Royal Palace Motel Demolished After Decades of Decay on Colorado Boulevard
A long-standing piece of Colfax Avenue history has officially come down. The Royal Palace Motel, located at 1565 Colorado Boulevard just north of Colfax, was demolished this week after sitting vacant for more than a decade. First opened in 1969 during the heyday of tourism on Colfax—then dubbed the “Gateway to the Rockies”—the motel had become a local eyesore and a magnet for crime after closing its doors in 2013.
Once a bustling stopover in Denver’s mid-century travel corridor, the Royal Palace fell into disrepair and became a source of constant emergency calls and break-ins. A former owner estimated the vacant building cost more than $20,000 a month in damages and repairs. Residents nearby had mixed reactions to the demolition—some mourned the loss of a familiar landmark, while others were glad to see what they considered a blight on the neighborhood finally removed.
The site also holds darker memories. In one of Denver’s unsolved cold cases, John Eggers was found shot to death in one of the motel’s rooms. His killer was never identified. The demolition clears the way for new development, with plans to replace the old motel with a modern apartment complex—part of the ongoing transformation of the City Park and East Colfax corridor.
Colfax Avenue, once lined with vibrant neon signs, hotels, and nightlife in the 1960s and ’70s, has seen many such relics removed as the corridor evolves. As Denver continues to grow, the fall of the Royal Palace Motel marks another step in the reshaping of the city’s iconic but complicated past.
