After Developco led BRAVE Church through the acquisition of the former Denver First Church of the Nazarene (“DFC”) as shown below, DFC temporarily occupied BRAVE Church’s building at 3651 S Colorado Boulevard (Cherry Hills Village) until a suitable replacement property could be secured. After an extensive ten (10) month search, acting as DFC's Buyer Broker, Developco sourced a three (3) story, 40,258 SF, 1983 vintage, office building at 5301 South Federal Circle in Littleton, Colorado and negotiated the purchase for $4.38M (± $109/SF).
In early 2024, DFC merged with Columbine Hills Church of the Nazarene and rebranded as One Hope Church.
Project Details. The total project costs were $10.68M while Hard Costs were $5.0M ($170.44/SF). Seventy percent (70%) of the 3-story office building was renovated including installing a new 505-seat Auditorium (new 50 ton AC Unit), a large open Lobby, a Multipurpose Meeting Room and a Warming Center on the 1st Floor (16,900 SF), and Children’s Meeting Rooms and a Student Ministry Center on the 2nd Floor (12,575 SF). Cost savings by redeploying existing materials saved ± $250K.
Developco Services. Developco led church leadership to the selection of Lee Architects and Howell Construction, the City of Littleton entitlements, and then oversaw the design, construction and AVL and FF&E outfitting. MediaVine Productions led the impressive AVL installations for a modest cost of $500K – a large bang for their buck!
Office Building Opportunities. In 15 years of leading church expansion projects, this project was the first time Developco led the conversion of an office building into a fully functioning church facility. Existing office buildings today offer a terrific opportunity for churches to acquire, but converting them to an assembly use should be carefully considered. For example, structural modifications to 5301 were required to increase the live load for the assembly use code (100 PSF) and were initially estimated to cost $500K. Thankfully this was resolved for $50K. The biggest project challenge was the extensive unforeseen existing conditions which could not be completely understood before construction commenced. However, Howell Construction did an excellent job keeping costly change orders to a minimum.