The home at 800 S. Franklin St. in Denver on July 14, 2025. (BusinessDen file)
Jody Debs is tired of the “systematic scraping” of her neighborhood.
In Wash Park, as in many parts of Denver, it’s not uncommon for an older house to be demolished so that a more modern, often larger one can be erected in its place.
If Debs has her way, however, that won’t happen at 800 S. Franklin St. There, a white house dating to 1884 sits directly across from the popular park that gives the area its name.
“This is one of the six oldest homes in the ZIP code,” Debs said. “It predates the park.”
In February, the home sold for $2.6 million to Tony and Robin Kohake, who intended to knock it down and build a new home on the 11,600-square-foot corner lot. But their request for a demolition permit drew the attention of city staff and, eventually, neighbors like Debs, who signaled this summer they might push for preservation.
A city-hired mediator was brought in, with no resolution. And late last month, Debs and two other area residents, Stefanie Jacobs and Susan Holbrook, submitted an application asking Denver to name 800 S. Franklin a city landmark.
If ultimately approved by the City Council, the designation would prevent the demolition desired by the Kohakes.
“If not this type of home, then what type of home should be protected?” said Debs, who lives a mile away.
A hearing will be held Sept. 16 before Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission, which will decide whether to forward the landmark application to the council.
“We are still a bit shocked individuals can landmark designate someone else’s property against their consent with almost no skin in the game (an $875 application fee),” Tony Kohake previously told BusinessDen. “We are all for preservation when/where it makes sense, but this process seems incredibly broken.”
Once home to a Denver judge
Debs and her co-applicants see several reasons 800 S. Franklin should be a city landmark.
For one, the home was once the residence of William Burnett, a Denver County and Denver District judge from the 1950s through the 1970s.
“He is a prominent enough person that the American Judges Association still issues an award in his honor,” Debs said.
Burnett’s wife, Margaret, meanwhile, was part of a trio along with two sisters that, after being signed by a soft drink company, performed for a time as the “Dr. Pepperettes,” according to her obituary.
The applicants say that, architecturally, 800 S. Franklin is “a well-preserved example of the Free Classic subtype of the Queen Anne style,” and that the home’s characteristics speak to how the neighborhood developed.
“The home’s front-facing gable roof, asymmetrical façade, wrap-around porch, and corner siting evoke a rural farmhouse character that signals it predates the neighborhood’s platting,” their application states.
Speaking to BusinessDen in July, Tony Kohake described the home as in poor condition.
“There is dry rot, the chimney is in bad condition, and there is cracking around the foundation,” he said. “The flooring was removed before we bought it and there were holes in the walls.”
Debs, however, points to a statement from Aaron Hodgin of Hodgin Architecture, whom her group bought in to visually assess the building.
“The original structure is in good condition, better than many historic homes that I have toured and worked on,” Hodgin said in the statement. “There are a couple later additions from around the 1950s/60s that are not in as good condition, but the original structure is in good condition.”
Debs said “community members are very supportive for the later parts of the building to be removed and for contemporary extensions to be added to deliver additional square footage.”
Kohake said this week that adding on isn’t really feasible, given that the home sits at the rear of the lot. He said an inspector he hired found “clear structural issues,” and a mold testing firm qualified the existing home as uninhabitable.
“Every system in the house is end-of-life,” he said.
Property for sale — for $3.1 million
This isn’t the first Denver home to find itself in this situation.
A Dutch Colonial Revival in City Park West was designated a landmark in 2023. And a home on Montview in South Park Hill was demolished after the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission rejected an application submitted by neighbors.
At this point, there’s almost a formula. The property owners say they’re open to selling to someone who will preserve the home. A real estate agent is hired. If no buyer steps up, the idea from the owner’s perspective is that it shows preservation isn’t a viable option.
In the case of 800 S. Franklin, however, even that process proved divisive.
In their application, Debs and her co-applicants wrote that they offered not to request landmark status if the Kohakes “committed to running a good-faith preservation buyer process,” as defined by a memorandum of understanding.
“The owners declined this path and suggested neighbors file an application,” the application states.
But 800 S. Franklin is being marketed for sale. It hit the market Aug. 28, according to Zillow.
The Kohakes said the MOU was proposed at the eleventh hour and “would have required us to pay expenses for two properties for at least an additional three months without any guarantee an application would not be filed at the end of the extension period.”
“We provided a revised MOU addressing that concern and several others, but the applicants moved forward with their application and never responded to our proposed changes,” they said.
Debs said listing the home in situations like this can sometimes be about making “it look like there’s a veneer effort, but there’s no substance behind it.”
She noted that the Kohakes listed 800 S. Franklin for $3.1 million — $475,000 more than they paid. That price “makes it highly unlikely that someone will step forward,” she said.
Tony Kohake said the list price would allow the couple to break even. In addition to the purchase price, he said he and his wife have spent $50,000 on architectural plans and $125,000 on interest that continues to accrue. The price tag also factors in real estate commissions and other closing costs.
“At the end of the day, we are paying $15,450 every month we have to hold onto the property while we wait for the city to make its decision, which is a huge amount for anyone to be burdened with, much less a single family,” he said, adding that the financial burden of preservation should be on a buyer, not him.
Speaking to BusinessDen, Debs repeatedly referred to the Kohakes as “developers.”
Tony Kohake works in the oil and gas industry. His wife stays home with their children. But Debs said the title fits because the Kohakes bought 800 S. Franklin through an LLC, because they’ve hired a lobbyist to navigate the landmark process and because they previously knocked down a different home in Wash Park and built a new one.
“That was their prior dream home. Now they have a new dream home,” Debs said.
Tony Kohake said the couple have never built anything besides their current home.
“That would mean half of the residents of Wash Park are a developer,” he said.
