Pics from the past

“Philosophically, our belief about downtowns is you can’t have a fully vibrant downtown if nobody lives there,” Stern said.

Fuel & Iron was able to utilize the space afforded by the open layout of the Holmes building to fit 20 apartment units on the upper floors.

Bringing affordable housing was always a part of the initial plan, but it jumped quickly up in the prioritization queue as opportunities to fold it in revealed themselves.

“We knew that the Food Hall was phase one when we were initially planning,” Stern said. “We just had, vaguely, everything else as phase two. We also didn’t have the space for the commissary kitchen, we knew we wanted to have one, eventually. (We were) really thinking, ‘Okay, that maybe is phase three.’ But then we found what we think is the perfect building for it. And so, phase three became phase two.”

The group also has another half-acre to the east of the Main Street Bridge, which was included in the purchased the Holmes Hardware Building, where Fuel & Iron Realty hopes to build an additional 24-unit multifamily housing complex, but that would be “like phase 17.”

The project would be through indieDwell, a housing company that aims to “deliver multifamily solutions to developers of affordable housing” via modular building. The indieDwell website states that its mission is to “revolutionize the building industry by producing dwellings that better occupant health and well-being, improve the health of the environment and empower community.”

The housing offered is through CHFA: Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, which manages affordable housing. One-bedroom units are $925 per month to rent; two-bedroom units are $1,100 per month. Utilities are included in rent. Applicant’s salary cannot exceed $34,000 annually. To inquire about renting a unit, email property manager at paula.white@hapueblo.org.

Holmes Hardware Building

After a fire destroyed the original building in 1915, it was immediately rebuilt with the same façade. But, instead of replacing the wood, the contractors opted to rebuild with concrete making it not only fireproof but strong enough to withstand the flood of 1921. In 1948, Alva B. Adams, a prominent Colorado politician during the turn of the century, and his family bought the building. Now it’s being reused for the Fuel & Iron Food Hall which opens April 28th.