Douglas Chapman Hall, who died April 20 at age 71, was a self-made real estate magnate whose ubiquitous Hall & Hall parking lots blanket the area just southeast of downtown Denver.
“Hallville” was the affectionate name his friends gave the gritty expanse bordered by East Colfax and 20th avenues and Washington and Sherman streets. As Hall drove his pickup truck to and from appointments in Capitol Hill, he routinely detoured through his parking lots to monitor them.
The youngest of six children born to a Council Bluffs, Iowa, insurance businessman and a homemaker, Hall grew up in Council Bluffs and Hartford, Conn., before the family moved to Denver, where Hall graduated from East High School.
After a stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, Hall became a primary owner, manager and developer of real estate throughout Colorado but principally in Capitol Hill.
He bought most of the property in small parcels, acquiring vacant lots and buildings that were relatively inexpensive in the 1960s and early 1970s. By the 1990s, Hall & Hall owned whole blocks and half-blocks containing about 1,600 parking spaces.
He shared his business offices with his brother, Henry Hall, who ran an insurance business in the gray mansion near the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. From Hall & Hall’s windows, he could see at least three of his parking lots and some of the buildings he owned.
Despite periodic economic busts, the land value steadily appreciated. For Hall, it was a simple equation: More people moving to Denver meant more people working downtown and competing for a finite number of parking spaces on surface lots limited by zoning regulations.
As demand grew, prices increased, and customers griped. But the lots remained full as customers shoved the extra quarters and $1 bills into the narrow slots of the pay boxes guarding the parking lot entrances.
He weathered problems that ranged from bad checks – a problem that eventually resulted in a cash-only policy for parking customers – to lawsuits.
Along with eight other downtown parking-lot proprietors, Hall was named in a 2000 lawsuit alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He then added handicapped spaces to his lots.
Hall befriended many of his customers and the tenants of the buildings he owned. He gave parking discounts to some, and lent money to others who were struggling with financial or health problems.
“They called him a ‘covert philanthropist’ at the service, because he assisted widows and young people, poor people and transients, but didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” said his lawyer and longtime friend John Fanganello.
Besides his brother, survivors include his wife of 50 years, Nancy Hanks Hall of Englewood; son David Hall of Denver; daughters Mary Jette of Louisville, Linda Huyck of Castle Rock and Judy Fernstrum of Englewood; and nine grandchildren.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
