Regency Student Housing

Regency Student Housing is one of three student-housing communities for the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver, Colorado. Formerly the Regency Hotel, the building is privately owned by local investor and proprietor V. Robert (Rob) Salazar, who bought the building in 2004, and serves three schools: Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), and the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver).

The Regency Student Housing building
The Regency Student Housing, Denver Colorado

Located at 3900 Elati Street, two miles from the Auraria Campus off Interstate 25 and Park Avenue West, The Regency is Auraria's first student housing community;[1] the others are the Campus Village Apartments and the Inn at Auraria.

History

The Regency Hotel was built by real-estate developers Marvin and Victor Lederman, and designed by Richard DeGette, with construction starting in 1968.[2] It was designed to serve as a regional convention center, with banquet and meeting rooms, exhibit areas for car dealers, four restaurants, three bars, a disco, an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool, and tennis courts,[2] and was known for its large gold dome, the Piccadilly Rotunda.[3] The convention center had an authorized capacity of 4,350.[4] In the early and mid-1970s the hotel flourished; Elvis Presley stayed in the penthouse several times, and the hotel was said to keep a piano there for him.[5][6]

The hotel subsequently became neglected. Art Cormier, known in Denver for owning what he said was the world's largest laundromat, operated a popular nightclub called Los Caporales there from April 1998 and in May 1999 bought the property with the intention of renovating it.[5][7] In February 2002 a fire that was determined to be arson damaged 60 rooms and seriously injured one person.[8] In January 2003 Cormier announced his intention to sell the hotel at auction.[9] In April 2003 the city closed some of the entertainment areas for safety violations,[4] and in April 2004 a judge closed the entire hotel as unsafe, requiring those living there to leave by the end of the next day.[10][11]

Salazar's Regency Realty Investors LLC (now Central Street Capital) bought the hotel for $6.4 million in 2004, at which time it had 410 rooms.[12][13][14] Architectural Workshop designed the conversion into student housing, for which they won the 2005 silver Colorado Hard Hat Award for renovation/restoration[15] and an Honorable Mention for Renovation Design in the 2006 Colorado ASID Awards. There was a fire in the rotunda in June 2005.[16][17]

The Regency Student Housing Community opened in fall 2005 with 300 beds and added another 400 within a year.[18] A new building with 360 beds in 120 units, The Villas at Regency, was added in 2012–13.[14] The Regency is open to both undergraduates and graduate students of the Auraria Campus institutions and is administered by Auraria Student Housing at the Regency. In 2015 ASH won a lawsuit against Campus Village Apartments over the University of Colorado Denver's requirement that freshmen and new international students live at Campus Village, which is owned by a different private operator.[19]

References
  1. "The Old Regency Hotel is being renovated into student housing for Auraria". Rocky Mountain News (Photo). Denver Public Library digital collection. June 15, 2005.
  2. Lederman, Marvin (2012). "The Creation of the Regency Hotel". Should I Cry or Smile? You Tell Me: A True Story. Xlibris. ISBN 9781479709830.
  3. Caruso, Laura; Ebisch, Robert (1995). The Insiders' Guide to Greater Denver (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Boulder Publishing / Manteo, North Carolina: Insiders' Guides. p. 35. ISBN 9780912367880.
  4. Gutierrez, Hector (April 26, 2003). "Sections of Hotel to Close: Regency Violations Spur the City to Act". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  5. "Laundry Titan Buys Regency: 'Smiley' Cormier Plans $15 Million Renovation". Rocky Mountain News. June 8, 1999. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  6. "The Old Regency Hotel is being renovated into student housing for Auraria" (Photo). Denver Public library digital collection. Rocky Mountain News. June 30, 2005.
  7. Flynn, Kevin (October 5, 1999). "Neighbors Want Nightclub Stifled: Los Caporales Attracts Thousands of Patrons, Faces Stiff Opposition at Licensing Hearing". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  8. Sanchez, Robert (February 9, 2002). "1 Injured in Arson Fire at Regency". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  9. Couch, Mark P. (January 22, 2003). "Owner Plans to Sell Denver Hotel-Nightclub at Auction". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  10. "Judge Shuts Regency Hotel, Cites Major Safety Hazards". Rocky Mountain News. April 24, 2004. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  11. "People living at the Regency Hotel off of 38th and I-25 were told that they would have to be out by Saturday night at 8 p.m." (Photo). Denver Public Library digital collection. Rocky Mountain News. April 23, 2004.
  12. "Regency Hotel being redeveloped". Denver Business Journal. November 10, 2004.
  13. Aguilera, Elizabeth (May 16, 2005). "Success lets couple shape better future". The Denver Post.
  14. Jackson, Margaret (March 27, 2012). "Regency to add more student housing in Denver". The Denver Post.
  15. "The 2005 Gold Hard Hat Awards Winners". McGraw Hill Construction - Colorado Construction. October 2005. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  16. "Fire Breaks Out At Old Regency Hotel". Denver: ABC 7. June 30, 2005.
  17. Garcia, Joseph; Gutierrez, Hector (July 1, 2005). "Fire Strikes Dome at Former Hotel: Student Housing Plan for Regency Goes Ahead". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016.
  18. "A good night's rest on Auraria campus". The Denver Post (Opinion). September 21, 2006.
  19. Migoya, David (January 28, 2015). "Jury awards $3.3 million to Regency in CU Denver housing lawsuit". The Denver Post (Business).
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