The group that owns the historic Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine at the southeast corner of 18th Avenue and Sherman Street has proposed a 30-story multifamily tower on a surface parking lot directly to the south, according to a concept plan submitted to the City of Denver.
The current owner of both the Temple, located at 1770 Sherman St., and the parking lot at 1750 Sherman St., is Denver Temple LLC, a special-purpose entity created by the leaders of Virginia-based AII Funds.
DMPT LP, another entity created by AII Funds, will be the sole equity holder of the project. Red Leaf Development LLC will be the general partner, according to David Roos, an executive at AII Funds and a manager of Red Leaf Development.
The roughly 0.4-acre parking lot at 1750 Sherman St. has long been eyed as a potential site for a tower project. In 2003, the then-owner of the property, Seventeen Seventy Sherman Street LLC, executed a development agreement with the City and County of Denver that would allow structures on the site to stretch as high as 650 feet.
Several development groups have signaled interest in bringing a project to the site over the years, including a partnership between The Bayrock Group and the Trump organization, which at one point had the site under contract, according to a report from the Colorado Real Estate Journal. That deal never went through.
In 2016, DMPT LP purchased the Temple and parking lot for $12.38 million, according to property records. DMPT transferred the property to Denver Temple LLC in December 2020, records show.
The latest proposed project would include 120 residential units and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to the concept plan. Roos confirmed that the current plans call for rental units, rather than for-sale units.
Plans show the proposed building would consist of two- and three-bedroom units, ranging in size from 1,550 to 1,886 square feet. Floors 2-7 would be dedicated to a 175-space parking garage, with amenities on the ninth level.
The development group appears to be working with DLW Architects on the project.
AII Funds' website has teased plans for a 350-unit project on the site in the past, and previous plans submitted by DMPT in 2018 called for a 61-story building. But Roos said in an email that "current economic conditions" prompted the group to reduce the size of the project.
The five-story building at 1770 Sherman St. has been known by several names since it was completed in 1907. The National Register of Historic Places, in which the property has been listed since 1997, refers to it as the Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine, although it's also been referred to at times as the 1770 Sherman Street Event Complex, the Rocky Mountain Consistory and the Scottish Rite Temple.
As part of the 2003 development agreement, which has remained attached to the property, Historic Denver holds conservation easements for the exterior and interior of the building. The nonprofit, which is dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings in Denver, holds similar easements for many exteriors around the city. But an easement for the interior of a structure is a rarity, according to Historic Denver executive director Annie Levinsky.
The ownership group is currently carrying out renovations to the exterior of the historic building. The new tower would not impact the exterior of the existing structure.
"We are excited that the rehabilitation and development stage is beginning, as historic buildings need active use in order to remain vibrant and accessible to the community," Levinsky told Denver Business Journal in an email. "We’ve long known there might be adjacent new development, and will be engaged as the easement holder to ensure that the historic building remains intact and stable throughout."
Article published 26 January 2021