CREJ - Building Dialogue - June 2021
Five Points, July 1947 The jazz is jumpin’ at the Casino Dance Hall and next door at the Ex-Servicemen’s Club, both owned by local legend and “The Mayor of Five Points,” Benny Hooper. Welton Street pulses with energy as “Boogie Bop Blues” wafts into the night, where it dances with the sounds of laughter and car horns. A shiny Ford Super Deluxe squeals its tires gassing the turn at The Rossonian. Duke, Satchmo, Count, Billie … all the cats play Benny’s clubs. The night is young and you’re in “Harlem of the West,” the hottest jazz stop between Chicago and San Francisco. Five Points, June 2021 After decades of neglect, the neighborhood is starting to swing again thanks to a band of developers and architects committed to moving the area forward while respecting the neighborhood’s rich cultural past. And Benny’s name now adorns The Hooper at Five Points, a nine-story riff on mixed-use that features 27,548 square feet of Class A office space, 103 apartment homes – 80% of which will be micro units – and 6,016 sf of ground-floor retail. Located at 26th and Welton streets, The Hooper at Five Points is the latest Welton Corridor hit from the team of Palisade Partners and Craine Architecture1. Making the Move to Five Points Paul Books, president of Palisade Partners, met Dan Craine, AIA, NCARB, principal of Craine Architecture, in 2010 and a budding business relationship took off. The two worked together on B-Street LoHi, which rolled into a series of projects including Books’ private residence and Summit Sky Ranch in Silverthorne. According to Books, it was Craine who broached the idea of doing work in Five Points. “Given it fit our contrarian approach, we decided to spend some time to see what may make sense,” says Books. “After significant neighborhood feedback, we designed The Wheatley.” “It’s an area with deep cultural identity, and Paul dove right in and began communicating with neighbors and trying to figure it out,” says Craine. “He invested the time and created a real dialogue.” Part of that dialogue led Craine and Books to meet Carl Bourgeois, a longtime Five Points resident and property owner. With Bourgeois onboard as a partner, the group forged ahead with deeper involvement in the neighborhood. Books and Craine followed up The Wheatley with The Lydian, an eight-story, mixed-use residential building at 2590 Welton St., which led to The Hooper. Also on their plate is the restoration of famous Five Points landmark, The Rossonian Hotel, which happens to be right next door. According to Craine, who moved his firm into The Wheatley, they had no idea where that first project in Five Points would lead but they knew it felt good to be a part of the community. “The more we were integrated into the neighborhood, the more it felt like a great professional endeavor to be here,” says Craine “And, personally, this is what we want be involved with – sensitive infill development in a meaningful area.” Illustrating that commitment, Books joined the Five Points Business District Board in 2014 and eventually had a hand in creating the Five Points Business Improvement District, on which he currently serves as president. Craine sits on the Five Points Design Review Committee. Neighborhood Input Helped Shape The Hooper Originally, the idea was for the group to develop the entire block that includes the Rossonian Hotel. When that deal fell flat, Books purchased the parcel that was to become The Hooper, then a parking lot and a couple of one-story structures. He closed on the property in 2017 and quickly moved to solicit neighborhood input on the project. “We met with all of the RNOs near the project, including Uptown, Curtis Park Neighbors, Five Points Business District and Old San Rafael,” says Books. “We met with Five Points Business District and their design review committee multiple times. In addition, we went through the Landmark Commission process, which requires at least two public meetings.” Palisade wasn’t alone. According to Hyder Construction’s Colin Stone, project executive, neighborhood outreach and building relationships are things they do on every project. “If you’re going to build in a neighborhood, you have to support the community around you.” Hyder and Craine worked together to develop a loose program and concept design that was then vetted and adjusted as budget, neighborhood input and need demanded. “There were many meetings where we changed the number of stories, we changed the structure, changed how many units was in it,” says Stone. “We changed it until it was the right mix where our anticipated budget really yielded a great design and a great proforma for the owner to make sure that they were going to be able to make a good return.” The challenge for Craine, et al., was that while the neighborhood is a culturally historic district, the built environment doesn’t necessarily inform the future context. Everyone knows the look of LoDo. Five Points? Not so much. “I think we’ve done our best to use materials that are familiar to Denver and the contextual patterning of Five Points,” says Craine. “The buildings themselves become the backdrop for the public realm and that, at the end of the day, is where you’re going to find that the most sensitivity to the culture are the users.” There is one parking level below grade and parking continues on the second floor. Some 6,016 sf of retail space activates The Hooper at the street level, while levels three and four are office space, and apartment homes take up the top five floors. The skin of The Hooper is earth-toned masonry with subtle material changes in terms of coloration, texture and detailing and the brick gives way to stucco for the top two residential floors. The vertical scale is broken down with setbacks at the transition of office space to residential and this offers balcony spaces for the residents. And, The Hooper is loaded with amenities, including a fitness center, bike storage and ninth-floor view lounge. Flashy it is not. The Hooper plays more like an Art Farmer ballad than a Miles Davis solo. But, it hits all the right notes because not only does it perfectly fit the neighborhood, also it’s the tune that the Five Points community requested. “I think (The Hooper) is successful in not calling attention to itself,” says Craine. “It aligns with what our goals were and there is a maturity to the fenestration patterning and the architectural moves that had been edited back in such a way that it sits … confidently.” “(The Hooper) is a continuation of fulfilling our goals of contributing positively to Five Points and the Welton corridor,” adds Books. “We want to do projects that are high-quality, honor the history, and contribute to the activation of Five Points and we are proud to have local, black business owners as investment partners in the project.” It took a while, but Five Points is getting its groove back.