The La Vista Motel property at 5500 E. Colfax Ave. on June 15, 2024. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
Come June 2025, tourists can stay in an East Colfax motel just like they once did in the 1960s.
Nathan Beal, owner and founder of St. Bernard Properties, is investing $4 million to purchase, renovate and restore the 9,000-square-foot La Vista Motel at 5500 E. Colfax Ave., on the edge of the Hale, Montclair and Park Hill neighborhoods.
Beal said the motel will keep the same name, but with added features and a retro feel.
“It’s a cool project,” Beal said. “We started looking at motels and this one became available, so I jumped on it at the time. We want to bring in people from around the community as well as tourists, with a coffee and cocktail bar and bringing in live music and making this a fun place for people to gather.”
La Vista Motel is Beal’s first foray into motels, but not into historic restorations. He previously remodeled Ben’s Market, a former supermarket built in the 1890s. The space in the Skyland neighborhood now holds a rotating taproom. Beal also restored the former Franklin Market building in Whittier, turning it into a 13-unit mixed use development.
Beal bought the La Vista property in June 2022 for $1.8 million, or $233 per square foot. Prior to that, the property last sold in 2006 for $760,000, according to property records. Beal said he’s spending $2.5 million on the renovations.
Initially, he envisioned turning the property into an apartment community, but he switched paths after considering what city approvals that would entail.
“The city’s permitting process for changing zoning and venues is so challenging,” Beal said. “It’s so challenging going through that process, I thought it wasn’t worth it anymore, and I think this is cooler and more fun and will be good for the area.”
Work on the renovations began last month.
A photo of the La Vista Motel from the 1950s. (Courtesy St. Bernard Properties)
The motel will have 23 guest rooms, which will be touchless, he said, meaning they will function similar to an Airbnb and the motel will not have staff or a lobby. Beal said room rates haven’t been decided and will depend on the season, but prospective customers will be able to book through the motel’s website and sites like Airbnb.
The structure and layout of the existing rooms, between 220 and 260 square feet, will mostly stay the same. But the corner rooms are being combined into suites at around 500 square feet, according to the building’s permitting documents.
Along with the rooms, the motel will feature a nearly 1,500-square-foot coffee shop and bar that will be open to the community. The name of the bar has not been decided, he said. He’s also adding a 60’s-style speakeasy cocktail lounge in the basement under the bar. Beal said he’s working with designers to find 1960s-era furniture and decor.
Motels line Colfax Avenue, most of them built in the 1950s and 1960s to welcome travelers as they made their way through Denver and into the mountains. When Interstate 70 opened in the 1960s, Colfax motels started to be less frequented and went into disrepair.
A rendering of the renovated La Vista Motel. (Courtesy SopherSparn)
A number of old motel properties have changed hands in recent years. The former All In Motel at 3015 E. Colfax Ave. is poised to be renovated with the help of public financing. Further east, nonprofit called The Fax Partnership bought another two, the Westerner and Sand & Sage, to turn them into affordable housing, and another renovator bought the Branding Iron and Ahwahnee to turn into market-rate — but cheap — apartments.
Not all Colfax motels get fixed up. Lakewood’s urban renewal authority demolished one earlier this year, and the prominent Royal Palace Motel at Colfax and Colorado is poised to be demolished to make way for an apartment complex.
Built in 1956, La Vista Motel stopped welcoming guests and week-to-week tenants before Beal decided to purchase the property, he said. Beal said he’s in conversations with the city and state to have the motel designated a historic landmark.
Working on the project alongside Beal is Sopher Sparn Architects, Hill Structural Design, Kelly Development Services and Boulder Engineering.
Beal wants the property to bring new life to East Colfax, saying the former image of the motel doesn’t unnerve him at all.
“(The past ) is always a concern,” Beal said. “But I think once people see what we produce, it’ll be nice and clean and very different from what it was most recently used for. … I’m hoping this will be good for Colfax, bring some new people to the area and to businesses around here. It’s exciting.”
The La Vista Motel property at 5500 E. Colfax Ave. on June 15, 2024. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
Come June 2025, tourists can stay in an East Colfax motel just like they once did in the 1960s.
Nathan Beal, owner and founder of St. Bernard Properties, is investing $4 million to purchase, renovate and restore the 9,000-square-foot La Vista Motel at 5500 E. Colfax Ave., on the edge of the Hale, Montclair and Park Hill neighborhoods.
Beal said the motel will keep the same name, but with added features and a retro feel.
“It’s a cool project,” Beal said. “We started looking at motels and this one became available, so I jumped on it at the time. We want to bring in people from around the community as well as tourists, with a coffee and cocktail bar and bringing in live music and making this a fun place for people to gather.”
La Vista Motel is Beal’s first foray into motels, but not into historic restorations. He previously remodeled Ben’s Market, a former supermarket built in the 1890s. The space in the Skyland neighborhood now holds a rotating taproom. Beal also restored the former Franklin Market building in Whittier, turning it into a 13-unit mixed use development.
Beal bought the La Vista property in June 2022 for $1.8 million, or $233 per square foot. Prior to that, the property last sold in 2006 for $760,000, according to property records. Beal said he’s spending $2.5 million on the renovations.
Initially, he envisioned turning the property into an apartment community, but he switched paths after considering what city approvals that would entail.
“The city’s permitting process for changing zoning and venues is so challenging,” Beal said. “It’s so challenging going through that process, I thought it wasn’t worth it anymore, and I think this is cooler and more fun and will be good for the area.”
Work on the renovations began last month.
A photo of the La Vista Motel from the 1950s. (Courtesy St. Bernard Properties)
The motel will have 23 guest rooms, which will be touchless, he said, meaning they will function similar to an Airbnb and the motel will not have staff or a lobby. Beal said room rates haven’t been decided and will depend on the season, but prospective customers will be able to book through the motel’s website and sites like Airbnb.
The structure and layout of the existing rooms, between 220 and 260 square feet, will mostly stay the same. But the corner rooms are being combined into suites at around 500 square feet, according to the building’s permitting documents.
Along with the rooms, the motel will feature a nearly 1,500-square-foot coffee shop and bar that will be open to the community. The name of the bar has not been decided, he said. He’s also adding a 60’s-style speakeasy cocktail lounge in the basement under the bar. Beal said he’s working with designers to find 1960s-era furniture and decor.
Motels line Colfax Avenue, most of them built in the 1950s and 1960s to welcome travelers as they made their way through Denver and into the mountains. When Interstate 70 opened in the 1960s, Colfax motels started to be less frequented and went into disrepair.
A rendering of the renovated La Vista Motel. (Courtesy SopherSparn)
A number of old motel properties have changed hands in recent years. The former All In Motel at 3015 E. Colfax Ave. is poised to be renovated with the help of public financing. Further east, nonprofit called The Fax Partnership bought another two, the Westerner and Sand & Sage, to turn them into affordable housing, and another renovator bought the Branding Iron and Ahwahnee to turn into market-rate — but cheap — apartments.
Not all Colfax motels get fixed up. Lakewood’s urban renewal authority demolished one earlier this year, and the prominent Royal Palace Motel at Colfax and Colorado is poised to be demolished to make way for an apartment complex.
Built in 1956, La Vista Motel stopped welcoming guests and week-to-week tenants before Beal decided to purchase the property, he said. Beal said he’s in conversations with the city and state to have the motel designated a historic landmark.
Working on the project alongside Beal is Sopher Sparn Architects, Hill Structural Design, Kelly Development Services and Boulder Engineering.
Beal wants the property to bring new life to East Colfax, saying the former image of the motel doesn’t unnerve him at all.
“(The past ) is always a concern,” Beal said. “But I think once people see what we produce, it’ll be nice and clean and very different from what it was most recently used for. … I’m hoping this will be good for Colfax, bring some new people to the area and to businesses around here. It’s exciting.”
