July 2016 — Land & Development Quarterly —
Page 15
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CREJ_LDquarterly_2016_Weidt_FINAL.pdf 1 7/6/2016 10:52:33 AM
Project Profile
T
here has been an inordinate
amount of obstacles that
almost prevented the devel-
opment of Forest Trace Vil-
lage in southeast Aurora, just
across from Southlands Shopping
Center. But two local land develop-
ment companies came together
to solve the issues. Centre Com-
munities and Cooper Development
worked with their experienced
teams to make Forest Trace become
a reality.
Forest Trace Village, the 75-acre
parcel of land located on the south-
east corner of Smoky Hill Road and
E-470 in Aurora was under contract
to Forest Trace Development Inc.
(FTDI, an entity made up of Centre
Communities and Cooper Develop-
ment) in April 2013, but it wasn’t
until April 2015 that the deal was
closed and the construction began.
Almost a year later, 100 percent
of the commercial pads were sold
and 100 percent of the residential
lots were sold and under develop-
ment. Forest Trace Village’s 75 acres
includes 62 acres of residential and
open space land, as well as 13 acres
of commercial land.
FTDI purchased the land for For-
est Trace Village from Great Western
Bank out of Omaha, Nebraska. T.J.
Johnson and Mike Kboudi, both of
Cushman &Wakefield, represented
the sellers and FTDI represented
themselves. FTDI then hired both
Johnson and Kboudi to broker the
commercial pad sales within Forest
Trace Village. Pad sales already have
been sold to SCL Health, 7-Eleven,
Sherwin-Williams, Panera Bread
and Les Schwab
Tires. Financing
for the entire land
sale was handled
by Citywide Banks.
The loan was paid
off within eight
months, which was
considerably earlier
than expected.
The developer
held a 2-acre par-
cel for multiten-
ant commercial
development,
which already is under construc-
tion. FTDI worked with John Loss
of Miller Real Estate Investments
to act as a consultant for the retail
development. Sam Zaitz with Leg-
end Retail Group and Dean Insalaco
with MREI brokered all the multiten-
ant retail space. More than 16,000
square feet of multitenant space has
been leased to retailers, including
Smashburger, Jersey Mike’s Subs,
Mod Pizza, Costa Vita, European Wax
Center, Floyd’s 99 Barbershop as
well as others to come. In addition,
FTDI also held an additional piece of
commercial space next to the mult-
itenant retail and has entered into a
ground lease with a major national
bank.
Richmond American Homes pur-
chased all 72 lots in Phase 1 and a
land banker purchased the remain-
ing 63 lots, which eventually will
be sold to Richmond American as
well. Richmond American already
has begun construction and sales of
single-family homes priced in the
$400,000s.
Although other land develop-
ers tried in the past to develop this
property, they were unsuccessful
due to a variety of problems that
continued to present themselves,
including topographical issues,
access issues and the trees in the
Black Forest. There were so many
obstacles to overcome with this proj-
ect, almost too many to count. First
and foremost, because Forest Trace
sits on the north end of the Black
Forest, FTDI was required to save
over 70 percent of the existing trees.
Working the infrastructure around
trees was difficult but, in the end,
well worth it. Although the city of
Aurora required only 2.9 acres to be
dedicated to open space, FTDI dedi-
cated over 23 total acres to preserve
The Black Forest – almost one-third
of the entire development.
Another obstacle included import-
ing over 130,000 cubic yards of dirt
to correct the massive topographical
issues. Norris Design was one of the
land planners on Forest Trace Village.
“The existing topography was an
issue because all of the severe slopes
and grading,” said Diana Rael of Nor-
ris Design. “This project was one of
the most complex projects Norris
has worked on due to these issues.
We were thrilled that we were able
to make it work for the developer,
the city and homebuilder.”
In addition, there were multiple
access issues that required govern-
Daniel Frank
Principal, Centre
Communities,
Greenwood Village
Forest Trace includes 62 acres of residential and open space land as well as 13 acres of
commercial land.
