Governor Bill Owens has vetoed the sale of two downtown office buildings from the Auraria Foundation to the University of Colorado.

Metro's Board of Trustees had asked the governor to veto the proposed sale. The BOT protested the sale as being so under the market value of the buildings as to constitute a breach of Auraria's responsibility to the students of all three institutions on campus.

The line-item veto represents the governor's first veto of the legislative session. The proposed sale was part of Senate Bill 130, a supplemental capital construction bill to the 2004 Long Appropriations Bill.

The buildings are the Lawrence Street Center at 1380 Lawrence and the CU-Denver Building at 1250 14th Street.

In a letter sent to the state senate on Monday, Owens stated that his blocking of the sale was an attempt to protect the interests of the three entities that comprise the Auraria Foundation.

Bruce Benson, president of Metro's Board of Trustees, said that now that the governor has vetoed the sale, the foundation should refinance the bonds on the buildings and use the money to pay back a $718,000 loan the Auraria Foundation owes CU and to make repairs to other buildings on campus.

CU had offered to pay the Auraria Foundation $32.1 million for the two buildings and to forgive the loan; an appraisal done last month showed their value at $30.9 million. That appraisal was challenged in a contentious Feb. 25 joint meeting of the three entities.

On Feb. 16, Metro Trustee Alex Cranberg made a competing offer for the two buildings that he said would be $900,000 more than CU's offer. However, in his offer letter, Cranberg said, "I do not recommend that you take this offer, as I believe it to be below fair market value. Nevertheless it is better than [CU's offer]." Cranberg recommended that the Auraria Foundation not sell the two buildings.

A governor's veto can be overturned only by a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Sen. Abel Tapia (D-Pueblo), who sponsored the bill, said that he has no intention of challenging Owens' veto.