A Berkeley congregation has completed its real estate exodus.
Highlands Lutheran Church sold its roughly 14,000-square-foot church at 3995 N. Irving St. last week for $1.48 million, or about $106 per square foot. It had been listed at $1.75 million.
The buyer was Mounashram Inc., a faith-based nonprofit. Attempts to reach the organization were unsuccessful.
Highlands Lutheran, which had been on Irving Street for the past century, moved last year to 7375 Samuel Drive, where it is renting a church from the Rocky Mountain Synod, the regional Lutheran Church organization.
Pastor Samm Melton-Hill said the congregation is still figuring out what to do with the proceeds from the sale, but expects some of the funds to be used for community grants for those in need.
“We’re really excited for what the space will look like for north Denver and hope it continues to be a center part of that community and neighborhood,” Melton-Hill said.
The church building hit the market in October 2023 with the goal of selling quickly, as the congregation had no property manager and upkeep with the space became difficult, according to The McMillan Cos. broker Monnie Elliott, who represented the church along with Dana Crawford.
But a quick turnaround could not come at the expense of the church’s mission, she added, saying it had to be sold to an entity that “would be of service to the community.”
At one point, the property was under contract to a group trying to build a preschool there, but that deal fell through.
“We had a tremendous amount of interest from churches and religious groups … We felt really good about it (the buyer) instead of selling it to someone who would bulldoze it and build two luxury homes on the property,” Elliott said.
Elliott said she’s not sure what faith or denomination the buyer adheres to, and what exactly they’ll do with the new space, but knows it will continue to operate as a place of worship.
One thing that will remain: a bright orange donation box outside the church’s front door, according to Pam McClune, who coordinates the church’s work with a local food bank.
For about the last decade, the congregation partnered with Bienvenidos Food Bank off Pecos Street in northwest Denver to collect food and essentials for those in need. The box has been outside the church since at least 2017.
“We wanted to give the community the opportunity to participate with the food bank without feeling like they had to come in and be part of the church, and they really took to it,” said McClune.
This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.
Matthew Geiger
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