New Lakewood Apartment Complex Blocks 'Sun And Views'– Neighbors

LAKEWOOD, CO — Developers have begun construction for a 260-unit apartment complex that was opposed by Green Mountain neighbors, and residents nearby are alarmed at how high the elevation of the new buildings will be.

The Alta Green Mountain project exemplifies how new Front Range growth and longtime residents can clash.

Neighbor Francis Milhollin, a retired engineer and resident for more than 30 years, says the multi-acre site at 13155 West Mississippi Court appears to have been graded to "maximize the depravation of sun and view," by setting the apartment buildings on foundation building pads above the adjacent property owner's homes. Milhollin made the allegations in an appeal letter to the judge who threw out the neighbors' lawsuit against the city of Lakewood in June, 2018.

Neighbors had alleged in the May, 2018 suit that the city improperly approved the project under a new zoning designation meant to encourage multipurpose office and retail commercial development, not apartments. But a judge granted a motion to dismiss from the city that threw the case out.

The new development is being built by Atlanta-based Wood Partners, with construction by builders Studio PBA. Managing director for Wood Partners Tim McEntee said in a press release that “Alta Green Mountain provides much needed, high-quality housing to this area.”

But Milhollin believes McEntee may have increased the elevation of the building pads as a means of retaliating for the neighbors' complaints.

"It is obvious, as one of the property owners adjacent to Alta Green Mountain, that Tim McAntee is now exacting retribution upon the residents surrounding his development for having opposed it by over-lot grading the site to maximize the depravation of sun and view by raising the elevation of the building pads above the adjacent property owners homes," Milhollin wrote in a June letter to JeffCo District Court Judge Randall C. Arp, signed by dozens of neighbors.

Alta Green Mountain project manager Richard McDonald declined to comment for this story.

What's coming:

The new complex will include units with one-, two- and three-bedrooms. Nearly half of them will have attached garages, the company said in a press release. Other amenities will include a clubhouse with fitness center and cyber café, a resort-style swimming pool, and a bike/ski repair shop, as well as car charging stations. The units are considered "market rate" with interior finishes that include granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and 42-inch wood cabinetry, a press release said.

The development is scheduled to be finished in August of 2019.

Millholin said in an interview that the patch of empty land had been pitched as high density apartments before, and neighbors were able to talk the developer into patio homes, but the project fell through.

Even though the neighbors have lost in court, they still worry that the project is too dense for the neighborhood and obstruction of the views of Green Mountain and the Platte Valley may cause their property values to drop.

Millholin said his own home had suffered recent cracks in the ceiling that he attributes to disturbances of the Bentonite soil on which many of the older homes have been built.

But even though they objected to the development, neighbors are not planning to treat new renters at the project poorly, Millholin said.

"I’m not going to tell someone I hate them for moving in. I hate the developer and mayor for allowing this to take place," he said. "There was never any support for a massive apartment complex to go in here.

"To shove another apartment building in here between single-story and two-story residential homes conjures in one’s mind the 'middle finger' to the residents who’ve been living here for 30 or 40 years," he said.

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