Many people who take the time to explore Trinidad fall in love with the city’s brick streets and historic charm at first sight. Denver developer Dana Crawford is one of those Trinidad-lovers and is now the owner of 10 buildings in the Corazon de Trinidad Historic District. Her company, Urban Neighborhoods, Inc., is working on a pre-development agreement with the City to revitalize the city-owned Fox-West Theatre, located at 423 W. Main St., though the agreement is not yet finalized.
Crawford talked about her love for Trinidad in a Wednesday, February 6 phone interview, describing the possibilities that she saw in Trinidad. “When I first drove into Trinidad and saw the grand Victorian buildings and brick streets I just fell in love with it,” she said. “I like to work in communities with a sense of place and Trinidad definitely has that. At Urban Neighborhoods we try to collaborate with communities that have unique and special qualities that make them stand out, and as the southern gateway to Colorado Trinidad has many of those qualities that we’re looking for.”
Her company has been doing a lot of research into the history of the Fox – West Theatre, including conversations with the Sawaya family members who owned and operated the theatre for many years. Crawford said the building was structurally sound but the uppermost balcony might have to be permanently closed off, thus reducing its seating from the original 1,200 seats down to 650 seats.
She said a complete restoration of the theatre could cost $8 million or more, something that wasn’t possible given the financial resources available for such a project. “We prefer to think of it as a rehabilitation project rather than a complete restoration,” she said. “The idea is to take a structure built in 1906 and rehabilitate it for use in the 21st Century, so it would still be here in the century after that. There could be some pain along the way, and a whole lot of money will need to be raised but it can be done. The acoustics are perfect.”
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