Say "rooftop bar" and most people picture the same scene: string lights, a dress code nobody mentioned until you showed up in sneakers, a crowd that thins out once last call hits. That's not what opened on top of Hotel Longmont this month.
Longmont Supply, the restaurant and bar on the hotel's fifth floor at 508 3rd Ave, pours its first cup of coffee at 7 a.m. daily, according to the property's own restaurant page and multiple hospitality trade outlets covering the opening. You don't need a room key to get up there, and you don't need to wait for happy hour. If you've been downtown at sunrise wondering what that new building on Kimbark is, the answer is a place that will serve you a Front Range breakfast with a view of the Flatirons before it ever pours a cocktail.
A Decade of Planning, Four Years Since the Vote
Longmont has talked about a downtown hotel for a long time. The Longmont City Council voted on November 15, 2022 to move forward with a five-story boutique hotel at the northwest corner of Kimbark and 3rd, working with the Longmont Downtown Development Authority to make it happen. The city transferred the land to the developer, Mississippi-based The Thrash Group, working alongside Colorado-based Vertikal, as part of an incentive package reported at roughly $4.3 million in tax increment funding and lodging-tax reimbursements.
Nearly four years passed between that vote and opening day. The Denver Gazette reported on August 10 that Hotel Longmont opened last week, and it's the first true boutique hotel the city has had. That's a long runway for a single corner lot, and it's the kind of timeline you only register if you've been driving past that intersection since before the vote happened.
The View You Don't Need a Room to See
The hotel itself has 84 guest rooms, including a family-friendly bunk room with two queens and twin bunks above, so it's clearly built for overnight stays. But Longmont Supply operates as its own destination on the fifth floor, with sweeping views of Longs Peak and the Flatirons, indoor and outdoor seating, and a public entrance that doesn't route you through a lobby check-in. Joe Thrash, a partner at The Thrash Group, said as much when the property opened: the goal was "a gathering place for locals and home base for visitors exploring Colorado." That's a specific choice, not a marketing line you can take for granted from a hotel restaurant.
That distinction matters more once you look at the hours. Longmont Supply isn't a late-night pour after the kitchen closes. It's open every day of the week, starting at 7 a.m., but how late it stays open depends on which night you show up:
| Days | Opens | Bar & Dining Room Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday through Wednesday | 7 a.m. | 9 p.m. |
| Thursday through Saturday | 7 a.m. | 10 p.m. |
That's a restaurant schedule with a bar's weekend flexibility, not the other way around. A Tuesday coffee meeting up there works exactly the same way a Friday dinner reservation does. In-room dining is available to hotel guests anytime the restaurant is open, but the rooftop itself is built for the neighborhood as much as for anyone sleeping upstairs.
What's Actually on the Table
The menu leans into wild game and seasonal produce rather than the generic small-plates format most new restaurants default to. According to a release from Longmont Supply's food and beverage team, the seasonally rotating menu is built around named local farms and purveyors, including Buckner Family Ranch, Forever Green Farms, and Blue Point Bakery, with dishes like a Pulled Duck Sandwich and Front Range Game Sliders alongside gluten-friendly and vegetarian options.
The drink list follows the same seasonal logic. Two cocktails getting early attention:
- Lemon Basil Margherita, made with Milagro silver tequila, Cointreau, a basil-infused sour mix, a basil crystal rim, and a lemon wheel
- Main Street Sour, made with Stranahan's Whiskey, house sour, a red wine float, and dark cherry
Lindsey Ryan, Longmont Supply's director of food and beverage, described the approach directly:
"Our menu is constantly evolving in partnership with our local farms and purveyors. Longmont Supply is built around fresh, seasonal ingredients served within an elevated yet approachable atmosphere."
That word, approachable, is doing real work here. A rooftop with sweeping mountain views could easily have priced itself as an occasion-only splurge. Instead it's positioning itself as somewhere you go on a Tuesday.
How This Fits Into a Downtown Longmont Night
Hotel Longmont sits at the corner of 3rd and Kimbark, which puts it a short walk from the shops and breweries that already define that stretch of downtown. The hotel leaned into that proximity rather than competing with it. Nearly all of the artwork throughout the property was commissioned from Colorado artists in partnership with the Longmont Creative District, with 100 percent of sale proceeds going directly to the artists. The retail on site runs through Colorado Crafted, and the coffee behind that 7 a.m. opening comes from Longmont's own Ziggi's Coffee, not an imported hotel-brand roast.
General manager Hayley Jo Hunt, a Longmont native, framed the project as an extension of the town rather than an import:
"Longmont is a city of artists, makers, and small-business owners, and we have brought in that local creativity to every aspect of the hotel."
Whether that holds up over time is something only regular use will tell. But the early signals, a public-facing rooftop, a 7 a.m. opening, local farms named on the menu, and a coffee partner most residents already recognize, point toward a place built to be used by the neighborhood, not just photographed by it.
If you've been downtown recently and noticed the new building on the skyline, now you know what's actually happening up there, and when to go find out for yourself.
Jane Kraemer has spent her career watching Longmont change block by block, from the businesses that open on Main Street to the projects that take years to clear City Council. If you're curious how developments like this one shape the value and character of downtown living, or you're thinking ahead to what owning a piece of this neighborhood could look like, Jane Kraemer is a call away.
