When Rustin Waller became general manager of the Newhouse Hotel in 2013 across from the Colorado Capitol building, he knew he had a tough job.
The bed bugs and roaches — but he had the OK to start cleaning up the place.
“That bothered me to be in charge of a place associated with that,” Waller said. “It embarrassed me to work here and embarrassed me to tell people I worked here.”
But since coming on board, he says he has rid the hotel of its bug problem and cleaned out the 10-plus sex offenders who lived there at the time he arrived. The hotel at 1470 Grant St. offers weekly and daily rates and is home to about 70 full-time residents. It’s owned by Dikeou Investments.
Some websites still say that up to four sex offenders live there, but Waller says those are mistakes he and he has worked with the Denver Police Department to make sure no more are allowed to live there.
Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson confirmed that Waller has coordinated with the department’s sex offender unit and that no more currently live there. The clerical errors are being fixed and the information on sex offenders is public record.
“We’re definitely going to look into it and take measures to avoid (the errors) in the future,” Jackson said.
Although Waller didn’t want sex offenders populating his hotel, he didn’t come in and kick them all out. He stopped allowing new ones to move in and eventually the rest left. Some were removed for other infractions.
“First, we were kicking people out for being criminals,” Waller said. “As we cleaned up, we kicked people out for being dirty. … Now we have a clean community.”
Waller has also worked to remodel the rooms and clean up the common areas at the hotel. Resident and front desk worker Lineia Stone got married in the front lobby in August and now lives on the second floor. She said she’s noticed big changes since coming on board in the late summer to now, but there are still some issues.
“I think most conflicts stem from habit,” Stone said. “This was a seedy place. Changing that is slow, but I’ve noticed we had a lot more problems when I started in August than now in December. Word is out that this place is under new management and shenanigans won’t fly here now.”
Waller has also worked on cleaning up the outside of the hotel. When he parks his car, he walks around the building and asks homeless people or drug dealers he sees hanging out in front to move on. He said it’s led to some conflicts and noted that he has worked in security and is licensed to carry a firearm and Mace.
There is now a fence around the perimeter of the hotel and better lighting outside.
Janitor Joe Davis has worked there since before Waller came on board and said the difference is staggering.
“When he came here, this was really a rough place,” Davis said. “He’s changed it into a money maker.”
Although Waller hasn’t worked with anyone in the community on the problems in the area, the improvement is being noticed.
Frank Locantore, community director of the Colfax Business Improvement District, said he’s been wanting to engage with management there and possibly work with the hotel in the future to be more involved in the community.
“This is a really good spot,” he said, “and there’s a lot of opportunity to make things look good.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or @joe_vacc
