The CU Hillel House, a fixture of the Boulder Jewish community for decades, has been put up for sale, the property’s managing organization, Hillel of Colorado, reported last week.
The mid-century modern structure with a large yard, located at the corner of Colorado Ave. and 28th St., was put on the market after Hillel of Colorado and JEWISHcolorado, the legal owner, agreed that its time had come.
Daniel Bennett, executive director of Hillel of Colorado, put a positive spin on the impending sale: “It’s selling a property that no longer works,” he told the Intermountain Jewish News last week.
“The selling of the Boulder Hillel house and our decision to move to a location more advantageous to the students is part of our new business plan. It’s something that’s been talked about for a decade.”
Within that past decade, Hillel’s other two important college houses in Colorado, at CSU and DU, have been built or brought up to date. The Boulder facility, however — for a long list of reasons, Bennett says — has not been significantly altered or expanded.
“In my opinion, Boulder is a critical need, and according to all of the students who have been there, it’s time to do something.”
The house — the precise history of which is somewhat “sketchy,” according to Bennett — was built in 1965, according to online real estate sites, and acquired by Hillel at some point after that.
The structure is worn and in need of substantial renovation, says Bennett. “It’s basically falling apart.”
The nearly 2,000 square foot house is also insufficient in terms of size. CU Boulder attracted some 2,500 student participants to its events in the past year, Hillel of Colorado says. A bigger space is badly needed.
While renovation and expansion would be possible, Bennett says, the more serious problem is that “it’s in the wrong place.”
“All the students and staff have known that maybe it was a nice place in the ‘60s and ‘70s but it sure isn’t now,” says Bennett, who is convinced that Jewish students in 2016 are much more attracted to the Hill neighborhood, closer to Boulder’s center.
“The majority of Jewish juniors and seniors live closer to the Hill today. That’s where the Chabad House is, the Jewish Studies program. It’s where the kids want to be. The current location is inconvenient. Hillel has to be closer to the Hill.”
In recent months, Bennett says, he helped reinitiate the conversation with JEWISHcolorado about selling the property. Jco, which owns the property as a result of an earlier arrangement with Hillel of Colorado, was receptive to the idea.
“We’ve been trying to do this for years and finally we’re on the same page,” he says. “There was a lot of willingness on both sides. It’s exciting.”
After completion of the sale, Jco will continue to serve as Hillel’s fiscal sponsor and will be involved in how to best utilize whatever proceeds are gleaned, Bennett says.
“We will jointly determine how to use those proceeds — whether to purchase property, rent or lease property or build. At this stage, we’re not sure where it’s going to go.”
Those decisions are likely to be made this fall by the Boulder Hillel House task force that Hillel has already set up. The task force will include Jco and Hillel, along with representatives of the Boulder Jewish and university communities.
“We want people to know really clearly that we’re taking the time to take into account the ideas of current students, past students, community people in Boulder, the people from CU’s Jewish Studies program, faculty,” Bennett says.
“We want everybody to have a voice to help Hillel get it right. The next question will be what are our options, what’s the dream, what are we going to do in the interim.”
The interim might include a temporary period in which Hillel convenes in “a storefront on the Hill” or some similar arrangement.
“We’ll probably try out some stuff and see what the students want,” Bennett says. “It’s a real exciting thing because we’re doing that with all of our programming as well.”
Hillel plans to stay in close contact with the university itself, which is the most likely purchaser of the current property, Bennett adds.
CU has wanted the property for years, he says, hoping to use it for eventual development. The university has already agreed that if it purchases the land, Hillel could remain there for as long as it needs.
That would give Hillel some breathing room, since the house is still being used for student activities, even now in midsummer.
Another scenario would be if a foundation buys the building as part of its investment portfolio. Bennett figures that Hillel would also be allowed to stay for as long as they need in that case, since the land would probably be viewed as a long-term investment.
The third option — purchase by a developer — would likely require Hillel to accelerate its task force and find an interim home, but that wouldn’t be all bad, Bennett says.
“That would be a top dollar purchase,” he says, “and we would love to have that problem.”
The property is currently zoned for four home sites, not high-density housing or apartments, although Bennett says the “math may not work” for that configuration.
Regardless of how the land’s future will be determined, it’s a valuable piece of property, reflecting the inflated real estate values in Boulder. In that city, the average cost for a single family residential property is about $1 million.
The Hillel property value has been estimated from “the high one millions to the high two millions,” Bennett says, adding that the figure will constitute a windfall for Hillel and Jco alike.
The proceeds from the sale will first be used to reimburse Jco for the financial investments it has made in the property over the years and then be dedicated toward a new home for Hillel. Remaining funds might be used for programming purposes.
The funds will be allocated out of an endowment-type fund that will hopefully provide financial security for CU Hillel in the long-term.
“There will be a strong partnership with how that money will be allocated,” Bennett says.
The possibility exists that Hillel might discuss the possibility of moving in with Chabad of CU, whose recently-expanded facility, including dormitory, is located on the Hill, precisely the location Hillel desires.
That might also result in joint programming, which Bennett thinks would be positive, “although we have to be careful,” he adds, since Chabad and Hillel have very different religious orientations.
He does not, in any case, see the two organizations as competitive regarding student activities. Combined, Bennett says, Hillel and Chabad manage to reach no more than 20% of the CU Jewish student population, leaving lots of room for growth for both.
“It never feels like competition to me,” he says. “We’re all in the same exact business.”
Chris Leppek may be reached at IJNEWS@aol.com