FORT LUPTON — The parent company of a local Fort Lupton development has filed for protection under the federal bankruptcy code, raising questions about housing within the city. Appearing in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, United Western Bancorp and two of it’s subsidiaries filed chapter 11 proceedings last week under case number 12-13815
    Those subsidiaries include Matrix Bancorp Trading, Inc. whose sole asset is the ownership of Matrix Funding Corp. Matrix’s principal asset in the real estate development community consists of Coyote Creek, approximately 69 acres of land which includes 127 fully-platted single family lots, 102 preliminary platted single family lots, one parcel supporting 160 to 200 higher density multi-family units and a small commercial parcel located in Fort Lupton.

    That presents a problem for developers in the city, already low on shovel-ready opportunities to build upon.
    “We are trying to find somebody that will come in and buy the rest of that development ground,” Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton said. “So its going to make it a little more difficult to find somebody that is willing to go through that process and maybe work through a short sale or the bankruptcy court. It’s going to make it more difficult for us.”
    “Right now we have no inventory of (available) housing left, its almost all gone,” Holton added. “That’s what the realtors are telling us. We really need some new housing. That thing being not available to the market right away, that is going to hurt.”
    Compounding the situation is legal wrangling in the Appel Farms subdivision, mired in financial reorganization.
    “It’s going through (Tom) Martino’s bankruptcy, the takeover by New Frontier Bank,” Holton said. “They switched all the assets to a company out in California. Everything that we have available at this point, that they could build on immediately, is in some way or another, tied up in a financial institution or bankruptcy that is going make it more difficult to get it out.”
    Taking the shortage into consideration, the city is working with potential developers to line up deals on the property.
    “The city has been helping out whoever comes in asking about it, and we try and get them to the right people,” Holton said. “They do their own negotiation, but we are just trying to get somebody in here.”
    The rewards are large if and when the development gets rolling again. With more buyers than available housing, Coyote Creek could easily be the new growth area going forward,  with hundreds of home sites. 
    “I’m not sure how many you could build on today, but there is a potential for, I believe 650 lots. Total,” Holton said.
    One portion of Coyote Creek not in question is the golf course, owned by the city and not part of the bankruptcy.”
    “The golf course itself, that ground we own,” Holton said. “The revenue portion of it went through that bankruptcy, and so we still have bondholders.”

Contact Staff Writer Gene Sears at gsears@metrowestnewspapers.com