It’s Colfax Week here at City Cast Denver, and we’re zooming in on all aspects of this complex and intriguing main street, including the recent movement to convert many of the corridor’s dozens of iconic old motels into things like nonprofit shelters and housing.
Why Are There So Many Defunct Motels on Colfax Anyways?
If you’ve ever ventured down Colfax, you’ve likely noticed the many 40s- and 50s-era motels that dot the strip. Relics from another time, they were originally built to serve visitors to the Mile High City along Route 40 (Colfax Avenue) which, prior to the interstate highway system being built, was the main way to get into Denver. Once I-70 was constructed, the traffic from out-of-towners slowed down substantially, changing — perhaps even eliminating — the need for Colfax’s many family-owned motels.
The End of a Neon Era
In the ensuing decades, to adapt to the needs of the business, some motels began to offer weekly rates, providing an affordable housing option for people as the city’s swelling population put pressure on the local real estate market. Still, some of the buildings fell into disrepair leaving most with a less-than-desirable reputation.
Colfax Avenue at dusk circa 1968. (James L. Amos / Getty Images)
A Promising Future for Old Colfax
So what was to be done with these old neglected once-bustling businesses along Denver’s 26-mile commercial mainstreet? Convert them into something else entirely — like long-term housing and artist studios. This process, known as adaptive reuse, takes an existing structure and renovates or incorporates it into a totally new use. This can mean zoning changes, like transitioning from a commercial use (a rent-by-the-night motel, for instance) to a residential use (such as a permanent home for a person or family).
Today, adaptive reuse is happening all along the Colfax strip, with developers, nonprofits, and other groups buying up the old motels, investing in renovations, and often changing their use to better suit Denver’s current needs.
See It In Action:
Here are just a few examples of adaptive reuse on Colfax:
- Night Window (8400 E. Colfax): In 2017 the former 7 Star Motel closed, was remodeled, and reopened as 25 small artist studios in 2020. Catering specifically to creatives looking for an affordable place to live and make art, the small rooms have been retrofitted with kitchenettes and murphy beds to free up space.
- Branding Iron and Ahwahnee (8500 and 8600 E. Colfax): After renovator Alison Shunneson bought these old neighboring motels, she kept their names but fully remodeled each room. Offering studio, one-, and two-bedroom units all with kitchenettes, these former motel rooms rent for between $800 and $1,300 a month.
- The Westerner and Sand & Sage (8405 and 8415 E. Colfax): Purchased by The Fax Partnership back in 2022, the nonprofit first ran these motels as affordable by-the-night rentals; then Volunteers of America took over, running them as shelters for families. The Fax Partnership now has plans to completely redevelop the properties’ combined 33,000 square feet of space into a multi-story building for brand new affordable housing.
- Dive deeper: Monica Martinez from The Fax Partnership joined the City Cast Denver podcast back in 2022 to explain why and how a neighborhood-centric nonprofit became an affordable housing developer.
