At the heart of Denver, the banks of the South Platte River are quickly changing.

Ball Arena is moving forward on developing its 55-acres of parking lots into an urban neighborhood. It’s no secret the Denver Broncos are looking at other stadium options. And West Denver is booming with new apartments as city leaders worry its historically Latino neighborhoods are at risk of gentrification.

But community leaders have advocated for at least one thing to stay the same: The long-dormant Zuni Steam Plant building.

The century-old decommissioned industrial building — situated along Interstate 25 and south of Empower Field — is credited with powering Downtown Denver and helping the city grow into the metropolitan it is today. Though it was once a polluter, historic preservationists hope its smokestacks can be a symbol of new energy in the neighborhood.

Xcel Energy put the plant up for sale this week, after Denver turned down its first rights to buy it, sparking fears from community advocates that the building is another step closer to being demolished unless a private developer signs a deal within a month.

The problem with that? The price is too high, one interested buyer said.

“It’s going to take just a giant, unrealistic amount of cash to do it,” investor Danny Newman told The Denver Gazette in a phone interview.

The power plant was listed at $7.5 million, Newman said, though Xcel did not confirm the price when asked. There’s also additional expenses tied to cleaning up the contaminated site for human use.

Newman is a Denver real estate investor known for buying historic properties around the city such as My Brother’s Bar, Mercury Café (which was listed for sale last year) and the top five floors of the Daniels & Fisher Clocktower. He advocated to save Casa Bonita and also sits on the board of Historic Denver.

Newman’s been working to create a group of investors willing to preserve the plant and redevelop it for a new use through a public-private partnership with the city. Ideas have floated about to convert the building into a food hall, business incubator or community space. But as Xcel’s and Denver’s negotiations fell apart in recent weeks, it threw a wrench in their plans.

“We had a good plan with how this is all going to go and felt pretty surprised, obviously, by the change,” Newman said.

Now without the city’s assistance, Newman said he’s not sure what comes next.

Years of talk coming to a close?

The power plant was built in 1901 in Denver’s La Alma Lincoln Park and Sun Valley neighborhoods, home to a large blue-collar and Latino population.

Steam plants were a popular form of heating buildings during Denver’s early days. Zuni was one of the city’s three primary steam plants responsible for providing energy to downtown and heating Denver’s most famous buildings such as the State Capitol, the Colorado Convention Center, the U.S. Mint, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

After about 115 years in service, Xcel stopped operating the Zuni plant in 2015. It planned to build substations until residents protested.

Tearing down the Zuni power plant has been unpopular and Xcel has acknowledged it. But after years of talking about preserving the building, the energy company is ready to move on.

Last summer, Xcel gave the city 90 days to decide on whether or not it wanted to buy the steam plant. Denver got an extension lasting until Feb. 17, getting more than twice the number of days than its original deadline.

In the end, Denver turned it down due to the high cost of environmental and structural work the building needed, Jordan Fuja, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said in a statement Wednesday.

“We look forward to working with the eventual buyer to support them in their efforts to renew this iconic property,” she said.

After Denver declined, Xcel listed the property for a limited-period of 30 days.

Xcel’s terms include several conditions before selling, including not taking on any extra costs and being released from its long-term liability.

The plant’s appraised value is $1.9 million, according to the listing.

If the energy company doesn’t find a buyer by then, Xcel said it would move on its already-approved decommissioning plan to tear down the plant and potentially use the site for electric energy infrastructure.

Historic Denver CEO John Deffenbaugh, who’s working with Newman, said he believes Xcel’s price isn’t designed to attract a buyer and it isn’t giving enough time for an investor to make a decision on a project of this size — putting the site at risk of demolition.

Most homes and condos on the market take about 40 days to sell. Yet, this is a much more complex transaction due to the environmental work needed to be done on the site, Deffenbaugh said.

“When you add the cost of additional cleanup that Xcel should do itself for the sale price, it’s not an economical situation,” Deffenbaugh said. 

Xcel has long said it would put the plant on the market for 30 days if Denver denied taking on the property.

It also said in a letter to community leaders that it would not take on any extra costs that could be pushed on to its Colorado customers.

“Xcel Energy is not a community developer,” the letter sent Feb. 25 said. “It is our practice and approach not to undertake redevelopment of existing facilities. We have seen around the country multiple examples of how this has not worked and has placed a significant burden due to the cost to our customers and ratepayers.”

Xcel also said it is working with the Denver Housing Authority for a part of the plant’s land — not included in the listing — to be turned into a park and more housing for the city.

In a plan laid out for the city, Historic Denver previously called on the city to counter-offer Xcel on its terms to cover some of the cleaning costs. 

“We were going to be able to go through that and put the burden back on Xcel for something that they’re gonna have to deal with, no matter what,” Newman said. 

Saving the building from demolition would be cheaper, he said, but remediation still makes purchasing the building substantially more than the sticker price.

“It’s hard to make anything work,” Newman said.