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Hayden Town Council gets early glimpse at new building on South Walnut Street

An early design for Hayden's new building on South Walnut Street would have a flat roof and front facade that emulates the current building and others on the block.
Hayden/Courtesy

Hayden’s Town Council reviewed early plans for what the town’s new building on South Walnut Street will look like on Wednesday, May 4.

Council members say they favored a balanced look for the building’s facade, with an equal number of windows on each side of the front entrance — a trait found on the current building as well.

Town Manager Mathew Mendisco said he was hopeful deconstruction on the current building would start later this summer and be complete before the end of the year, with work on the new building likely not starting until 2023.



“These are very preliminary,” Mendisco said.

Last month, the council voted to tear down the century-old building at 135 Walnut Street that had ties to a local pioneer after the issue spurred a passionate discussion about what history in the town rises to the level that makes it worth preserving.



This building at 135 South Walnut Street in downtown Hayden.
John F. Russell/Steamboat Pilot & Today

The building will be deconstructed in a process that hopes to save building materials that could be incorporated into the new structure. Current planning is being funded by a Colorado Department of Local Affairs grant that Mendisco said has been extended a year, allowing the town more time to complete the project.

The plans make recommendations on the floor plan and some basic exterior concepts that are based on other buildings on the block. Plans show the building will contain a co-working space, private meeting room, some semi-private work areas, as well as a kitchen near the front. The building will eventually house the town’s business incubator.

The roof of the building will actually slope toward the front, Mendisco said. This hopes to ease drainage issues that plague the current structure by diverting storm water toward the street.

The building will also be slightly slimmer, leaving enough room for a path and secondary entrance on the side.

For the front of the building, council members said they favored a look similar to what is there now, with windows balanced on either side of the door as opposed to an offset look.

“That was one of the original stipulations with the facade is that we try to stay as close as possible to what is there today,” said Council Member Ed Corriveau.

For the exterior material, Mendisco presented either brick or concrete siding options, the former of which would match the building immediately north of 135 Walnut.

Mayor Zach Wuestewald said he wanted staff to explore wood siding for the exterior of the front, adding that concrete siding looked too modern for one of Hayden’s oldest blocks. He suggested cedar or some other wood lap siding, which is similar to buildings across the street.

Mendisco said staff would look into a wood-based front in addition to the brick option presented ahead of council’s final decision at its next meeting later this month.

“That will set a final design in terms of the outside,” Mendisco said. “Then we can put out a final, ‘here’s what the new building will look like.'”


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