Kutak Rock served as bond counsel to the City and County of Denver, Colorado in connection with the issuance of $13 million of multifamily housing revenue bonds the proceeds of which will be used to finance the renovation of The Colburn Hotel.  The Colburn Hotel is located at 980 Grant Street in Denver and was originally financed in 1925 by Judge Ernest A. Colburn and was designed by architect William Bowman.  The hotel first opened on May 25, 1928 and was where beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassidy stayed in 1947, and purportedly, Jack Kerouac drank at the hotel’s bar. 

The Colburn ceased to function as a hotel in December 1989 and was converted to a single-room occupancy building for-low income residents.  Currently the building has 16 units with shared baths and 73 with private baths.  All of the units will be converted to efficiency apartments with private bathrooms and kitchenettes.  Twenty-three of the units will be restricted to residents earning 30% or less of the area mean income—about $18,900 or less.  Another 68 units will be restricted to residents earning 60% of the area mean income—about $37,800 or less.  In addition to the income restrictions, the property will have a new 20-year contract with HUD for Section 8 vouchers for all of the units.

Kutak Rock attorneys Fred Marienthal, John Bales and Jack McGill worked on this financing.