Historic Denver building to help priced-out seniors
A 1930s art-deco building that originally was a dormitory for nurses will reopen in 2019 as affordable apartment housing for seniors priced out of their downtown Denver neighborhood.
Tammen Hall, an eight-story, blondbrick beauty with gargoyles, terrazzo floors, a marble fireplace and vaulted ceilings in its grand entryway, will have 49 oneand two-bedroom apartments for people who are at least 62 and qualify based on in- come.
The hall sits next to Saint Joseph Hospital, near 19th Avenue and Ogden Street in Denver, and is within walking distance to grocery shopping, public transportation and restaurants. It’s intended to provide housing for low-income seniors — people who may have worked as police officers or teachers — in a neighborhood that has few options aside from high-end, $3,000- to $5,000-per-month apartments and government voucher “Section 8” housing.
The $17 million project, by affordable
developer MGL Partners/Solvera Advisors and architects at the Neenan Company, has been years in the making.
It came together through a combination of federal and state tax credits for historic preservation and lowincome housing, a loan from the Denver Office of Economic Development, and an investment from SLC Health, which owned the historic hall and owns the hospital next door.
The 52,000-square-foot hall, named after original Denver Post publisher Harry Tammen, is expected to open as apartments in early 2019. It will have an eighthfloor rooftop deck with views of the downtown skyline and the mountains, said MGL’s Kurt Frantz.
The densely populated area has left little room for seniors who aren’t wealthy, he said. “This gives them an option to be able to age within their own neighborhousing hood,” Frantz said.
The repurposed hall will maintain its inner charm, including molded ceilings, detailed floors and a theater. “We really want to harness that era,” said Michele Forrest, design manager for the project at Neenan.
Built in 1930, Tammen Hall originally was a dorm for Children’s Hospital Colorado and was later used as office space for Children’s. It has been vacant for 10 years, since Children’s relocated to Aurora.