PARKER, Colo. — In our original Denver7 Your Voice Parker story, the most common concern residents raised was how expensive housing has become, pointing to a gap in Parker’s housing market: A shortage of owner-occupied condominiums, especially for buyers who want something between a renting an apartment and owning a single-family home — a category often called the “missing middle.”
“It would really be good if we could have some more condos. And I know the state is working on it to change the legislation, but with all the wonderful building around here, there’s no condos,” said Parker resident Patricia “Patti” Kane.
Mayor Joshua Rivero told Denver7’s Jaclyn Allen that residents are “aging in place,” staying in their homes instead of moving into smaller properties.
“We are aging in place. People are moving to Parker and they’re not leaving,” Rivero said. “So we need more housing choices. Those housing choices need to be 55 plus. Those housing choices need to be owner-occupied condominiums. Unfortunately, with current state law, that is an incredible challenge.”
Right now, there is only one new condo complex under construction in Parker — the Hunters Chase Condominiums.
Sales chief Nate Forse said the development has been in the works for about a decade, delayed by red tape, and is now attracting strong interest.
“There’s really nothing [else] in this $400k price point,” he said, noting that most new homes in Parker start much higher.
Forse said many prospective buyers are downsizing, empty nesters, or first-time owners who can't afford a single-family home.
Christi Luley, who raised her children in Parker, is one of those empty nesters, hoping she can come back.
“My kids are all grown, and I’m single,” Luley said while touring Hunters Chase. “I love that it’s low maintenance or no maintenance.”
But Luley said she has learned that options for condos in Parker are limited.
Parker Economic Development Director Weldy Feazell said there is clear demand but developers are choosing not to build condos.
“It’s very expensive. You have insurance costs, insurance risk. You have construction costs that have not stabilized … And then you have the construction defects law in Colorado, which contributes to all of that in some way,” Feazell said.
That law — the Construction Defect Action Reform Act, or CDARA — was designed to protect homeowners from shoddy construction by giving builders notice and an opportunity to repair defects before lawsuits.
Rivero and Feazell say the law still creates too much risk for builders.
Rivero added, “Let’s try fixing construction defects to make it friendly for everybody, and let’s see what the market does without the government.”
Others disagree.
Attorney Chad Johnson, of Johnson Law, represents homeowners and HOAs in defect cases and says litigation is not the cause of the slowdown.
“There are many reasons why condos are not being built across Colorado, including rising interest rates, rising costs of both construction and labor," Johnson said. "We recognize that part of the American Dream is owning a home or owning a condo or townhome. However, you can’t build the American Dream on a foundation that is shifting and cracking."
“The issue here isn’t the lawsuits, it’s the root cause of those lawsuits, which is shoddy construction and builders not taking responsibility for that,” he added.
He said offers to repair before lawsuits are filed are rare: “It’s maybe 1 or 2% of the time where a builder or developer will actually make a reasonable offer that a homeowner could even consider.”
Last year, Gov. Jared Polis signed a reform bill aimed at lowering condo costs and giving builders more ways to avoid lawsuits. The changes include builder warranties, added inspections, and a higher HOA vote threshold before filing suit.
Feazell said it is too early to tell what impact the new rules will have.
“Well, at this point, it has not moved the needle for somewhere like Parker … I think once the law settles in a couple of years, we may see more. But right now it has not done that,” she said.
The town is also trying to spur condo construction.
On a piece of town-owned property downtown, Parker offered redevelopment incentives for a project that includes condos — but that work has been pushed back to 2029.
“I think it’ll come, but the market’s just not there yet,” Feazell said. “It’s going to have to be a regional solution, with many people regionally coming together to figure out how we fix this … It’s got to have multiple partners working on this to come up with a real solution.”
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