The Lakewood Housing Authority bought its new headquarters for $3.1 million - $300,000 more than the seller paid for the property the same day as the sale.

The July 23 transactions have raised a few eyebrows, including those of one Lakewood City Council member.

But Bill Lunsford, the housing authority's development manager, points to an appraisal that valued the office building at $3.2 million - $100,000 more than the quasi-public agency paid.

Lunsford said he had no way of knowing that the firm selling the property was closing on it the same day for $2.8 million.

"If we obviously had this opportunity to buy it from the previous guy at what I hear now is $300,000 cheaper, we would have done it," Lunsford said Monday.

The housing agency, which serves about 2,000 low-income families, bought the office building at 575 Union Boulevard, just off the Sixth Avenue Freeway.

According to public records, the agency acquired the property from Formations LLC, a Boulder firm. Formations purchased the property from Stuart Gilbert Realty Co. of the New York City borough of Queens.

Although the transactions closed on the same day, the agency had been in discussions with Formations over the property for several months.

It's not the first time the price the agency paid for property has been questioned.

In 2006, the agency paid $1.1 million for property that had sold for $650,000 a week earlier.

Lakewood City Councilman Doug Anderson said the most recent transaction raised questions for him. "I'm surprised to find out they thought this was the best of all deals," Anderson said.

Jon Caldara of the Golden- based Independence Institute, a free-market think tank, said, "I don't know how you can look at that and not say that the citizens of Lakewood are paying $300,000 more than the middleman."

Independence Institute researched the sale among records at the Jefferson County clerk's office.