The Point

First established in 1864, the Five Points area of Denver’s Curtis Park neighborhood is one of Denver’s earliest residential neighborhoods. On the boundary of downtown Denver’s diagonal grid and east Denver’s rectangular grid, this Victorian neighborhood is centered around the intersection of Washington Street, 27th Street, 26th Avenue and Welton Street. Formalizing its moniker, a Denver Tramway streetcar stop at this intersection was dubbed Five Points.

For much of the twentieth century the neighborhood was a nationally renowned center for African American jazz and blues music, with the Casino Dance Hall and the Rossonian Hotel as premier stops for jazz and blues musicians on tour. Welton Street functioned as a thriving commercial corridor with restaurants, cafes, barbershops, and other neighborhood retail amenities.

As Denver expanded and residents moved further from the city’s core, Five Points fell into disrepair. Commercial business failed as residents moved out of the neighborhood, and by the 1990s many commercial buildings in Five Points sat vacant or had been demolished.

In 2000, responding to the City’s call for mixed-use, mixed-income housing proximate to the Central Business District, a collaboration of two neighborhood based non-profit organizations – Five Points Business Association and Hope Communities – formed Minute Spot, LLC to redevelop a 37,372-square foot assemblage of underutilized land. Directly across from the lightrail stop at 27th and Welton Streets, the site provides residents with transit access to the central business district, Auraria Campus, and the intersection of Broadway and I-25.

Completed in December of 2003, The Point is comprised of 68 Residential units including 35 for rent and 35 for sale units, plus 12,800 sf of nonresidential space for retail and office users; underground parking for residential units; 74,700 sf total, excluding underground parking; Residential rental units (all 35) are for those at 80% or less median household income; 21 rental units are low-income tax credit units for households earning 30 – 60% of median household income; 14 rental units available to households earning 80% of median household income; For Sale – 10 of the 33 for-sale units for households earning 80% or less of the median household income; Retail & Office – 6,600 sf of office space and 6,200 sf of retail space

With the support of US Bank, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Denver’s Office of Economic Development, the Colorado Division of Housing, Denver City Council, and DURA, this redevelopment brings much needed retail revitalization and mixed income density to one of Denver’s oldest and most treasured neighborhoods.