Denver's “Marijuana Mansion” is back to just the Creswell Mansion.
The protected city landmark at 1244 North Grant Street was sold last week for just over $1 million to local radiologist and developer John Hotchkiss IV, who is in charge of the building. We have no intention of maintaining it as an event space for the cannabis-oriented community.
“It just kind of spoke to me,” Hotchkiss said. “When I first saw it, I didn't actually go in there thinking I was going to buy it, but once I walked in, I was just blown away. Things aren't made like this anymore.”
The lot is 0.15 acres and the house is 5,716 square feet, so it sold for about $175 per square foot. The building is a protected city landmark and is zoned for commercial offices.
Hotchkiss said the property will house several of his LLCs, but he has not yet decided on any plans for the property beyond that.
“We have some ideas in mind, but we haven't even started finalizing anything yet,” Hotchkiss said. “This space has a lot of interesting and artistic decorations left behind by the previous owners, so I'm at a loss as to what to do and how to do it.”
Hotchkiss said the deal did not include a carriage house behind the mansion that would house Green Dragon's pharmacy. The building is also up for sale, but Hotchkiss noted that Colorado's cannabis industry is going through tough times, with sales down significantly since their peak in 2020.
“I'm sure not all pharmacies are struggling, but many are, and especially in Denver, the industry as a whole has experienced some degree of consolidation and downsizing. …All I think real estate is good at the right price, but it's a much more difficult transaction,” Hotchkiss said. “Being licensed as a pharmacy, there are a lot of complexities and nuances.”
The mansion's owner, Lisa Rader, who still owns the Green Dragon property, said the complexities of Denver's marijuana entertainment laws, which allow public consumption of marijuana, make it expensive to operate. He told Business Den that he decided to sell the mansion because of the situation.
Reeder, who currently lives in Florida, bought both properties in 2019 for $2.1 million and spent about $250,000 renovating the mansion into an event space dedicated to art and cannabis history.
“The residence was never used as a social consumption lounge, nor was there any attempt to apply for a social consumption or hospitality consumption license,” Mr Rader said. “However, Denver's rules have become so restrictive that cannabis consumption is no longer allowed, even at private events. …Government overregulation can be very damaging to businesses. We invested a lot of money into building this wonderful space, but in the end we were unable to operate it profitably.”
Leder said Denver allows mobile consumption buses, so her company decided to provide a bus to pick up groups from the mansion and take them off-site for consumption. It is said that he did. But Rieder said it would be too expensive to host the event and the regulations would be too inconvenient for guests.
When Reeder decided to sell, he initially asked $2.3 million for both the mansion and the carriage house.
The building at 1244 N. Grant was originally constructed in 1889 for Joseph Cresswell. In 1975, it was designated a city landmark, a status that effectively protects it from demolition.
The building became associated with marijuana in 2013 when Vicente Sederberg, a cannabis law firm that played a key role in statewide recreational legalization, moved its offices there. A cannabis-friendly spa until the city rejected the proposal in 2018.
Mr. Hotchkiss is originally from Colorado, but has worked in development across the country, including Omaha and Tacoma, Washington. Hotchkiss said his previous properties in Colorado were apartments and vacant land, so this is his first time buying this type of property.
Hotchkiss said the mansion is in need of renovation, but it's hard to give up the feeling of stepping back in time that the mansion provides.
“We don't have something very old and historic here like on the East Coast,” Hotchkiss said. “It's a really interesting feeling. …When you walk around, you can feel that so much life has lived inside that building, and it's really humbling in a way.”
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