What was once a boutique hotel in the heart of Capitol Hill, The Burnsley Hotel is now turning into a fully renovated apartment community. RedPeak Properties purchased the Burnsley Hotel building back in December, from the owner Joy Burns, and is spending $5 million on renovations. A very interesting fact about this building is that it was originally built as apartments in 1962. Then, it was converted to a hotel soon after, remodeled to what used to be the Burnsley Hotel in 1983 and now is getting converted back to its primary use when it was originally built.
If you aren’t familiar with where the building sits, it is situated on the northeast corner of 10th and Grant. 1000 Grant is the rightmost high-rise in the first photo (we can clearly see that there are some parking lots ripe for development). This already dense block will now contain five residential buildings; an 8-story, 5-story, 16-story, 3-story, and now a 17-story building to join the mix. Since this is an interior renovation, it’s very difficult to see how far along this project is. All we can really see is a boarded up entrance.
Since I used to live on the same block as 1000 Grant, here are some additional views of the building. The exterior and balconies will remain the same.
With the current demand of rental units in Downtown Denver, there are various buildings getting converted over to apartments and showing great signs of success. 1000 Grant will add around 80-units to Capitol Hill with renovations expected to be complete by this Fall.
The Burnsley was built as an aprartment house, so now it’s coming back full circle.
This is the northeast corner of 10th Ave. and Grant St.
It seems that the windows are rather small – appropriate for a hotel but, not so much for an apartment building. Were these originally much larger, before the hotel conversion?
Glad to see this happen. The Burnsley never made sense to me as a hotel, unless it was extended-stay. Too far from downtown to be easily walkable (for most out-of-towners), and not close to anything else that visitors want to see. To Mr. The Dirt: I would guess that the smaller windows are bedrooms, while the large windows on the balconies open onto the apartments’ primary living spaces. A lot of 1960s-1970s apartments (such as the Denver House, the tall building across the alley) have smallish windows in the bedrooms.
I too lived at 1000 Logan, for a year in 1985-86 (in what was then a freshly-renovated apartment-I loved that building’s Art Deco touches). Then, later (1990-1993), I lived on the sixth floor of the Regency, the 8-story stucco tower on the left, right about the time they stripped off that building’s original tile facade and applied the stucco (the tile was falling off). Both times I lived on that block, I always thought about how nice it would be if the Denver Public Schools would sell that parking lot to a developer. Maybe with them finally moving out of the neighborhood, they’ll sell. Let’s hope so.
The parking lot on the South East corner of 11th and Grant is owned by DPS? I had no idea, I absolutely hate that parking lot and would love for it to be made into mix-use.
About 20 years ago my wife and I stayed in the Burnsley, for a family gathering downstairs in the restaurant off the lobby. The Downtown and mountain views were spectacular, but I agree with you, Mark B, that it felt more like an extended-stay than a hotel. The unit was small, but there was a full kitchen, living room and a bedroom. Ideal for a near-Downtown apartment.
Looking down on that vast parking lot, I was wondering even then, how long will it take to develop it into 20-story housing? It’s still probably the largest un-developed site on Capitol Hill. I think we can count on Red Peak to make the most out of this conversion, whose time has come.
The Burnsley reminds us how ideal Capitol Hill is for inner-city living, with such a great mix of old and newer apartment buildings, office buildings, condos, old mansions, single family homes (yes – families live there, too!), corner stores, a nearby supermarket and streets lined with grand old trees. All in walking distance from Downtown. It remains the template for evolving neighborhoods like Golden Triangle and North Capitol Hill (sorry! – we now must say “Uptown”), and even more urban settings, in the Platte Valley, Union Station, Rino and Arapahoe Square – which seems to me should be more aptly-named North Broadway, which puts the focus back on Denver’s biggest commercial and retail street.
This renovation of the Burnsley by such a classy developer is another sign that our city is hot! And thanks, Ryan, for your wonderful, inciteful reporting!