A portion of the former Veterans Affairs hospital off Colorado Boulevard in Denver could be turned into self-storage.
Chicago-based Development Solutions Group submitted plans to the city in January proposing a 5-story storage facility where Building 24 sits on the former hospital campus at 1055 Clermont St.
Building 24 sits on 0.73 acre north of the shuttered main hospital building and east of a parking garage. DSG calls it a “vacant, two-story 1975-era service structure.”
DSG did not respond to a request for comment. In the plans submitted to Denver, DSG executive Charlie Mengel said the storage facility would serve as “attic space” for the Hale neighborhood, which has seen more multifamily development in recent years, particularly at the nearby 9+Co project.
The low-traffic storage use works well on a parcel set back from main streets, according to DSG. It plans to deed some of the lot to the city so an extension of 11th Avenue can be built to the north. The road that exists there is privately owned.
DSG’s website indicates that the company has developed six storage facilities in Illinois.
The former VA hospital is owned by Denver-based GM Development, which paid $41.3 million in 2022. The deal included six buildings on 8.2 acres, including Building 24. The federal government kept some smaller buildings to the north.
GM Development executive Ben Gearhart did not respond to requests for comment from BusinessDen. But he submitted a letter to Denver in support of DSG’s plans.
“DSG has put forward a thoughtful solution for a challenging, landlocked parcel. Having explored various development scenarios for this site, we found no market viability for other uses due to these severe constraints; we are confident that DSG’s proposal represents the highest and best use,” Gearhart wrote.
The largest building that GM bought, the main hospital building, is 489,000 square feet and tops out at about 10 stories. The company is looking to repurpose that structure for residential use.
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