Boulder County Purchases Lafayette Building For $12.8M

BOULDER COUNTY, CO — Boulder County commissioners have approved the purchase of a $12.8 million building in Lafayette for county-managed human services and state-mandated programs — such as motor vehicle and elections — that serve the southeast region of Boulder County.

The newly constructed 40,000-square-foot building, at 1755 S Public Road, will house a co-location of services that will be similar to — but smaller than — the county’s model facility, the St. Vrain Community Hub in Longmont.

“We are excited to provide more services directly to southeast Boulder County residents with a new building in Lafayette,” Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones said in a statement. “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!”

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The county will conduct due diligence prior to closing on the sale, which is expected to occur within 120 days, officials said.

The county currently leases space at 1376 Miner’s Drive in Lafayette, which houses clerk and recorder functions as well as office hours for the assessor’s and treasurer’s offices. The new building would replace the Miner's Drive facility and would enable the county to offer additional human services in southeast Boulder County as well, officials said.

“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,” Boulder County Administrative Services Director Jana Petersen said in a statement. “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.”

The building interior is unfinished, so additional construction is needed before the facility opens, which is likely to be sometime in 2021, according to the county.

The county is also engaged in a comprehensive search for an optimal site for a consolidated county services hub within Boulder city limits.

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, officials said.