The Urban Redevelopment Area is comprised of approximately 32 acres and is located 2.5 miles west of Downtown Denver’s Central Business District primarily on the former campus of the St. Anthony Central Hospital in the West Colfax neighborhood. The Urban Redevelopment Area is generally bounded by Stuart Street on the west, West Colfax Avenue on the south, Perry Street on the east, and West 17th Avenue on the north.
The majority of the Urban Redevelopment Area was occupied by the St. Anthony Central Hospital campus for over 100 years prior to its closure. The first medical facility of the St. Anthony Central Hospital opened in May 1892 after a successful fundraising by seventeen Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. The original facility was a four-story brick building trimmed with granite and had wards with 120 beds and private rooms with 60 beds. Almost 70 years later, hospital leaders saw the importance of establishing a new, more modern facility to better serve Denver’s north metro area. The new St. Anthony North Hospital building opened in 1971 and enjoyed a successful 40-year partnership with its communities, offering state-of-the-art health care services and countless community education and support programs.
In the early 2000’s, hospital leaders again saw the need for a newer facility but in a location that could more easily serve their large patient network and accommodate future growth. These leaders identified a site at West 2nd Place and Routt Street near the Denver Federal Center in the City of Lakewood. In June 2011, St. Anthony Central Hospital officially closed and moved to the new St. Anthony Medical Campus approximately six miles southwest of the original St. Anthony Central Hospital site.
The remaining portion of the Urban Redevelopment Area located between Raleigh Street on the west, West Colfax Avenue on the south, Perry Street on the east, and West Conejos Place on the north is occupied by market-rate rental apartments, an affordable rental high-rise building for seniors, condominiums, and commercial buildings fronting West Colfax Avenue. The surrounding community of the Urban Redevelopment Area to the south, east, and west is primarily comprised of single family home residences. To the north is Sloan’s Lake Park, a 177 acre lake and city park.
In 2013 the master developer, EFG Brownfield Partners (EFG), purchased the 19-acre site of the former St. Anthony Central Hospital in northwest Denver and began demolition and remediation of the property. In 2015, EFG sold the western half of the block facing Colfax Avenue to Alamo Sloans LLC (Alamo). Alamo is turning the former parking lot into an eight-screen movie theater with in-movie food and beverage service and a full-service restaurant. The project is expected to be a highly active use along West Colfax, with an estimated 300,000 patrons annually.
The 32,600 square-foot Alamo Drafthouse opened in May 2017 with eight screens, averaging approximately 100 seats per screen and 26 surface parking spaces.