Demolition planned as Wash Park church sells for $4M

A Wash Park church has had its last supper.

Mile High Building & Development bought the Washington Park United Church of Christ building on 0.43 acre at 400-420 S. Williams St. last week for $4 million, according to public records.

“We don’t know what our plans are just yet. … We’re going to have a company meeting and figure out what we’re going to do,” Mile High owner Ryan Yoffe told BusinessDen.

Yoffe does know one thing for sure, though — the existing church will be demolished, he said. The land is zoned for a single unit on a minimum 5,500-square-foot lot.

The deal works out to about $213 a square foot for the land.

“We buy a lot of stuff in Wash Park and it was a pretty big lot,” Yoffe said. “The church actually approached us. They engaged a broker and their broker engaged a broker that knew us, and that’s how the deal came together.”

Yoffe has had his hand in a number of commercial and residential projects around the metro area. His website shows a portfolio of new-build custom homes from the Highlands to Cherry Creek.

Tom Luehrs, who serves on the leadership council of Washington Park United Church of Christ, said the nearly 100-year-old congregation is leasing roughly 5,000 square feet in an old bookstore on the former Johnson & Wales University campus in South Park Hill.

“There were tears, there’s been tears all along. And yet, in many ways, … all the work it’s taken to make this happen has kindled some very good friendships,” he said.

Luehrs said the congregation was looking to sell quickly and for the highest price possible so that it could immediately start using the proceeds for philanthropic purposes.

“We shouldn’t just be sitting on the millions of dollars this property is worth,” he said. “We should be giving it out to our neighbors in need – those in our community who are struggling.”

The Wash Park congregation founded nearly a century ago grew slowly over time, and the building was adding on to in the ’50s. At its peak, between 100 and 200 people were members of the church. Luehrs said last year — when the church sold a parking lot across the street for $2 million — that number was about 30.

The congregation, which is keeping Wash Park in its name for now, works with nonprofits around town. Luehrs himself used to run the St. Francis Center, a homeless day shelter in Curtis Park. The congregation also directly assists individuals and families. He told BusinessDen stories of the church helping people pay rent, assisting victims of domestic violence to find a safe place to live and aiding immigrants in applying for residency and citizenship.

The church’s pastor serves on the board of directors of Archway Communities, a local nonprofit that manages the former Johnson & Wales campus.

“It kind of worked out serendipitously — or from a faith perspective, it was inspired,” Luehrs said. “We walked into it.”

Story via BusinessDen

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