El Jebel Shrine Redevelopment to Be Completed Summer 2017

More than half of the condos being built in the former El Jebel Shrine in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood have been sold — and the project won’t be completed until the end of next summer.

Renamed Mirador at Tennyson, the building itself, being redeveloped by Confluence Companies, will have 24 condos ranging in size from 1,050 square feet to 2,700 square feet. Prices start in the high $300,000s and go up to $1.2 million.

No two condos in the Moorish-style shrine will be alike, because Confluence is dealing with an existing structure, says Tim Walsh, the company’s founder. The $12 million project is being marketed by Clear Creek Homes, Confluence’s home-building division.

“The demolition is pretty much done,” Walsh says. “We’re modifying some of the building’s structure and putting in new exterior windows. After the first of the year, we’ll do a lot of the new construction on the inside.”

Amenities include a pet-groom room, a gear-wash area, a fitness center and a club room with billiards, card tables and flat-screen TVs. Residents also will have storage for seasonal and recreational items, as well as a heated garage, expansive balconies and covered patios with stunning views.

The property surrounding El Jebel is being developed by Koelbel Urban Homes, with six detached houses and a row of paired homes, as well as townhomes flanking both sides of the shrine.

El Jebel, which means “the mountain” in Arabic, was formally chartered in 1888. The first Shrine was above the Denver Fire Station at 14th and Larimer streets until the Shriners raised enough money to build the El Jebel Temple at 18th and Sherman, designed by brothers Harold and Viggio Baerrsen. At the time, it was the largest Shriner temple in the country and remained the Shriners’ home until 1924, when a fire damaged the theater on the fourth and fifth floors.

In 1930, the Shriners, whose membership had grown to more than 5,000, moved to a new El Jebel temple designed by William Bowman and T. Robert Wieger at 50th and Vrain, next to the defaulting Rocky Mountain Country Club. The Shriners operated the golf course until 1936, when they sold it to the City of Denver. They remained in the building, however, and rented it out for events over the years.

The Shriners’ dwindling membership prompted the organization to sell the building rather than maintain it and relocate to a nondescript office building near Kennedy Golf Course in southeast Denver. A group of local developers paid $4.5 million for the 60,000-square-foot building in 2012.

Project: Mirador at Tennyson
Address: 4258 Tennyson Street
Developer: Koelbel Urban Homes

This is the eighth in a series of stories about building projects around town. Read more about development in Denver on our Construction Watch page.