A nonprofit that operates a day shelter for the homeless in Curtis Park has purchased another property on the block — a deal that has prompted an end to a year-long negotiation with neighbors.

“My concern is that we just have a density of services that isn’t tenable. It doesn’t work already, and they’re talking about adding footprint,” said Ryan Cox, who lives nearby.

The St. Francis Center’s shelter at 2323 Curtis St. provides showers, mail and social services for roughly 500 homeless people daily.

On Feb. 18, the nonprofit bought an 8,000-square-foot office building down the street at 2347 Curtis St. for $2.56 million, according to public records.

CEO Nancy Burke told BusinessDen last month that SFC was interested in buying nearby property and pursuing a redevelopment in the future. SFC had been leasing part of the building since November 2023.

But the transaction came as a surprise to nearby residents, who have expressed concern about conditions on the block, which saw 140 crimes reported there last year.

For more than a year, residents had been negotiating with SFC in hopes of reaching a “good neighbor agreement,” in which the nonprofit would commit to certain security and cleanliness measures. The most recent draft included a clause that SFC “not expand their physical footprint within this immediate area without engaging in conversation” with the Curtis Park registered neighborhood organization.

Part of the problem, neighbors say, is that they don’t feel SFC is forthright about its activities. They point in part to the acquisition of 2347 Curtis St.

“They’ve been less than forthcoming about where they are and what their plans are,” Cox said.

A recording of a Feb. 5 community meeting obtained by BusinessDen shows neighbors and a city mediator asked Burke about the 2347 Curtis building three different times before she mentioned the organization was under contract.

First, mediator Steve Charbonneau asked if Burke had an update on her plans for the building.

“I do not have an update on the building purchase,” she said.

Moments later, one of the neighbors interjected, asking instead if Burke could share the “current status” of purchase negotiations.

“We are in a discussion with the owners to purchase this building,” she replied.

Much later in the meeting, another resident asked point-blank if the nonprofit was under contract to buy the building.

“Yes,” is all Burke said.

Burke told BusinessDen on Jan. 14 that SFC was not under contract at the time.

But Jim Culhane, who along with Jawaid Bazyar previously owned the property, said Monday that SFC went under contract Dec. 16.

Burke declined to comment on the transaction. After BusinessDen informed her of the recording of the Feb. 5 meeting, she emailed neighbors to say its release was “definitely outside of any good neighbor processes I have seen.”

“We have determined that we are unable to continue participation in these meetings but remain open to individual contacts and concerns,” Burke wrote Feb. 28.

Councilman Darrell Watson, who represents the area, has said he supports SFC adding housing, but not expanding its services in Curtis Park.

He said he also learned SFC was under contract at the Feb. 5 meeting, and added that he spoke with Burke privately after.

“I shared that with Nancy that communication would have been helpful if that came out earlier,” he said.

Bazyar and Culhane bought the quarter-acre 2347 Curtis property for $675,000 in 2011, public records show.

Bazyar, who declined to comment on the sale, previously voiced frustration with activity on the block. In 2019, Denver fined him for refusing to clean human feces left on his property; he told Fox31 that homeless people were defecating there nearly every day. In 2022, he told the local CBS affiliate he felt “under siege” on a “lawless” block.

Public records show Bazyar and Culhane are providing $2.06 million in seller financing on the deal.

In January, Burke told BusinessDen that she’s exploring paring down the existing day shelter model in Curtis Park.

Instead, she’s interested in building housing on the block for the homeless, with services on-site to support them.

She thinks this plan will decrease the number of homeless people in the immediate area.

“What if we served less people?” Burke said in January. “What if we did housing, which, by nature, would change what happens here? What if it was less people, doing something with these pretty dilapidated buildings?”

Cox and other neighbors say they support housing, but don’t fully trust that SFC would close the day shelter on the block.

“My concern has always been that they continue the services they have now and/or expand them, plus several hundred units, potentially, of housing on top of that,” he said.

The 2347 office building is separated from the day shelter by one single-family home, which the nonprofit doesn’t own.

Documents SFC submitted to Denver in 2023 stated that the homeowner had expressed a desire to sell.

Cox said he feels “strung along” by the whole ordeal and hopes SFC will be scrutinized if and when it seeks to redevelop the block.

“I think it’s going to come down to City Council and HOST — they hold the purse strings,” Cox said, referring to Denver’s Department of Housing Stability.

The City Council approves contracts for homeless shelters and services in town. It granted SFC nearly $1.2 million for its Curtis Park shelter operations last week.

The organization, which also has operations outside Curtis Park, had a budget of $9.7 million last year, much of which comes from Denver contracts.

“These service providers, they are businesses now, and there’s a lot of money up for grabs,” Cox said.