An 86-room hotel on Camino del Rio is on its way to becoming one of the tallest buildings in the city of Durango.
Construction of the hotel, which sits along the banks of the Animas River, began in recent months, with the structure and breadth of its height becoming clearer.
Once complete, the 86-room hotel, which is slated to be a Holiday Inn Express, will reach 45 feet. For reference, the tallest building in Durango is the Strater Hotel, built in 1887, at 55 feet.
“We knew it was going to be a big building,” said Joe Lewandowski, a member of the Durango Planning Commission, which approved the project in April 2017. “Change is coming to Camino del Rio, and this is what it looks like.”
Plans for the proposed hotel were first released in winter 2017, and almost immediately, concerns were raised about the size of the building, traffic and potential impacts to the viewshed around town.
Ultimately, the project did not require a waiver of the city’s height restrictions for new development, said Scott Shine, a planner with the city of Durango.
City codes restrict building height for new development along the Animas River at 35 feet. However, if a developer puts in underground parking and designs a project to limit the visual impacts of parking, the city allows an additional height for builders of 10 feet.
The new Holiday Inn Express hit all those criteria, and the city’s Planning Commission voted 4-0 to approve the project in April 2017.
“We were aware that people would respond to the height,” said Peter Tregillus, then-chair of the Planning Commission. “It was part of the discussion.”
Tregillus said there were some trade-offs in approving the project, namely, the developer agreed to extend the Animas River Trail and donate the river front to the city of Durango. Also, the new hotel will offer a café along the Animas River.
“Those are all positive additions,” he said. “And frankly, I would rather see that demand (for places to stay in town) be sucked in by a hotel that sticks up a little bit, than a domination of residential units by Airbnb.”
Tregillus said Durango’s population keeps growing and that means change for the town.
“Yes, it’s high, but take a deep breath and step back, because our population has not stopped growing, as a planet or as a town,” he said. “We’re looking to compress, and keep development in town, and ultimately we’re going up.”
Calls to the developer, Central Design Group, and Holiday Inn, were not immediately returned.
Lewandowski said he does not fear the Planning Commission’s approval will set a precedent for other tall buildings along the Animas River.
“We look at every project individually,” he said. “And we are allowed to look at every project on its merits.”
Shine said the city has created an “Animas River corridor plan” that tries to balance future development with preserving the natural feel of the area, as well as the health of the town’s main waterway.
“This area of the river corridor may develop a little differently than some of the outlying areas,” he said. “There might be buildings more visible because we really want to try to orient buildings toward the river and take advantage of that amenity, in addition to keeping it natural.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
