DUG completes $1.2M sale of El Oasis

Denver Urban Gardens on Wednesday completed the long-expected sale of two-thirds of its El Oasis Community Garden property in the Lower Highland neighborhood to developer Caliber Construction, following months of controversy over the nonprofit organization’s largest plot of land.

Community gardeners have rallied against the sale of the roughly 22,000square-foot green space at 1847 W. 35th Ave. since Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) last year announced it would sell the property for $1.2 million to cover debilitating budget shortfalls.

The plan drew condemnation from community gardeners, some of whom had worked at El Oasis for more than a decade, for not including their input or fundraising offers. They argued DUG leaders were abdicating their own mission by selling off the green space, which had been donated to the organization for $1 but never enjoyed the legal protection to prevent it from being developed.

DUG leaders, however, said the sale was the only way to stabilize the nonprofit’s finances, which had been hit hard by the pandemic, previous expenditures and revenue losses.

“DUG’s goal throughout

Gardeners placed caution tape around the main pergola, covered with grapevines, at the center of the El Oasis Community Garden on Sept. 21, to show that this will be destroyed once developers move in. Their battle to save the entire property ended this week with the sale of two-thirds of the plot to developer Caliber Construction.

this process has been to maintain a garden on the El Oasis property while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the organization,” wrote Rammona Robinson, board chairwoman of DUG, in an email Thursday. “We are pleased to have achieved that goal so that DUG can continue to serve tens of thousands of gardeners and community members in need of food throughout the metro area, and so that the El Oasis gardeners can continue to have access to green space in which to grow food and come together in community.”

On Jan. 19, the city’s

Board of Adjustments for Zoning decided to allow the split of the parcel, which would prompt the sale of two-thirds of the land to developer Caliber Construction for condos, with the remaining third (with only alley access, currently) going back to DUG and, after a redesign, the gardeners.

Some gardeners have complained that the remaining space — which will likely feature 30 smaller plots to replace the 40 larger ones in El Oasis -- will shut out many people who relied on El Oasis for food, mental health and neighborhood

connection.

“Somebody’s going to make a lot of money on that transaction,” said

Alan Olds, a former El Oasis gardener, in January.

Robinson said she didn’t know when the condo project was slated to break ground, and Caliber Construction officials did not respond to requests for comment.

DUG is the metro area’s largest urban-gardening organization, managing 180 area gardens, according to its website.