Developer Adam Fenton has secured another site, this time next to Thomas Jefferson High School.

Last month, the head of Denver-based Narrate Cos. bought just under 4 acres at 3600 S. Ivanhoe St. in conjunction with Jeff Palmquist of Palmquist Investments. The pair paid $4 million, according to public records, or about $23 a square foot.

The land sits just east of the Hebrew Educational Alliance synagogue and was sold by the Conservative Jewish congregation.

While Narrate’s Denver development work has generally consisted of apartments, that’s not the plan for the lot in the Southmoor Park neighborhood.

Fenton said the lot’s current zoning allows single-family homes, and he estimated it could fit 20 to 25. But it’s unclear if that could be the plan or something else, such as townhomes, which Palmquist has experience building.

Narrate hasn’t submitted development plans to the city, nor has it requested a rezoning.

“We’re just evaluating what our options are,” Fenton said.

In addition to the synagogue and the high school, the land backs up to a number of duplexes and other small multiunit residential properties. There’s road access from the east, although Fenton said an easement could allow future access to Ivanhoe Street to the west.

Hebrew Educational Alliance didn’t respond to a request for comment. Fenton said the synagogue purchased the land from the Denver school district in the 1990s — public records show a $1.1 million transaction between the two parties in 1995 — and the congregation for a time thought it might build something.

Fenton said he’s been working to buy the land for the past two or three years.

“We’ve been committed to this,” he said. “We felt we were getting it at a very fair price.”

The synagogue also financed the deal, providing Fenton and Palmquist with a $2.5 million loan, records show.

Elsewhere in Denver, Narrate is wrapping up its Frameline apartment project just east of Colorado Boulevard in the Hale neighborhood. Last year, the company successfully rezoned its 1000 S. Logan St. property in West Wash Park in preparation for an apartment project at that site. The firm also has projects underway in Colorado Springs.

— Thomas Gounley, BusinessDen