Lakewood Obscures Reason for School Property Purchase

Lakewood City Council will vote to purchase the closed school, Emory Elementary on Monday, April 28, 2025. Lakewood intends to keep the soccer fields and transfer the building to the Action Center, a non-governmental organization that provides food and homeless services. That intent to transfer was included as one sentence in the staff memo for the property purchase. However, the reason why the transfer is necessary was not disclosed. Lakewood has planned for years to purchase the school as part of the city’s strategy to increase the number of homeless shelters in Lakewood. The first reading of this purchase occurred on April 14, 2025

The problem is that the building is not going to Lakewood as the end-user. Lakewood is buying the school and fields with the intention to immediately sell or transfer the building to the Action Center, for an undisclosed amount of money while keeping the soccer fields for city use.

Lakewood then intends to somehow take possession of the existing Action Center to operate a second homeless shelter, completing their navigation center concept, according to an explanation to City Council by City Manager Hodgson (see Lakewood Informer news for more details here and here).

The Action Center does not have to go through the public bid process, and surrounding residents have not been made aware of the end goal that will have this service center in the middle of their neighborhood. Also of concern is that Lakewood will sell or exchange this building at a loss, since they argued that the school board should do just that – Lakewood argued Jeffco should give Emory Elementary to the city at a loss as a public service for the homeless initiative.

Jeffco is not honoring its public process to first subdivide the property and then publicly go through the full disposition disclosure process for the non-city property. The subdivision and separate property sale precedent was set for Vivian Elementary, another closed school located in Lakewood, the purchase of which will also be approved April 28, 2025.  

For Vivian Elementary, the developer was forced to buy their own parcel after the school subdivided the property for Lakewood. That guaranteed a public process to disclose the end-user of the property while also ensuring the best price for the sale. In contrast, for Emory Elementary, the property will remain intact until it is too late for the public to know the whole plan or for other parties to be able to bid a higher price for any parcel the city does not intend to keep.

Lakewood operating million-dollar property deals to benefit the Action Center, well-meaning as they are, is reaching outside of the city mandate, even if the city was being transparent, which they are not. And the school board is so far not demanding that the property be subdivided and sold to the end-users in a transparent process either.

Lakewood’s existing shelter, operating through RecoveryWorks, is not a proven success. It was started as a “free money” initiative, and now state and federal funds are being reduced.  Other cities are reducing their shelter capabilities. Yet Lakewood is increasing their shelter commitments. A drastic increase to funding Lakewood homeless is not what the city promised when they said they needed to deTABOR. A public discussion of how Lakewood will continue to fund these initiatives is long overdue and it looks like Lakewood would like to keep it that way.

Jimmy Sengenberger reported in February that Jeffco changed their school process to make it easier for Lakewood to buy closed schools in what was called the “municipal option.” That option, designed for cities, is now being abused for property swaps via an opaque process. Lakewood will argue that the swap will ultimately benefit Lakewood’s general goals, so no specifics need to be disclosed or approved. This questionable process leaves Lakewood residents feeling like decisions are being made without due consideration of all impacts.

Therefore, the most important decision is not whether to buy this school property. It is whether Lakewood residents want more government-sponsored homeless services. If residents do not want to expand homeless services, then Lakewood would not need to buy the current Action Center. If Lakewood does not need to buy the current Action Center, then Lakewood would not need to buy Emory Elementary as a new Action Center facility. Simple.

But that whole process has not been disclosed or discussed prior to the vote on April 28, 2025.