DENVER — A developer's plan to demolish a nearly century-old church in Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood is now forcing organizations that use the community space to find new locations. Among them is a preschool that has been a neighborhood fixture for fifty years.
The Washington Park United Church of Christ (WPUCC), chartered in 1925, has been more than just a building with its high ceilings and blue, green, and yellow shutters. For almost a century, it has been the cornerstone of its community, hosting a variety of activities including AA meetings, yoga classes, music classes, performances, graduations, and housing several nonprofits.
In its basement, one of the neighborhood’s oldest preschools, Washington Park Early Learning Center (WPELC), has thrived.
This year, the preschool celebrated 50 years in the Wash Park neighborhood, weathering many changes, adapting, and growing to meet the needs of its young children and their families.
"In the last five years, I've had four or five families come through that they went to the school and they are bringing their children back,” said Kristi Franko, the director of WPELC.
Franko, a passionate advocate for early childhood education, has always believed in the power of community spaces to foster connections and support for families. She’s been the director for seven out of the ten years the preschool has operated out of the church.
Recently, the 12,500-square-foot church that has been costly to maintain for its dwindling congregation, caught the eye of a Denver developer.
“We found out on our first day of school this year that the WPUCC had decided to sell the property,” Franko said, her voice filled with emotion. “It's hard. We're all attached to it. I mean, it's just beautiful. It's a beautiful place.”
Despite its best efforts to hold onto its property, the church’s board ultimately had to make the difficult decision to sell. The sanctuary will soon be demolished to make way for single-family homes.
Franko notes that this demolition story is becoming increasingly common.
“They're faced with the hard decision to sell their property, and the only people who can afford to buy these huge properties in Denver, where the prices are so high, are these corporations that are knocking them down and putting up more housing,” she said.
For Franko, the news was a heavy blow, now tasked with relocating the preschool. After reaching out to more than 65 churches, she finally found a new location in Platte Park, about ten minutes away. She says the relocation effort will cost more than $600,000, and despite dipping into their reserves and launching a fundraising campaign, Franko says they are still facing a shortfall of over $70,000.
Despite the hardship, she is excited about bringing the same energy to the new location. Even though the preschool will be moving to a different neighborhood for the first time, Franko says she’s not ready for a full rebrand just yet, keeping the name “Wash Park” at the front of their title.
“Right now, I think we're kind of attached to our logo and our name and our legacy,” said Franko.
Thanks to community support, Franko is confident her preschool will thrive in its new location. However, she wonders how many other community spaces will be able to withstand the changes brought by new development.
“If this keeps happening to the churches and to the community spaces, I think that Denver might, you know, lose some of that charm,” Franko said.
The daycare’s new location is set to open in January, and demolition of the church is expected to begin soon after.
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