Approves the landmark designation of 4655 Humboldt Street (Stadium Arena) as an individual structure for preservation in Council District 9. (NEIGHBORHOODS AND PLANNING) Approves the landmark designation of 4655 Humboldt Street (Stadium Arena) as an individual structure for preservation in Council District 9. IF ORDERED PUBLISHED, A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON THIS ITEM.  REFER TO THE "PENDING" SECTION OF THE FUTURE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDAS FOR THE DATE. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 3-30-16.
So the purpose of the landmark designation ordinance, which was passed in 1967, is to designate, preserve and protect historic resources, foster civic pride, stabilize and improve the esthetic and economic viability of the community. And to promote good urban design within the city of Denver, there are 335 individual landmark buildings and 51 historic districts. Those districts are comprised of about 6600 buildings. Out of the 160,000 primary buildings within the city, they can take a variety of forms commercial properties, firehouses, schools, churches or neighborhoods. Applications are submitted either proactively through surveys or grassroot community efforts, or also through demolition and certificate of non historic status reviews. In terms of who can apply by ordinance, it can be the owners of the property. The managers of CPD. Members of City Council. Or three persons who are residents or property owners within the city of Denver. Once a property is landmarked, it is designated as is. There are no requirements to improve the property and the only time that there is review is for exterior changes. Only a building isn't frozen in time. There are abilities to change, but we only review work on the exterior, not on the interior. Typically, structures that are determined to be contributing demolitions are discouraged for those parts. For this particular designation, there was one applicant who was the owner of the property. It went to Landmark staff, which we reviewed and determined that it was sufficient. It went to the Landmark Preservation Commission for a public hearing, which at that point they could terminate the procedure or they could recommend it going forward, which they did. And we are currently at the public hearing. The Landmark Preservation Commission notifications of of renos and all the legal notices were met for this particular designation. The property is 4655 Humboldt. We are designating everything that is in blue and that is the designation boundary. However, the only contributing structure within this is the stadium arena. The applicant for this is the city and county of Denver and it is supported by the owner of the property, which is of the building as well as the owner of the land, which is the Western Stock Show Association. There are currently several non contributing additions on this building. There's the stadium hall from 1991, the education hall and the exhibition hall. All of those would be allowed to be demolished, which is part of the the master plan for the National Western. The period of significance are when this building is important is from 1908 to 1951, when the stadium arena was the primary entertainment venue of the National Western Stock Show. In order for a property to be listed as a or designated, it has to maintain its historic and physical integrity and then meet two out of the three following categories in history, architecture and geography, as well as relate to a theme of Denver history. In order to maintain physical integrity, it has to convey its historic or architectural significance, and that is typically defined by the location setting design materials, workmanship, feeling and association. The Stadium Arena's integrity is compromised by the construction of I-70. However, the stadium arena has historically been surrounded by transportation corridors, whether it was East 46th Avenue or the railroad to the west of it. It also maintains its physical integrity, although it's partially covered by non contributing additions. These additions attach very lightly to the building. And it's actually quite remarkable that the oval shape is still seen through it, even though there are attachments around it. In addition to meeting its physical integrity, it needs to meet history, and it does actually under all three of the criteria. It has a direct association with the historical development of the city. The National Western Stock Show is an important part of the city's history, and this is an iconic building within the National Western Stock Show complex. It is also the site of a significant event as the statue has been held for over 100 years. And this was the major event space of it. And it's also hosted thousands of other important events within Denver history. It is also associated with groups of persons who are directly or substantially associated or had an influence on society. This ranges from governors and senators to business people who have advocated for the construction and use of this particular building. It also meets it under architecture in two different two different areas as being an embodying, embodying distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style and portraying the environment of a group of people who. Characterized by distinctive architectural style. So it has a neoclassical style is seen in the curved cornices, the geometric embellishments on the brick walls, the hipped roof towers, and the regular symmetrical form and fenestration. It's also an important and early example of steel skeleton architectural design. It's also emblematic of the architect of the agricultural society. It is a descendant of the round barns and show barns that were historically used within the agricultural community. And finally, it meets geography as a prominent location and is making a special contribution to Denver's distinctive character. It's near the juncture of I-70 and I-25, and it is visible on I-70. It's also a well-known landmark within the city of Denver, within the global Elyria, Swansea, a neighborhood and within the national western complex itself. And finally, it makes a special contribution to the character of Denver. The National Western Stock Show is an important part of Denver, and this is its iconic building. The landmark designate, the Landmark Preservation Commission, also deemed that it met the history and context criteria under transportation and livestock industry being related to the National Western Stock Show, the city beautiful movement in Denver, and the development and growth of the Globeville, Illyria and Swansea and neighborhoods. At the public hearing, there were three letters of support for the designation. There was a ten minute presentation by the applicants and owners and three public speakers. All were in support of the designation application. The Landmark Preservation Commission reviewed the criteria and determined that it met its historic and physical integrity, that it met its criteria under history in all three areas under architecture into and geography into. They also felt it related to important historic contexts and themes in Denver history. And the Landmark Preservation Commission voted 7 to 0 to recommend the landmark designation move forward to City Council. All right. Hmm. We have three speakers signed up to speak this evening. I'm going to call those three if you come up to the bench. That'll help speed up the proceedings. Liz Adams. Kelly Lead. John Olsen, Miss Adams, we will start with you. Members of Council. Mr. President, Pro Tem. My name is Liz Adams and my address is 1660 Lincoln Street, Suite 1800. I'm here tonight to share comments from Paul Andrews, the president and CEO of the National Western Stock Show. He has sent sends his apologies that he couldn't attend tonight. Here are his comments. Members of city council. As a property owner, the National Western Stock Show is in full support of historic designation of the stadium arena in 1909 1909, when the Western Stock Show Association built the arena, then called the National Amphitheater. This building was considered the most modern and prestigious place to show cattle in the country. It positioned Denver to become the livestock center of the West. For over a century, the Grand Champion steer has been shown in the stadium arena. It is a tremendous honor to show cattle and other livestock in such a historic place, and those who win in that arena know that they are forever etched in history with the other winners from the past 110 years. As we look to the future, we hope that the arena will continue to be a showpiece of the property. The Western Stock Show Association supports this landmark designation and looks forward to continued partnership with the city on preserving this and other important historic assets of the National Western Center. Redevelopment takes place. Thank you. Paul Andrews, President and CEO, National Western Stock Show. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Mr. Kelly. Lead. Members of council. My name is Kelly LEED, and I'm the executive director of the new Office of the National Western Center. It's a great honor and privilege to be here tonight to make a few comments about the application. The city and the entire team working on this project have made a commitment to honor and interpret the rich history of the Natural Western Stock Show. As the site evolves and redeveloped, this has truly been a partnership. This is the first win of many in a continued partnership between the city, the Western Stock Association, Community Planning Development , the National Western Citizens Advisory Committee, historic Denver History, Colorado, Colorado State University, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to preserve and protect the resources at the future campus. The symbolism of this tonight shouldn't be lost. The Arena was the first permanent building built by the Western Structural Association and was a marvel for its time. Now it is the first historic landmark and one of many will be bringing forward to this council. The intent, future development in and around the arena and rehabilitation of the arena itself serves to complement and showcase the arena as a prominent, iconic and historic place at the National Western site. We've worked hard with our partners to determine an appropriate landmark boundary that would protect the views of the arena's historic features and also allow for historic growth around the building as envisioned by the master plan. On behalf of the Mayor and our entire team and all our partners, I encourage you to support this local landmark designation. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Leigh. Mr. John Olsen. Members of council. Thank you very much. My name is John Olsen. I'm at 1420 Ogden Street, Suite 202, and I am the director of preservation programs at Historic Denver. And on behalf of Historic Denver, I am very pleased to offer our support for the designation of the 1909 Stadium Arena on the National Western Stock Show. I'm also truly happy to be here at Council for a well supported designation. Historic Denver has been actively involved in conversations related to the National Western site since 2011, advocating for the historic buildings and site features which convey the deep history of the site and provide much of its unique character. In 2011, we provided the city, the stock show and other stakeholders important background and contextual information about the history of the site and its historic buildings. And from 2013 through 2016, we have participated in the master planning process as a matter excuse me, as a member of the National Western's Citizens Advisory Committee, this character and associated cultural identity of the site are critical assets to the stock show and to Denver as a whole. The designation of the stadium arena, the first official stock show structure constructed and the oldest actual building still used much for its original purpose is the first a very and very important step in the preservation plans for the site. The designation will enable the city and the National Western's Doctoral Association to earn grants for further analysis of the building and to design specific restoration or rehab actions necessary to reactivate the building for ongoing year round use. We congratulate the City of Denver and the North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative specifically and the National Western Stock Show Association for their work towards this very important action and offer our gratitude for their commitment to the stadium arena and the heritage of this uniquely Denver site. Thank you for your consideration to vote in favor of creating this very new Denver landmark. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Olsen. That concludes our speakers questions from members of council. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. Could I ask her a question or two? And the first one is, do we know? I read through the staff report and I did not. It looks like we don't know who the architect was. Have we been able to is he just not a he or she just not a famous architect? We don't know. There was actually a consulting firm that was hired to to write this. And I know they spent an extensive amount of time looking and trying to find the architect, and they simply couldn't find it. There's connections with the Chicago. Cattle in the stockyards. Yeah, sorry. There's a lot of connection between them and they think it was maybe inhouse designed by them, but we couldn't find anything. Also, then when I looked at P at Slide, I think it's eight with the blue box, the area being designated. Can you tell me, does that boundary being designated, does that restrict what can happen on the on the on the grade on the on the empty space, on the parking lot that's within that box? Or does it just affect the building? So the intake, so the entire blue box, that's the designation boundary. It would have design review for what would occur there. It doesn't necessarily say that nothing could occur there, but there would be design review for that, what's within that box. And we felt it would preserve the view sheds of because the building itself is oval and we wanted to preserve that. Great. That that's an excellent that's what I wanted to hear. KELLEY Can I ask you one thing to follow up on that? Can you tell us what are what are the project plans for the the stadium hall and the exhibition hall and how that might play into the designation? Sure. So the the other buildings you're referring to that are attached, correct? I mean, ultimately, those buildings would be demolished or torn down. They will be replaced with new facilities. And, you know, for those that have toured the 1909 building, there was a lot of care taken that those attachments to the old building. It won't be that hard to disassemble those buildings without damaging the 1909 building. So that's one. But, you know, those buildings, the ancillary buildings would be torn down. And then we'll go through a process. The master plan talks about the 19 or nine building as if you've been to the Pike Street Market up in Seattle, which is a year round food market. We've talked about that as a possible use, celebrating Colorado farmers and ranchers and products from all over the state. We'd have John Elway throw the ribeye instead of the salmon, of course, but we don't know. I mean, we're going to go through a process, but it's a it's a it's an incredible building that needs to be shared with future generations. And our goal is to preserve it. That's only because the Broncos don't really have a starting quarterback at the moment. So we'll get Mr. Sanchez an opportunity to throw one as well then. Do you know, have we studied whether those buildings, those ancillary buildings, can they be detached without damaging the exterior of the of the 1909? We believe so. I mean, again, we'll you know, part of the exercise is to get a grant to obviously study the structural integrity of the 1909 building. But just in our walks around the old building and how those ancillary buildings were attached, again, there was a lot of care given. It's literally lightly touching the building with with with very minimal invasive connections so that we can hopefully disassemble that without much damage to the 99. But thanks very much. Appreciate that's all the script. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Espinoza. Uh, a question for Kelly as well. The So do you have an actual set aside or project budget or one of those tasks that you've got many tasks over there at the stock show for restoration or real rehabilitation of this building? Because those old pictures show clear, a lot of clear story windows and things that are all lost to history. I agree there's a real light touch, so I'm just trying to figure out, do we have an actual plan in place yet? So the current budget, the 856 million covers phases one and two of the project, which includes land acquisition, some infrastructure in and around the site. The 1909 stadium arena actually falls in phase three, so we do not have designated funds specifically for its restoration. So part of this designation allows us to start to go after grants. And the first would be a structural assessment, and then we'd be looking at other grants to restore the building. But my hunch will be that we would look for partners to work with us as we identify the final use of that, that old building. Yeah. So just be I'm sure you're well aware the restoration that occurred at the capital and the rehabilitation of Union Station, somewhere in between, there would be nice to sort of restore the grandeur, the sort of exterior glory of that and the ramifications that that has on the interior. If those clearer story and all those windows were reintroduced would be pretty impressive. And then when you're doing your research, you mentioned Pike Place do take a look at Atwater Market in Montreal has similar sort of relationships to a two expressway freeway mass transit in a sort of moderate to low income community. But it is a year round indoor outdoor market in a climate that is not unlike Denver's. So it's a very good analogy. Plus, it has a walkway. I mean, actually both a canal and a bikeway get immediately within walking distance as well. So it's a very, very good analogy for this and. We'll add that to our list. Thank you. And just one more comment. But John, you mentioned well supported application. And I just want to go on record that those prior years that you've also been here while I've been on council were equally well supported in that they had tons actually tons more community support than I see here, a unanimous votes by landmark. And so just because it's owner designated doesn't take away from the fact that those were also well supported applications. I would absolutely agree. The the aspect of of of, you know, the aspect of saying that this is a well supported application. We have several of these that happen all the time. And of course, the ones that get a lot of press and the ones that fill up the the council chambers are generally the one. They're a little bit more contentious. But, you know, it would be wonderful if we actually had many, many more people here for an event like this, because I think this is going to be a really good feel good story for the entire city of Denver. And also, you know, obviously for the National Western Stock Show and the whole future that it begins here with the with the preservation of this very important. Piece. Of the National Western stock. And then we can take that and then and run with all of the other things that are planned for that site. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, President Pro Tem. You know there are any other questions for Constable 215. All right. This public hearing is closed. Comments by members of council. Let's start with Councilman Brooks, because it's in District nine. Then we'll go with Councilman Flynn. Go for it, Councilman. Thank you, Mr. President. First I want to say, uh, do not let the absence of Globeville area Swansea, a citizens advisory committee at the National Western Show for you. Because they're not here. Someone we're here just got a blow to the stomach around marijuana and they left. But there is a ton of support around this project. And, you know, this is one of those collaborative projects that you just got to be proud of, of the owner, the neighborhood, the community, the support of to see all coming together. And so really excited about that. And it's a job well done for thinking about places to emulate. Granville Island in Vancouver is another man, just great space that encompasses a lot of what you talked about. I think the process that happened with. The community here folks at the national western in D.C. see Kelley his team. Historic Denver landmark commission actually meeting at the site. I've never seen that before was it's a best practice. I don't know how many times you can pull that off, but that was great to see. Commissioners actually walked the site with lay folks like myself. And and you could really and I'll just mention one piece. The 1909 arena sits within another structure that was built several years later with just I mean, inches it did not touch the 1909 arena. Inches of space between it and you could really go in and notice the difference which kept that structure in place. I've been to the 1909 arena many times. Never have I really sat in the seats. I mean, people are literally back there. Little people. Little people. So to be able to see the historic nature was just incredible. And so I will be supporting this. I hope we you know, this is this is something I think the community can come around. But I think on an a macro level, to see more and more historic structures be supported by owners community, the historic community is is is a hope for the future. So I hope we see a lot more of these. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Brooks. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. Pro tem, it's it's really an honor to be had any role at all in designating structure for landmarking that is as significant as this one. And I know that there are going to be changes, interior changes. But when you walk into that building and I was going to say it takes you back, but it doesn't really take you back into the past. It takes you into the heart and soul of what made this city. And that's what's so beautiful about it. And it's it's just an honor and a pleasure to be able to vote. Yes. And that's really all I wanted to say, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Espinoza. Yeah. I just wanted to thank the stock show and everybody involved with, you know, bringing this designation, an owner designated application. It's it's just, you know, it doesn't have to happen. And it did. And so I thank you for that because it's an important piece of Denver history. And then, Councilman Brooks, just four words, high fructose corn sirup. That's the difference between back then and now. So I hope in the future, Kelly, as you're making this the food mecca of the world or agricultural mecca of the world, we sort of try to address our sugar problem. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Black. Thank you. And thank you all. We had a great discussion in our committee meeting and delved more deeply into the topic. And I just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work. Clearly, we're all really excited about this. So thank you. Thank you, councilwoman. Councilman. I just want to congratulate you also, Kelly, for the leadership you bring to the National Action Center. And the development is going to be quite an asset and a really jewel for Denver. And not only the new facilities and new partnerships you're bringing to the side, but also the most important thing, preserving this historic part of the important part of the structure. So graduations and we look forward to a great, great National Resource Center. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm very excited and pleased to have the opportunity to support this designation. And I want to give just a little bit go a little bit East Coast here. So when I came out in 1971 to Colorado, I really expected I would be in the midst of the Wild West and there would be simulated gunfights on the streets and there would be all this stuff. And I was quite seriously really surprised at how little respect the city seemed to have for its Western heritage. You know, we had the I discovered the stock show early on, you know, for several weeks each year, but then that feeling kind of went dormant. And I am really looking forward to seeing the transformation out on the National Western Center grounds and expect that we will finally give Denver's Western heritage a real showcase that it deserves. So, again, I'm real happy to support this. Thank you. Councilman Cashman, are there any other comments? All right. I just wanted to say I am glad this is going to be designated. I think it's an amazing arena. I remember walking in before we had the the amendment on. Well. Before to see. And it's falling apart. So I am glad that this is going to get designated. I'm glad we have resources pouring into this. This is one of those structures that we just cannot lose. It's overshadowed by the skyline most of the time. But we cannot lose this. This is an amazing arena. So much history has been here. And I'm looking at both of you in different capacities. You've worked really hard and to help make this happen, you, sir, as well. But also, I think one thing that we can one group that we cannot thank you enough and is the voters of our city. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for that. So thank you. Mr. President. Councilman Brooks? Yes, I'm I'm sorry. I just want to say every time and a big issue comes up in this part of the district, I never say this enough, but I just got thank Councilwoman Monteiro. Who. Yeah, she teed up everything. I mean, I've only been over this for six months, and so I just want to thank Councilwoman Monteiro and her leadership for 12 years in this district. Thanks. Thank you, Councilman. Madam Secretary, I think that's it. Can we have a roll call on Council Bill 215? Brooks Clark. All right. Espinosa. Hi. Flynn. Hi. Gilmore. I can. Absolutely. I can eat. You. SUSSMAN Black eye. Mr. President. All right. BROOKS You're hanging fire. Sorry. All right. Madam Secretary, close the voting. And as a result, 11 eyes. 11 Eyes Council Bill 215 has passed. On Monday, May 16, Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill 216 Changing the zoning classification for 1400 Race Street. Any protests against Council Bill 216 must be filed with the Council offices no later than noon on Monday, May 19. Seeing that there's no other business before this body today, this meeting is adjourned.