Denver buys Central Park hotel used as homeless shelter for $43M

The City of Denver has purchased a former hotel used as a homeless shelter after leasing it for a year.

The city closed on the purchase of the onetime Doubletree at 4040 N. Quebec St. last week, paying $43 million, according to public records.

Denver bought the 300-room property on the edge of the Central Park neighborhood from Rocky Mountain Communities, a nonprofit that bought it last November for $39 million, records show. 

The nonprofit bought it with a deal with the city already in place: Denver would lease the hotel for $83,333 a month for up to 15 months, and have an option to purchase the property. The option called for the city to pay up to $43 million, with the monthly rent already paid credited toward the purchase price, according to previous BusinessDen reporting.

Lisa Lumley, the city’s director of real estate, told council members last year that the deal was structured that way because the city expected to receive a state grant that it would use for the purchase, but “We need to hold off on any real commitments until we receive our documents from the state.”

Derek Woodbury, spokesman for Denver’s Department of Housing Stability, said in an email this week that the purchase “ensures the sustainability of this property as needed shelter and a re-housing hub.”

“Thanks to State funds awarded to Denver through the Denver-Metro Regional Navigation Campus grant program, the site will also serve as a navigation center for people experiencing homelessness with walk-up services to include housing navigation, and physical and behavioral health care services,” Woodbury said.

The Salvation Army is managing the property until the end of this year as part of a $10 million contract approved in November.

The deal was one of several hotel purchases or leases by the city around the time that Mayor Mike Johnston assumed office and started an effort to reduce visible homelessness around Denver.

Prior to the purchase by Rocky Mountain Communities, the hotel last sold for $24.4 million in 2022. Speaking to BusinessDen last year, Rocky Mountain Communities CEO Mark Marshall characterized that deal as “kind of a fire sale.” He noted it occurred while the pandemic was still a lingering issue, and said it was part of a portfolio sale, when assets typically sell for less than they might have fetched if sold individually.

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, or CHFA, and the Urban Land Conservancy provided financing for the acquisition by Rocky Mountain Communities.