Redevelopments Coming to Denver’s Historic Five Points Neighborhood

five-points

I was wondering when Welton Street was going to see some action – the heart of the historic Five Points neighborhood is right next to downtown and is surrounded by historic Victorian homes!  But as of last year, the commercial spaces were largely vacant.

Attempting to lure new commercial and mixed-use residential development to the Welton Street corridor, last fall, Mayor Michael Hancock offered as much as $500,000 in grants to cover pre-development planning and design in the Welton Design/Development Challenge.  This project was intended to fund projects on Welton between 20th and 30th streets; each project could receive as much as $175,000 to cover expenses including architecture, engineering, financial planning, environmental review and market research.

Funded by federal Community Development Block Grants through Denver’s Office of Economic Development, the community-based selection committee chose to fund the top five.

The project winners are:

1) The Arcade & Rosenberg’s Bagels at 2714 Welton Street received $75,000.  The historic arcade building is to be transformed into a 2,400 sq. ft. space of retail featuring Rosenberg’s Bagels and Delicatessen, with equally sized residential space on the upper floor to provide 2-4 residential units.

2) nuROOT Innovative Office Space received $75,000 for 2942-2944 Welton Street.  This space is designed for emerging businesses and will feature 4,710 sq. ft. of office space, plus 2,310 sq. ft. for an eating and drinking establishment.

3) Palisade Partners at 2460 Welton Street received $100,000 to develop two adjacent vacant parcels at 25th and Welton into 82 apartments, 14 townhomes, and 3000+ sq. ft. of ground-floor retail.

4) The Rossonian Development was awarded $150,000 to renovate and restore the historic Rossonian hotel into 64 residential units, office space, shopping, dining, and venue options.

5) Saint Bernard Properties received $75,000 to develop the vacant lot at 2950 Welton Street into a three-story, mixed-use building including four apartment units.