The LDS Church property once home to a historic church that was slated for demolition before it burned down last year should make way for a dense cluster of homes, according to a new missing middle housing plan created by leaders of the Liberty Wells neighborhood.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been angling to sell its former Wells Ward building site for two years. The church made it clear that it wanted the building erased from the 1.03-acre site, putting a demolition clause on its listing before deciding to demolish the historic building itself.
The church still owns the building, which was for sale for $1.6 million but is currently off the market. Any buyer would likely include an investor looking to develop the property into townhome units, which would require a rezone through the city.
Under the new concept endorsed by the Liberty Wells Community Council, the property could make way for a variety of about 26 new homes that are in scale with most of the neighborhood, which is primarily detached single-family housing interspersed with missing middle.
The plan is high-level and conceptual, though it continues the neighborhood’s openness to infill density and a desire to guide future development through a pro-density lens.
The community council recently approved a statement that says the neighborhood “supports increased, gentle-density that aligns with true Missing Middle Housing… that fits seamlessly into existing residential-zoned neighborhoods.”
The neighborhood has an existing density that would likely support an expanded walkable retail node near 1700 S. 400 E., just north of the Wells Ward site. It’s also seeing an ongoing buildout of three of its four perimeters along 900 South, 2100 South and State Street.
The conceptual rendering shows a cottage court style development of small, single-family detached homes that match the scale of neighboring properties to the west.
A surface parking lot would be screened from surrounding streets by the cottage court on one side and mid-scale townhome structures on Hollywood, Redondo and 500 East.
Bill Davis, the former chair of the community council and a key player in passing the neighborhood’s pro-density statement, said he worked with the council and a friend to create the conceptual rendering.
“It is a conceptual plan from LWCC to show how we can significantly increase density in the neighborhood and still retain the…small scale feel of a lower density one,” Davis told us. “I like to think we are a progressive community group so want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
Taking a proactive approach to future development on the site could also help the neighborhood guide a future project rather than react to one that’s presented to them if a developer picked up the property from the church.
That was the case with another LDS Church property in the Central City neighborhood last year. The church donated the Liberty Wells Recreation Center in Central City to a nonprofit offshoot of Ivory Homes, which chose to develop the site into low-income rental apartments and rental townhomes. That neighborhood, already home to a cluster of low-income housing and rental units, asked Ivory to build for-sale homes instead to no avail.
The Liberty Wells neighborhood would have to find an open ear in the church, as well as a developer interested in carrying out the vision.
The church didn’t respond to a request for comment about the proposal or provide an update on the property’s future this week.
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