Funding has now been secured for the redevelopment of a 114-year-old hotel in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver.
The three-story triangular Rossonian Hotel is located at 2650 Welton Street and was opened in 1912 under the name of the Baxter Hotel. Designed in the Renaissance Revival architectural style, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Besides its architectural design and beauty, the building is also valued for its cultural importance, having housed a music club that through the years featured the royalty of American jazz: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole, among others.
According to National Register of Historic Places documents, the Rossonian in its heyday was regarded as the “physical, social, and commercial center of the Five Points community, the primary black community of Denver since the 1920s.”
Longstanding plans to redevelop the building have taken an important step forward with a vote earlier this month by the Denver City Council approving up to $15.5 million in tax-increment financing for the project.
The project, which has been in the talking stage for the most part of a decade, calls for both restoring the building, while also adding just under 130 new rooms.
Denver-based Palisade Partners is the project developer and has envisioned the creation of a “thriving hotel and restaurant that celebrates its deep cultural roots while offering modern luxury.”
In comments made before members of the City Council, Palisade president Paul Brooks said that the tax-increment financing is the final, crucial piece for giving the Rossonian a new life.
“Without it, this project does not happen, but with it we are working through the last remaining steps to break ground this summer,” continued Brooks.
Plans additionally call for a restaurant on the ground floor of the building, and a flexible event space.
June 15, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of History Colorado
