The lights went out early Monday at The Aspen, Denver’s largest hotel-turned shelter in the Central Park neighborhood, leaving hundreds of residents sitting in darkened rooms while staff hustled through hallways to make sure people were safe.
With no power and limited options, city officials started offering bus rides to an overflow warehouse shelter on Seventh Avenue. Many residents, though, chose to stay put while crews tried to fix the problem, and advocates spent the day walking the property, checking on people who rely on air conditioning, medical devices, or regular access to water and medication.
According to Denverite, electricity has been out since Monday morning at The Aspen, a 289-unit Central Park shelter at 4040 Quebec St. The city said it offered rides to 235 guests headed to the Seventh Avenue overflow site, yet most residents remained inside the powerless building. An advocate who visited the backup shelter told the outlet that only five guests chose to stay there overnight.
Shelter Background And Operator
The Aspen opened in 2023 as a city-operated noncongregate shelter after Denver converted a former DoubleTree hotel at 4040 N. Quebec Street. The facility is run by Urban Alchemy under a performance-based contract that ties payments to measurable housing outcomes, an arrangement that drew scrutiny from some council members because of the nonprofit’s record in other cities…