Mormon Church Plans 1,000-Acre Denver Area Housing Development

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, colloquially known as the Mormon Church, is undertaking a significant real estate expansion with the development of a nearly 1,000-acre master-planned community named Tributary. This ambitious project is situated in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, near the intersection of Interstate 70 and Harvest Road, in close proximity to Denver International Airport. The development is planned to accommodate over 12,000 residents, featuring approximately 4,900 single-family homes, alongside multifamily complexes and rental units, as detailed in a presentation by a senior city planner to the Planning and Zoning Committee in May, according to the Denver Post. The master plan for Tributary includes extensive amenities such as seven parks, a dedicated school, a fire station, and a retail center anchored by a King Soopers supermarket, complemented by multiple mixed-use commercial spaces. The City of Aurora will supply water to the new community. The project is being constructed on land that Property Reserve Inc., the real estate investment arm of the LDS Church, has owned for over four decades. This parcel represents a small portion of the institution's vast real estate holdings. Property Reserve Inc. did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the development. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been strategically accumulating land since the 1960s, building a substantial real estate portfolio. Recent reporting by Bloomberg, which analyzed property records from real estate data provider Reonomy, conservatively estimates the church's landholdings to span at least 2.4 million acres with an assessed value exceeding $20 billion. This estimate is acknowledged to likely be an understatement, as the true extent of the LDS Church's property portfolio is believed to be considerably larger, with its meticulous assembly over decades. The scale of this development in Aurora underscores the church's long-term investment strategy in real estate, leveraging its significant financial resources to create large-scale residential and commercial projects. The Tributary development aims to create a vibrant community, as described on its official website, emphasizing a "dynamic nature and innate sense of movement" that fosters both rest and shared enjoyment.