One of Fort Collins’ oldest buildings may become new restaurant, offices

A historic building at the corner of West Mountain Avenue and Mason Street may soon get an upgrade as plans to redevelop the former law offices into a mix of restaurants and retail work their way through the city’s development process.

The proposal for the William S. Hill Building, 160 W. Mountain Ave., includes up to 18,000 square feet — 9,000 square feet below ground and 9,000 square feet on ground level — at the key Fort Collins intersection south of the city parking garage and west of Steak-Out Saloon.

The site, built between 1906 and 1908, once housed a hardware store and for generations was the home of Hill & Hill, a family firm that housed four generations of lawyers. A preliminary redevelopment plan was filed earlier this month with the city’s planning department. Planners will review the application early next week.

The property passed through the generations of Hills and is still owned by Christina Hill Dishun — the great-granddaughter of William S. Hill — and her husband, Kevin, under 160 W. Mountain, a limited liability company based from their home in Mesa, Arizona.

“It was always important, if possible, to keep the building in the family,” Christina Dishun said. “It has such a long history.”

Waypoint Real Estate in Fort Collins is partnering with the family to bring the project to life, said Realtor Josh Guernsey. “Our vision is just to rejuvenate and reactivate that area of Mountain Avenue. From a pedestrian perspective, there are great restaurants and activity on Mountain that dies off” at that corner.

The site has been mostly vacant since Alden V. Hill’s death in January 2022. Since then, her family and Waypoint Real Estate have been brainstorming ideas for the site. “We’ve been talking about what would be good, what would fit in the area but also not be something so far afield from the purpose of the building. Just doing an office didn’t seem right.”

Waypoint is currently seeking potential tenants for the building, which is expected to be ready for lease next summer or fall, Guernsey said.

Before any formal development review application can be submitted and reviewed, the city’s historic preservation office will need to issue updated findings related to the building’s status as a historic resource, said Jim Bertolini, senior historic preservation planner for the city’s Community Development and Neighborhood Services office. That step is usually triggered after the conceptual review.

The city last did a historic survey on the site in 1992.

If the building is found to be historic, Bertolini’s office would review the proposed project along with historical documentation about the property to determine if the exterior work met city and federal standards and guidelines for historic buildings, Bertolini said.

Generally, the standards support the adaptive reuse of buildings in the manner outlined in the design concept, he said. If the building is eligible, the owner/developer would have the option to ask for landmark designation, which would allow it to leverage certain public funding programs to help pay rehabilitation costs.

The building was constructed on what was known in the early 1900s as the Bouton and Crain Block. It originally housed a hardware store built by Jay Bouton and L.D. Crain. Bouton, a lawyer and New York native, came to Fort Collins in 1872. He built the first building in “new town” and served as town attorney, county attorney, county and district judge as well as town alderman, president of the school board and one of the owners and builders of the Opera Block, according to a Historic Building Inventory conducted by the state in 1992.

Bouton’s son, Clark, was involved in the operation of a hardware store and Crain, Bouton’s son-in-law, served as president of the hardware company. Crain was an Indiana native who came to Fort Collins in 1892.

Crain worked as an assistant and later professor of electrical engineering at what was then Colorado Agricultural College until 1905, when he left teaching to go into the hardware business.

By April 1908, the Barkley, Bouton and Crain Hardware Co. advertised itself as “the big modern hardware store” that featured hardware, sporting goods, furnaces, steam and hot water heating equipment, plumbing fixtures and tinning and cornice work.

The building later housed other hardware stores including the Jackson-Ankney Mercantile Co., the Northern Hardware Co. and the Standard Mercantile Co.

The original facade featured a central, recessed entrance flanked by two large, plate glass windows with clerestory windows across the width of the building, a storefront cornice and a projecting cornice with brackets, which remain.

The facade now has four bays on either side of the recessed central entrance with doors and windows that show no significant historical value. The west and rear sides of the building have been stuccoed, the brick painted and decorative brickwork added along the roofline.

According to historical documents, the building represents the early commercial development of West Mountain Avenue after the turn of the century and is notable for its association with Bouton and Crain.

The present facade was added after 1941. Alterations have “compromised the historic integrity of the building,” the historical survey said.

W.S. Hill, manager of Standard Mercantile Co., took out a $400 building permit in January 1933. In June 1936, the Standard Mercantile Co. pulled a permit to remodel the front of the building. Hill went on to serve in Congress from 1941 to 1959. He died in 1972.

W.S. Hill’s son, Alden T. Hill was a prominent Fort Collins attorney for six decades. He and his son, Alden V. Hill established Hill & Hill LLC at 160 W. Mountain, which served Fort Collins for more than 80 years. Alden V.’s son, Brett, later joined the practice before establishing his own Fort Collins firm. Alden V. was a practicing attorney until his death in 2022.

The building will be named the William S. Hill Building and will include a ghost sign that looks like it has been there throughout the years. “I like that they’re going to find a way to weave that into whatever they do,” Dishun said. “That was important to me, to all of us.”