- Hi, I'm Michael Gadlin.
- And I'm Kate Perdoni.
Welcome back to Arts District on Rocky Mountain PBS.
- One of Denver's historic buildings
will soon take center stage once again.
- That's right, the Rossonian Hotel building
in Five Points has outward character and charm,
but step inside to see and feel
the kind of history that movies are made of.
- Arts reporter Tamara Banks takes us on a tour
as a renaissance of the Rossonian is underway
with millions of dollars being pumped in by the public
and private sectors.
- [Tamara] Once hailed as the jewel
of the Five Points neighborhood,
the Rossonian Hotel built in the early 20th century,
is coming back to life.
(jazz music)
- [Paul] I knew of the Rossonian from a volunteer
trip that I did when I was doing the DU Real Estate program.
I didn't understand the depth of it in its entirety.
- [Tamara] As developer Paul Books,
president of Palisade Partners,
and new owner of the iconic building,
learned more of the history of the Rossonian,
his real estate development project
soon turned into a passion project.
- We're hoping to do development in a way that's inclusive,
celebrates the history, involves African Americans.
- [Tamara] Books purchased the Rossonian in 2017
for six point two million dollars.
The goal now is to pump new life
into the 107 year old building
with 21st century flare
while keeping the vibe of a time when folks
like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington,
and hundreds of other African American
world class jazz artists filled this space with music.
(jazz music)
- [Paul] The plan is to have a jazz club, restaurant, hotel.
The jazz club will be in the basement.
And the restaurant will be on the main floor here.
And the hotel currently planned as 41 rooms,
will be on the 2nd, 3rd,
and then small a 4th story addition.
(jazz music)
- [Tamara] But before we talk about the future,
let's step back in time.
(jazz music)
The Rossonian was first called the Baxter Hotel
back in 1912.
In 1929 the building was sold to A. W. L. Ross,
who renamed it the Rossonian.
As the African American population grew in the neighborhood,
Five Points became known as the Harlem of the west.
The Rossonian drew some of the world's finest jazz artists.
The Rossonian was the place to be.
- I performed with Sarah Vaughan
and Ella Fitzgerald,
and my big collaboration was with Billie Holiday.
She sang a song, and she sang one of my favorite songs,
it was Them There Eyes.
("Them There Eyes" by Billie Holiday)
- [Tamara] Denver's own internationally renowned
Charles Burrell remembers jammin' with jazz greats
at the Rossonian back in the day.
- [Interviewer] What was the music scene,
the jazz scene like here?
- To look back on any of it's excellent.
Nothing but happiness and joy.
They had people that listened and that loved to dance.
That was the backbone of the social structure.
- [Tamara] But by the 60s,
desegregation meant African Americans
could move out of Five Points
and live wherever they wanted
and the neighborhood went into decline
when people started moving
to other parts of the metro area.
Since then, a number of previous owners
of this majestic building have tried to revive it.
- Will this height stay the same?
- [Paul] Pretty much.
- [Tamara] Books is hoping his team,
which includes local African American investors
and supporters, has the right plan
to breathe new life into the historic structure.
(upbeat music)
Developers are evoking the jazz spirits
of the past for guidance.
- I just kind of feel this energy when I stand here.
Do you ever stand here and go,
okay, Billie Holiday, - Yeah.
- Duke Ellington, - Yeah.
- The spirits from the past, - Yeah.
- Give me energy.
- I mean, truthfully, it's kind of like you want
to do that for every project, right?
You want, you know whether it be here,
or if you're doing something in the mountains,
or whatever, but specifically here with the history,
you just wanna sit here in silence
and think about what it could be.
- Can you show us upstairs now?
- So to go upstairs, we actually have to go downstairs.
- The stair here will actually not be here.
- [Tamara] The bare walls, cement floors,
and unfinished basement will be transformed
into a 150 seat restaurant, a jazz club,
which holds a little more than a hundred people.
- Might have served as a place to store the money.
- [Tamara] The catacombs you see here will offer
a great vibe for a nightclub.
Upstairs we get a sneak peek
of the hotel rooms.
- Welcome back to back to 19, I think 96 or seven.
- [Tamara] Where offices will be transformed.
The biggest challenge will the the addition of a 4th floor.
Since the Rossonian is a registered
national historic landmark,
changes to the structure are restricted.
- It'll be different than this,
but imagine the offices on the exterior as hotel rooms.
And over here, actually,
at least one of the hotel rooms
will have a balcony where pigeons
have created a home temporarily.
Yeah, it's cool looking out on the points.
- The music of world renowned artists,
local musicians, even high school and community groups,
will soon be blaring out of the Rossonian,
but some people are a bit skeptical.
They're concerned that the integrity of the building
and the community in which it sits
might be compromised.
- [Renée] My uncle Nathan Bithwell, became the captain
at fire station number three.
- [Tamara] Dr. Renée Cousins King's family
has lived in Five Points for three generations.
- My grandparents on my father's side
moved here from Kansas around 1912,
and my grandfather who was Pullman porter
was also a builder and he started building
housing and acquiring properties
and he passed that propensity on primarily
to my father.
- [Tamara] She inherited many buildings around Denver,
including 12 in Five Points.
And she hopes that in sea of change
in this historically African American neighborhood,
the community's jewel will be preserved.
- I'm concerned about defacing the building
or changing the basic architecture,
because I think architecture always has a story to tell.
One of the things that I think is worth understanding
about Five Points from the first half of the 20th century,
is that it represented what can come
of repression and segregation.
- [Tamara] Developers and city leaders promise
to embrace the past as they lean forward into the future.
- Having the Rossonian come back open is critical for us.
Yes, the city should play a role in restoring
this great structure in our city
and to revitalize that history
in the name of Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie
and all the folks who've come through here and performed
and made this a very special place in our city.
("Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong)
- [Paul] If it's not the most important building
for African Americans in the state of Colorado,
it's definitely up there.
It just needs to be done right.
It needs to be done with care.
It needs to be done attention.
And that's definitely our goal as a group.
- [Tamara] We'll soon find out in fall of 2020.
I'm Tamara Banks for Arts District.
("Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On")
- Tamara tells us five time NBA All Star
and Denver native Chauncey Billups
is part of the revitalization and is planning
to open a lounge inside the historic Rossonian.
- And did you know I have a little bit of history there?
As an artist, I painted inside the Rossonian.
- That is so cool.
How did you get set up with that?
- My good friend and mentor Darrell Anderson,
who's a local artist,
grew up in Five Points,
gave me the space as he had access.
- That is so cool.
What was it like painting in such a historic space?
- You know, it was fabulous.
We would have art gallery shows there.
We would paint. I helped him on projects.
Just to be a little piece of that history
was so awesome.
- That's amazing Michael.
- Yeah that's an amazing feeling.