After 10 years, it's finally closing time.  

Brothers Redevelopment today closed the books on its West 11th Avenue construction yard, signing the facility over to the City and County of Denver, where officials say the building will be demolished to widen the South Platte River.

The transaction enables "Brothers" to cover the costs associated with a new site at 5500 Logan St. that will now house materials and supplies for our Home Maintenance and Repair and Volunteer programs.  Located in unincorproated Adams County, the new property may also serve as the home of a 35-bed dormitory for visiting volunteers. 

And while we're excited about the prospects for doing business out of a new, refurbished location, it's still a bittersweet day for the agency. 

At one time, our West 11th Avenue location was the jewel in our portfolio and housed many of our nonprofit programs.  Acquired with foundation and community support, the site served as a beacon of possibility for a buregoening nonprofit and the surrounding community .

City officials first approached us to purchase the site in 1999.  But as the city's on-again, off-again acquisition process took its course, deterioration and blight took over the property.  It no longer made sense for Brothers to invest in a location that we would one day be forced to turn over to the city. 

Still, it served as a hub of activity.  Over the past decade, hundreds of volunteers stayed at the site, which also housed thousands of gallons of paint and the countless other supplies we needed to care for our clients. 

As the city grew more determined in its negotiations in the last few years, it was clear that we'd be forced to vacate the property. 
As our own hunt for a new site led us to commercial and warehouse corridors across Denver,  staff still held on to the belief that our HMR program might be able to stay in the site a little longer.

It wasn't to be.  

And so an era that began in Denver's Sun Valley neighborhood now moves north with new excitement and promise.  

Maybe one day, we'll similarly look back at the purchase of our new site in the same, sentimental way.