Since purchasing the historic Hotel St. Cloud in July, Unbridled has held true to its plans of acquiring other key buildings near the hotel to be able to provide off-premise office space for key staff, as well as space for events, shops and amenities.
Unbridled President Stan Bullis said while things may appear to have been quiet, it’s been anything but that.
“It’s been quiet, but not because we haven’t been doing anything,” he said. “Now we are getting ready to move forward on other buildings to shore them up.”
Apex Building
Unbridled has purchased the Apex Building at 425 Main St., which will continue to house FEDC TechSTART on the second floor, and a new company called Fremont Makers that will be located on the ground level.
“Fremont Makers will make custom furniture,” Bullis said. “Our mission is to help re-acclimate people coming out of the prison system and also teach up and coming entrepreneurs craftsmanship.”
The company already is operating in Denver and will relocate to the Cañon City location, where they will make most of the furniture for the Hotel St. Cloud.
Bullis said the business fits in with City of Cañon City’s goal of making the downtown an arts and entertainment district. Fremont Makers should be in operation by the end of the year.
The Post Office
The main floor of Cañon City’s historic post office building at 505 Macon Ave., also now under the ownership of Unbridled, is being restored and transformed into an event venue fittingly called the Post Ofice. Crews are working on deferred maintenance, installing hardwood floors, updating the conference room, installing a fire monitoring system and building a bar.
Fremont Center for the Arts will continue to lease the space and showcase monthly art displays, but it also will be open for outside events, including weddings, dinner banquets, luncheon meetings and more.
The Annex
Located at 507 Main St., the Annex Event Center, one of Unbridled Holdings’ most recent acquisitions, also is undergoing deferred maintenance, getting a new roof and potentially may get a new elevator. Bullis said the Annex will operate as an event venue, and the ground floor currently is being leased by Teek.
Hotel St. Cloud
The original goal was to begin swinging hammers by the end of June on the hotel, which could still happen if Unbridled can get a bank to back the project. Unbridled already does have the downpayment money raised.
“Pueblo Bank & Trust is working really hard, they’re doing everything they can,” Bullis said. “I think we’re close.”
Unbridled is continuing to explore possibilities with the SBA and USDA.
The projected opening date, if everything goes as planned, is April 2, 2022, which is the 150th anniversary of Canon City.
709 Main St.
Hotel St. Cloud can’t expand vertically, but it can expand horizontally. To the east of the hotel, the 709 Main St. building will be used for executive offices and a spa and gym for the hotel.
The spa upstairs may offer such services as massages, facials and nails. A concierge service will be housed on the ground floor, offering a place to book trips and services.
The Spa would open at the same time as the hotel.
Florence High School Building
On this project, Unbridled is partnering with Chris Koehn, founder of Second-61, and Brad Rowland, who worked with FEDC to build the TechSTART co-working community, to create a live, work and play campus. The project likely will include a series of 15 apartments, and the gymnasium will be available for the school district and community use.
“We want to create a co-working environment so other tech people can work out of there,” Bullis said. “We want to be super community friendly and repurpose that building to bring jobs in, to bring people and to bring relationships to that community.”
During the next couple of years, Unbridled will add about 100 new jobs, including about 50 for the hotel. Those interested in submitting an application for future opportunities may visit https://unbridled.com/canoncityjobs.
