State Historic Trust Progress Report

Telluride Transfer Warehouse Progress Report  

#2017-01-041  

3.15.2018

Dear Mike and Korbin,

The primary restoration activity on the Telluride Transfer Warehouse was summarized in the report submitted by John Feinberg upon completion of the masonry restoration of the existing historic materials in December.

Since that time, and one year in the making, Telluride Arts has worked with the Town of Telluride and the owner, Telluride Transfer Co (TTC), to win an approval that allows for a far superior design and construction plan for completion of the building from this point forward.

The Warehouse sits on one of the more geographically and financially valuable, last developable parcels in Telluride. It is a local treasure that deserves the best possible restoration plan and adaptive reuse. Therefore, as stewards of this significant historic site, Telluride Arts has worked do undo a requirement that the Town placed on TTC to finish the building to a basic “shell condition” prior to sale to Telluride Arts. We have successfully revised all agreements that will allow for us to complete our purchase and take site control this month.

This requirement was part of the public benefit required of TTC. The design, created for economy rather than preservation and/or adaptive reuse, included a series of six vertical interior steel structures that would provide the support for the warehouse style roof. It would inhibit the rebuilding of the second floor and the historic basement, require a drywall interior finish, and limit the functionality of the building for contemporary uses. This plan became extremely undesirable as we learned more deeply about historic preservation, and the potential for how excellent design would enhance the experience of Telluride’s history, more fully tell the story of the building, and provide beautiful spaces for contemporary uses.

We have become acutely aware of the significance of the opportunity to capture the history of the building from the day it was built in 1906, to the days it provided coal, storage, and gas, through when the roof caved in in 1979, through today, when it has been enjoyed fully by the community in its roofless, ruin state. Embedded in the walls is quite literally a timeline of Telluride that we feel compelled to honor and preserve.

When we did a national competition for architecture, we were extremely grateful for the depth of insight and talent the teams brought to the historic preservation element of the site. Each of the three finalists independently came up with essentially the same concept: To drop a box inside of the existing walls, with glass above the stone that would flood the walls with natural light, and indoor-outdoor elements that would capture the recent roofless (and beloved) state of the space.

Over the course of the summer of 2017, as the masons were on site and the owner was advancing towards building the economical, but inferior “shell”, our main concern was to intervene and redirect the project to provide for much better result.

This required mobilizing our team of architects and engineers, attorneys and advisors, to revise restoration plans, and renegotiate both the PUD agreement with the Town and the purchase agreement between the TTC and Telluride Arts. This was a very time consuming and complex process, requiring the approval of the Planning and Zoning Board, the Historic and Architectural Review Committees, and final approval by Town Council.

Concurrent to this process, we provided constant on-site intervention and oversight of the conservation process. Specifically, we preserved evidence of the second floor with a specific treatment of joist pockets, we modified the lintel detail do the original wood was carefully cut and faced the new steel, we stopped the addition of a concrete bond beam that would have to be removed for our plans, and we preserved the evidence of the existing vault, which was dismantled in order to use the stone to rebuild the walls, we blocked the infill of the existing basement, and preserved plaster that had been added to the interior walls over the course of time and changing uses.

Our team included Bob Mather, Historic Preservation Architect and Telluride Arts Board Member, John Feinberg, with The Collaborative, Joe and Julya Sembrat, with Conservation Solutions and Julya is Telluride Arts Board Member, Nancy Hudson with Silman Engineering, David Lewis with LTL Architects, Doug Tueller, Tueller and Assoc Law Firm, Todd Brown, Telluride Arts Board member and Town Council member, all of the Telluride Arts Board of Directors and Advisors, and myself.

This was a major investment in the future of the building on many levels.

All told, the hard expenses we accrued to accomplish these goals, not including our own administrative time, many volunteer hours totaled $98,025. Including the $95,103 in legal fees accrued to accomplish these goals; the total for this phase was $193,128. We hope that some of these expenses can be covered by the contingency funds.

Our next immediate steps will include finalizing the grant with SHF and closing the purchase of the Warehouse with owner financing on March 26.

We are immensely grateful for your support, and hope we can continue to work with you in the future.

Sincerely, Kate Jones, Executive Director Telluride Arts