Historic Colorado hotel in Castle Rock to be transformed into new boutique hotel and restaurant
Norris Design completed the landscape architecture on this project.
This article and corresponding image originally appeared on CBS News Colorado
In the heart of downtown Castle Rock is a historic building older than the town itself. The old City Hotel was originally built back in 1872 and served as a focal point for the town’s earliest settlers. Now, former mayor Tim White and his firm, White Development, are working to restore it.
The building in its current condition both inside and out isn’t exactly striking, but if what’s left of the walls could talk.
Devin Visciano, partner and general counsel of White Development, has spent many hours researching the history of this building, which he eagerly shares stories of. For example, the building was originally built in a location in what was called “New Memphis,” near what is now the Outlets at Castle Rock. It was cheaper then to move the building than to build another one due to lack of supplies, so the house was lifted onto tree logs and rolled to its current location two miles away.
“This was the only place you would come to see a doctor when they were visiting from Denver, or bring your horses to see a veterinarian,” explained Devin when asked about the type of people who stayed at the hotel in the early days.
The building was once advertised as the main place to stay in town and it cost as low as .75 cents per night, according to old newspaper ads. It’s still standing over 150 years later, now with a development firm that sees value in restoring it.
“It’s the oldest building in Castle Rock,” Visciano said. “I would think, if you actually probably took a vote of 10 structural engineers, nine would say get rid of this building. We found the one who said we can save it.”
Historic buildings aren’t cheap, but the town has been great,” Tim White said. “They provided some incentive to kind of take care of some of the extra costs you have with these things. And so it’s nice to be doing a project in town where the town wants you. You know, they love the project too. So we’ve had a tremendous amount of support.”
White purchased the building in 2012, operating it as affordable housing before closing it down in 2018. He now plans to turn it into a boutique hotel, restaurant and retail space, capitalizing on the location and views with the hope of reigniting it as a focal point of the growing town.
The firm is working toward breaking ground in the next few months with the goal of a 2027 grand opening, preserving as much of the original history as possible along the way.
“It’ll just be kind of a gathering place in town here,” White said. “When they have festivals, they block off this street here, and this would be a great place to gather and participate in all the festivities.”