Colorado Crossing developer files claim against related company

There’s a new twist to the financial woes at Colorado Crossing, one of the area’s largest proposed mixed-use projects.

Colorado Crossing developer Jannie Richardson has filed a legal claim that says one of her companies that oversaw part of the project’s construction is owed $32 million from a second company Richardson is involved with and that’s listed as owner of the site, records show.

Two construction industry lawyers say they doubt Richardson can have one of her companies file a claim against the other; she didn’t return calls, and a Richardson attorney declined to comment.

It’s the latest problem for Richardson after years of success as a Springs developer.

Richardson proposed Colorado Crossing on 153 acres southeast of Colorado Highway 83 and InterQuest Parkway. As envisioned, it would have 1.6 million square feet of offices and stores, 1,600 housing units and a 14-screen Cinemark movie theater complex, among other features.

As the nation sank into a recession and the credit crunch hit banks and borrowers in 2008, Colorado Crossing contractors and subcontractors began filing mechanic’s liens — legal claims — saying they weren’t being paid for their work. Those claims total about $21.5 million, according to a Gazette tally of liens filed with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder; some construction industry members have said it’s the largest lien amount they can recall for a local project. Construction has stopped on the theaters, offices and stores that were to be part of the project’s first phase; it’s unknown when work might resume.

On Jan. 5, Sunshine Home Development Inc. filed a lien against SRKO Family Limited Partnership, which said Sunshine was owed $32 million from SRKO, according to El Paso County Clerk and Recorder records.
Richardson, who took over as general contractor for a portion of the project, is Sunshine’s president, according to the lien.

SRKO, meanwhile, owns the Colorado Crossing site, El Paso County Assessor’s records show. SRKO’s general partner is Duk LLC, which, in turn, was formed by Richardson, according to Colorado Secretary of State records.

Richardson also has frequently presented herself as Colorado Crossing’s developer in news media interviews.
Karl Berg, a Springs attorney who represents three subcontractors, said he questions the legality of Richardson’s lien since she wears two hats on the project.

J. David Arkell, a Denver attorney who serves as legal advisory committee chairman for the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, a trade group, said he would expect a Colorado court to rule Richardson’s lien invalid, based on state law and past court cases.

Why file the lien? Richardson might be trying to position herself so that she could have an equal claim on the property if it’s sold to satisfy liens filed by other contractors and subcontractors, Arkell said.

Jim Johnson, president of G.E. Johnson Construction Co. of Colorado Springs, which was a general contractor for a portion of Colorado Crossing, said his company is challenging Richardson’s lien in 4th Judicial District Court.

Richardson has other problems, too. Five small Springs-area shopping centers she controlled were sold Jan. 20 at an El Paso County Public Trustee’s auction after they fell into foreclosure last year, records show.