Former Royal Palace Site: 10 Permits Signal Final Push for New Apartments

For decades, the corner of 1565 N Colorado Blvd held a quiet vacancy where the Royal Palace Motel once stood. That silence ended abruptly this spring, replaced by a sudden, intense flurry of city paperwork that hints at a major shift for the Park Hill corridor.

A startling cluster of ten distinct permits landed on city records between February and April 2026, marking a filing rate more than 12 times the neighborhood average. This administrative surge signals that the six-story, 155-unit apartment complex replacing the long-vacant site is moving rapidly from construction to final certification.

The permit history reads like a countdown. The first entry appeared on February 4, followed quickly by a street occupancy permit on February 11. By late February, the city issued a primary occupancy permit, yet the flood of filings continued unabated. Between March 17 and April 16, six additional occupancy permits were filed in rapid succession. The most recent entry, dated April 16, 2026, completes a sequence of ten distinct filings within a 90-day window.

This concentration of paperwork is highly unusual for a single property. The data shows a distinct spike in administrative action rather than the steady drip of maintenance requests typical for older buildings. The filings include specific permit numbers such as PW-0005947 and PW-0001240, all tied to the same location. This pace suggests a coordinated effort by the Laramar Group to clear remaining hurdles before a projected 2027 completion.

The site carries significant history for the area. It was formerly the Royal Palace Motel, a mid-century landmark that opened in 1969 and sat vacant for over a decade before its demolition in May 2025. The rapid turnover of permits aligns with earlier occupancy filings issued in late February, indicating the project is transitioning from heavy construction to final unit-by-unit approvals.

Neighbors should expect this pattern to continue as the developer secures final certifications for individual units or common areas. The latest filing on April 16 suggests that multiple phases of occupancy approval are occurring simultaneously. With the building expected to open in 2027, the city will likely process a final wave of certificates before the complex accepts its first tenants.