Former Colterra property under construction

A fire at Colterra, a French restaurant at 210 Franklin Street in Niwot, led to the closure of the popular high-end restaurant in October, 2018. Now, five years later, the iconic property is finally being redeveloped.

Restaurateur Bradford Heap, who transformed the previous restaurant known as Le Chantecler into Colterra, faced with the prospect of bringing the damaged building up to current code, ended up selling the property to Boulder developer Terry Palmos for $625,000 in September 2019, according to public records.

The building housing the restaurant was originally a barn, built on the historic Bader House property. It later became an antique store, offices to an oil and gas company, a cafe, and eventually a popular restaurant that brought visitors to Niwot from near and far.

Palmos created plans for a mixed-use development on the property, but never moved forward with them, and recently sold the property to builder-developer David Nassar of Nassar Development, LLC, based in Erie, Colorado.

Nassar moved quickly to begin the redevelopment process, obtaining necessary permits for the demolition of the former restaurant building, which was completed last week. Now he is ready to rebuild.

Anne Postle, Niwot architect with Osmosis Art and Architecture, drew the approved plans and is working with Nassar on the project. David Nassar and his son, Zach Nassar, are two of the principals in Nassar Development, LLC, according to the company website.

Postle described the plans as including two 400-square-foot commercial spaces on the ground floor, and five small residential condos on the second floor. "The five units are 600 square feet each, with a one-car garage below," Postle said. "Any more square footage would have required two garages."

The Bader House, a historic structure which was not harmed in the fire, has been vacant ever since. The hope is to add a commercial kitchen to the house to allow it to become a restaurant again.

Postle has met with Nassar several times, and describes him as someone "who cares about his projects." She said, "He hopes to add more seats to the Bader House, as it would seat about 50 people, and he's been told it needs to seat about 70 to 80 to make it work." Any modifications would have to go through a historic review process.

Postle said Nassar intends to market the Bader House as a restaurant and seems "willing to work with someone if he can find the right operator for a restaurant."