Boulder County. This new co-location of services will be similar to -- but smaller than – the county’s model facility, the St. Vrain Community Hub in Longmont. At the same time, the county is also engaged in a comprehensive search for an optimal site for a consolidated county services hub within Boulder city limits.

“We are excited to provide more services directly to southeast Boulder County residents with a new building in Lafayette,” said Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones. “This location helps provide services for our southeast residents closer to where they live -- like we do for residents in Longmont and Boulder. Plus, we jumped at this purchase opportunity when we examined the added benefit of being near our partner human services providers like Clinica, Mental Health Partners, and Imagine!”

“The Facilities Master Plan establishes goals for access of services and consolidation of services. This purchase gives us the opportunity to service the growing needs of southeast county as well as consolidating satellite offices in Lafayette,” said Boulder County Administrative Services Director Jana Petersen. “The time was right to move forward now because of the availability of a newly constructed building close to the growing southeast county population and adjacencies to nonprofit organizations that Boulder County human services staff work with closely.”

Following the approval of the purchase agreement in Lafayette, the county will conduct due diligence prior to closing on the sale, which is expected to happen in 120 days. The building interior is unfinished, so additional construction would need to occur prior to the county facility opening, which is likely to be sometime in 2021.

Currently, the county leases space at 1376 Miner’s Drive in Lafayette, which houses Clerk & Recorder functions as well as office hours for the Assessor’s and Treasurer’s offices. The new building would replace this facility and would enable the county to offer additional human services in southeast Boulder County as well. The Boulder County Facilities master plan, adopted by the Commissioners in May 2018, called for the creation of a southeast hub for county services in the future because of population growth in that part of the county. This purchase provides us an opportunity to accomplish that goal sooner.