Douglas County’s school district is about to become the landlord of a distressed south-metro office building, paying $6 million for a four-story Meridian property that previously sold for $12.8 million. The bargain comes with a catch: The district expects to sink another $23 million into renovations before moving its back-office operation there.
The Douglas County School District agreed to buy Meridian One at a 53% discount from Felton Properties’ 2014 purchase price, according to The Denver Post. Felton’s own property listing describes the building as a roughly 139,000-square-foot office property acquired in 2014, while the newspaper reports it is only 16% leased and has been in receivership since late 2023.
The Board of Education approved the purchase in June on a 5-1 vote, and a judge has signed off on the receivership sale. District spokeswoman Paula Hans said the deal “will close in the next month,” The Denver Post reported.
The district says its current headquarters is in rough shape
Superintendent Erin Kane said during a June board meeting that nonschool staff is spread across nine locations, while the district’s Wilcox Street headquarters in Castle Rock is in a “critical state” for safety and working conditions. The district lists its headquarters at 620 Wilcox Street and says it serves about 61,000 students, according to its official contact page.
Consolidating those scattered offices is the main pitch: DCSD expects the move to cut at least $15 million in ongoing costs during the 2027-28 school year. That projected savings figure will be doing a lot of heavy lifting, because the $23 million renovation budget makes this less of a cheap office purchase than a cheap entry price.
A distressed-office deal in a changing Meridian market
Meridian One is not an isolated distress story. Felton’s neighboring Gateway Plaza was sold to Intermountain Health after a receivership process, and Meridian office deals have recently drawn other buyers looking for discounted suburban properties, as per Hoodline.
The district’s broader facilities push is also substantial: Its 2024 bond plan says DCSD has 112 buildings and estimates $800 million to $920 million in capital needs over five years, including maintenance and construction, according to the district’s bond materials. The Meridian One purchase is aimed at administrative space rather than classrooms, but it puts a major public-sector bet on the idea that fixing up a half-empty office building can be cheaper than continuing to patch together nine separate workplaces.
