As a big orange orb slowly breaks the eastern horizon,  a cacophony of croaking frogs and singing birds fill the thick summer air.  A prairie dog makes his presence known with a series of staccato chirps.  As the last cool breeze of the day sweeps over the rolling prairie of southeast Boulder County, Michael Eisenstein stops to take in the moment.  “This land brings a smile to my face,” said Mike.

For Mike, this acre and a half just south of Louisville’s Monarch High School is his own personal refuge.  He purchased it two years ago and loves to escape his hectic life for a few moments of solitude.  “I like the feel of it - the harmonious nature of this land.”

Mike’s quiet piece of heaven borders 389 acres owned by oil and natural gas titan Phillips 66.  If you are new to the area, or have been in a time warp for the past twenty years, this land is the former home of StorageTek, a data storage giant whose star faded in the 1990s.  More than a decade ago, StorageTek sold to Conoco Phillips.  Through the years, the empty remnants of the StorageTek campus have been dismantled.  Phillips 66 put the land up for sale. For the past decade, nature has slowly been reclaiming the open space along the Boulder Turnpike. 

Mike Eisenstein calls his one and half acres at 88th and Campus Drive a “sunrise and sunset sanctuary.” If you believe Mike is a naturalist, ecologist, environmentalist or even a scientist, you could not be more wrong. Mike is a developer.  His Land Capital LLC is a located in downtown Louisville.   Mike’s company purchased the small plot of land with the hope of developing office space to serve nearby Avista Adventist Hospital. 

Mike counts himself among one of those developers.  But his worldview has been shaped by being a Louisville resident.  For four years, Mike and his wife raised their three boys in a home near Harper Lake.  He has fond memories of hiking Davidson Mesa and catching frogs with his boys at Community Park pond.  The Eisensteins now live in Gunbarrel but their hearts remain in Louisville.  

The land next to Mike’s is one of the largest parcels of land in Boulder County that is for sale.  “In developer lingo, we call this land a ‘dinosaur,’” says Mike.  “This means, the land is old, huge – and it’s going to die.”  Even he was shocked after viewing the initial plans from developer Brue Bakol. “I saw the plan and said, ‘Whoa!’ It seemed like Soviet Bloc housing that will block views of the Flatirons and Continental Divide.”  He says the current plans are not in sync with the rest of Louisville.  “The plan should be about integration of nature with the city.”

In a word, Mike feels the proposed development of the old StorageTek/Phillips 66 land is all about ‘density.’  Density, he says, means increased profits. The current development plans call for a 245% increase in total square footage from the old Storage Tek footprint.  “There is too much density.  You cannot say you are an ally of Louisville and increase density.”

He is just as concerned about the traffic issues density will create.  Those who have children who attend Monarch High School know all too well of the gridlock that occurs there every school day. “Campus and 88th does not have to become Los Angeles,” Mike says.  When it comes to LA, Mike knows what he is talking about.  He was born and raised there.  Mike fears the traffic will ripple through town, and impact the small town charm he feels is the essence of Louisville.  He says the overflow traffic could mean a traffic light on Cherry Street between McCaslin and Front Street.

Mike would like the City of Louisville or Boulder County to purchase lands now owned by Phillips 66, but realizes that’s not a possibility.  Instead, he is hoping for a new development plan that embraces “imagination and creativity,” one that is a hybrid between open space and office space.