Stop work order lifted at the Frank Bader Home

Work on the historic Frank Bader Home at 210 Franklin Street in Niwot has resumed, following a stop work order imposed by Boulder County designed to ensure that proper permitting by the site's owner, Nassar Development, was in place for the site at the corner of Second Avenue and Franklin Street. Work cessation took place when residents noticed that the scope of work appeared to exceed the limits allowed by the permitting. Denise Grimm, Principal Planner, Historic Preservation for Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting, said, "We inspected and determined that that did appear to be the case. Since then, the owners have been trying to determine how they would do the additions on the Bader House. They've been considering whether to propose something different and go through a longer review process, or to just get approval for what they've done within the scope of what was previously approved. That's the route they decided to go." Revised plans for the project were taken to a subcommittee of the county's Historic Preservation Advisory Board for their approval and to receive a Certificate of Appropriateness. That meeting, conducted online through Zoom, took place February 26, and the board determined that Nassar Development could receive the certificate and continue work. The subcommittee meeting was attended by several community members and by Nassar Development's founder David Nassar and company CEO Zachary Nassar. It addressed many of the questions Niwot residents have about how the development has been proceeding.

"I thought that meeting the Nassars 'in person' was very helpful," said Boulder County author and historian Anne Dyni. Just listening to them describe the actual conditions they encountered as they peeled away the exterior layers made their removal of important architectural features seem logical. It was obvious that they have experience restoring vintage buildings. But I do hope that they keep their promise of replicating this building to be as close as possible to the original." Reconstruction choices prove difficult

The meeting included detailed discussion about choices that have been made to date regarding the project. This included use of aluminum clad windows rather than vinyl clad, siding that was closer to the home's historic original siding, the restoration of the porch, and the approach to handling windows and the staircase within the building.

"When we started renovating we noticed substantial structural defects in the building, the condition it was in was in dire need of repair," Zachary Nassar said. "The floor system was falling down and just sitting on the dirt. The floor joists weren't supporting anything. As we discovered those, it was our intent to build it back properly so the building has the chance to survive another 150 years." In addressing questions about removing and replacing trim and siding, Zachary Nassar confirmed that it was their intent to replicate both as best they could and there were reasons they proceeded as they did, exemplified by what they found with the siding. "A lot of that deteriorated and was covered by fasteners." He added that they are following color names and color codes from the approval and intend to match it.

Retaining building items for historical education

During the meeting, community members pressed the Nassars to further identify what was salvageable or not. Zachary Nassar said that while teams didn't save the stairs, they did save some newel posts for the stairs and stained glass.

He said that in his view, windows represented building concerns because they were sagging, binding and rotting, and that they were unsavable. He added that teams didn't save interior trim because it wasn't original to the house and was a mix of trim profiles.

Carol Affleck, a prior owner of the building in the early 1980s, attended the meeting, asking about flagstone in the front of the building against the ground. David Nassar, responded, "We do have the stone and once the grades are put back to the elevation that the permit approved and is ADA compliant, we are going to use as much of them as possible." In response to questions about pushbutton switches to a light fixture. David Nassar admitted, "I appreciate the comment. That's hindsight and, generally we're used to receiving conditions and if some of those things were asked of us we would have kept them. I won't make it up, we didn't think about that. But I do respect the question." All parties appeared to be focused on moving forward and when Affleck asked about the reconstruction of the property's door, David Nassar responded that it wasn't ready, but when it was he would be happy to share it, adding, "We want a good relationship with our neighbors." "Our goal is to make this a restaurant and something the whole community can enjoy," David Nassar added. "I hope that everyone thinks about the macros of preserving the building and bringing it back to something the community benefits from. To do that we have to have windows that work, it has to be safe. We have to meet code."