On February 3, 2025, the GCD conservation committee hosted a tour and happy hour at the new Populus Hotel near Civic Center Park, on what was the original site of the first gas station in Colorado. The architectural design was created by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang, and developed by Grant McCargo of Urban Villages. It took seven years to complete, received a LEED Gold Certification, and is billed as the first net carbon positive hotel in the United States. The project was inspired from a walk in the Rocky Mountain forests which are filled with aspens, known as Populus Tremuloides. Also inspired from this walk is the audio feed in the elevators, which are a compilation of recordings of forest noises.
The 13-story hotel with 265 guest rooms resembles a cluster of aspen trees with lots of eyes or scars from fallen branches. The facade is composed of precast glass fiber reinforced concrete that is made with fly ash so that it emits 30% less carbon. The facade acts as a blanket to insulate the property. The window openings are various shapes and sizes and extend over the windows to provide more shade, which reduces the need for air conditioning. The carpet is compostable, and the interior wood trim was sourced from pine beetle ravaged forests. The “leather” on the upholstery and walls is Reishi leather, a vegan, bio-engineered leather alternative made from mycelium, the root structure of the reishi mushroom. To further promote sustainability, Populus planted more than 70,000 trees in Gunnison County, Colorado, and has a “One Night, One Tree” initiative to plant one tree for each guest night. It also used 100% renewable energy from Xcel Energy. It doesn’t have any on-site parking and offers valet parking in the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building garage, which is typically empty after business hours when guests need to park their cars.
The restaurants, Pasque (Pulsatilla patens, native to Colorado) and Stellar Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri, native to Colorado), practice zero-waste dining, using an on-site bio digester to divert 100% of food waste away from landfills and into compost for local farms. They support regenerative farming practices that sequester carbon and improve the food system, including donating one percent of restaurant sales to regenerative farming. The restaurants are lead by executive chef Ian Wortham and director of food and beverage Curtis Landrum, who both worked with the Frasca Hospitality Group at Tavernetta, Frasca Food and Wine, and Cherry Creek’s Clayton Hotel & Members Club.
After our tour, we had happy hour at Pasque and enjoyed a presentation arranged by Bar Chadwick from Jon Buerge, President of Urban Villages. He was generous with his time and answered all of our questions. The food at Pasque was delicious, and many of us would like to return for a full meal soon.
-story and photos by Lynn D.
