Scott McLean

Today, at the church that I attend, Pastor Jim Dixon spoke about how happiness and joy come from responding to God’s calling. God calls us to confess that Jesus is Lord (as Peter did in Matthew 16:16) and to focus our lives in service to Him. If we do this, then we will begin to […]

In addition to cash and fund raising efforts, nearly every church facility relocation project today requires a certain amount of debt in order to be accomplished. Most lenders will tell you that a church’s total facility expenses should not exceed 35% of its annual budget. In fact, in a bond underwriting, this is a statutory

We just learned that churches, who desire to lease instead of own their facilities, will likely end up paying real property taxes to the owner of real property who is obligated to pay these taxes to the State of Colorado regardless of the occupant of the building. We think this is just plain wrong. In

With the continuing malaise plaguing the economy and consumer spending at its lowest level in a decade, unprofitable retailer operations are being shuttered leaving vacant spaces in retail shopping centers across American. According to Mary Beth Jenkins with the Laramie Company, who recently reported at the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Expo, there are 54 retail

At the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Expo, we heard that interest rates are projected to increase in 2011 primarily as a result of competition from the US Government. Apparently a $6 Trillion pool of available debt capital will be reduced to only $3 Trillion because of this new competition. This new demand will put pressure

We are pleased to report that, after talking with Denver Planning, city staff met and discussed the current Denver Zoning Code’s treatment of church and similar public assembly uses, and revisited how or whether the New Code should change that treatment. Denver Planning has agreed to remove the assembly area size restriction (see our previous

Churches need to become familiar with the sweeping changes proposed to Denver’s land use regulations—Denver’s New Zoning Code. These changes will certainly impact churches currently located or desiring to be in the City and County of Denver. We recommend that as a property owner, you go view the new zoning map to learn about the

Rarely does such a high-quality property, in a proven Denver-area location, become available to purchase, but the Colorado Community Church property at 3651 South Colorado Boulevard can now be purchased for a fraction of the cost to construct new. This is a terrific opportunity for a church user or a Christian investor. This well-known church

On a recent trip to northern Colorado, I met with several pastors of large and leading churches including Paul Trimble with Crossroads Church in Loveland. Paul talked about the growing phenomenon of churches accomplishing new expansions by obtaining smaller new sites all simulcast from a “headquarters” facility. There are a few churches along the Front

Development Advisors just completed a unique “syndicated” arrangement to finance a new 100,000 SF church facility in south metro Denver for our client Mission Hills Church. What an incredible challenge! But we praise God for his leading and for his provision. As it turned out, we could not have picked a more difficult time to

Its amazing how much a church needs to spend these days for a state-of-the art AVL system. As Mission Hills Church (“MHC”) got started looking at the costs to outfit its 117,000 SF new church facility, both my partner Tim Dreessen and I were shocked. After much research and discussion, it was decided that MHC