Tom’s Diner, the eye-catching restaurant that has stood at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Pearl Street for more than 50 years, took another step toward becoming a historic landmark Tuesday when the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously to recommend its protection to the City Council.
The 24-hour Colfax haunt appeared destined for demolition earlier this year when owner and diner namesake Tom Messina reached a conditional agreement to sell it to a Greenwood Village developer that had plans to build an eight-story apartment building there. The sale price was set at $4.8 million.
Then, in June, five community members submitted an application to landmark the building. Their application, submitted against Messina’s wishes, had the backing of 670 petition signatures and support from Historic Denver.
City staff members found the property met preservation criteria for its historic, architectural and geographic significance. A former White Spot diner location, the building — with its jutting eaves, exposed boomerang trusses and large plate-glass windows — is considered one of the best examples of mid-century Googie-style architecture left in Denver. A decade ago, it was being considered for national historic designation, but that process was stopped because Messina was not on board.
The commission on Tuesday reached its decision quickly.
“We’ve seen owner-opposed applications before but I don’t think we’ve ever seen one that so absolutely clearly meets the criteria and the bar for the historic significance in the city,” Commissioner Kathleen Corbett said.
After the vote, Messina, who teared up when he testified about how important the sale of the building was to his family’s financial future, said it felt like he’d “been kicked in the gut.”
“There is a lot at stake for me,” he said. “My family’s future, my 20 years of sweat equity is being dissolved.”
Throughout the hearing, historic preservation advocates praised Messina for the work and care he put into the structure over the last two decades.
Jonel Beach, one of the five people who signed the landmark application, said her efforts to preserve the building are being pursued as an act of love, not out of a desire to make anyone’s life harder. She said the building is not only a visual landmark on East Colfax, but has been a meeting place for people from all walks of life in Denver, including at-risk youth, the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities.
“Even if the diner closes, the building is a testament to the inclusive meeting space it has been for so many groups of people over the last few decades, even predating Tom’s Diner as the White Spot,” she said.
The commissioners added an amendment to the application as a sort of concession to Messina. They shrunk the boundary of the landmark area to exclude the parking lot behind the diner, leaving that half of the property open to redevelopment if approved. The idea was introduced at Tuesday’s meeting by Annie Levinsky, executive director of Historic Denver. Preservation advocates voiced hopes that the building could be incorporated into a larger redevelopment effort.
Earlier in the meeting, Messina testified that even if just the single-story diner is preserved, in an area of the city where new construction can rise eight floors, it represents a “seven-story reduction in value” for him and his family.
The diner is the third property in the last three months to be subject to a landmark designation application against the wishes of the property owner.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the commissioner unanimously struck down an application to protect a more-than-century-old farmhouse at 5335 E. 36th Ave. in Park Hill. The commissioners found that application was incomplete.
Related Articles
-
Community members make play to save Tom’s Diner from demolition
-
Denver gives community three weeks to save Tom’s Diner from demolition
-
Tom’s Diner could soon be demolished to make way for an eight-story apartment building
On Aug. 20, the commission will consider the historic value of the Olinger Moore Howard-Berkeley Park Funeral Chapel at 4345 W. 46th Ave. The owner of that now-shuttered funeral home, SCI Funeral Services of Colorado, had plans to sell it to a developer seeking to build 58 condos on the property before a landmark application was submitted earlier this month.
The city is looking at amending its demolition application review process, the procedure that opens the door for landmark applications from the general public, officials with Denver Community Planning and Development say. Under the proposed new rules, the review process would be extended from three weeks to 60 days and the property owner would be required to meet with community stakeholders and talk about their plans.
The Tom’s Diner application will now be referred to the City Council, which will have a final say on whether or not it becomes a Denver landmark. It will next be considered by the council’s land-use, infrastructure and transportation committee on Aug. 6.
