The former Agave Shore location at 2736 Welton St. in Five Points is seen on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
A taco restaurant in Five Points has been evicted and sued for $500,000 by its landlord, who it is countersuing for negligence and accusing of conspiring against the eatery.
It is a marked escalation of a dispute that began years ago with claims of crookedness and has come to include liquor violations and a rebuke by the city. The eviction arrives at a time when Denver’s historically black corridor is working to recover post-pandemic.
“We at Agave Shore are saddened by our unexpected departure from our home for the last three years,” its owners told BusinessDen. They added, “We thank the community for its support and hope to continue to be a part of this vibrant area of Denver in the future.”
The restaurant, in Five Points Plaza at 2736 Welton St., opened in 2021. It leased space from The Flyfisher Group, whose CEO, Matthew Burkett, has repeatedly irked tenants in recent years.
In March, Denver-based Flyfisher asked Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen to evict Agave Shore from 2736 Welton. The restaurant’s co-owners “have a history of failing to pay rent,” the landlord claimed, but their most severe transgression was selling beer to the wrong people.
Agave Shore co-owners Chuck Jones, left, and LeJon Vivens. (BusinessDen file)
Once a month between July and September of last year, underage and undercover cadets with the Denver Police Department’s vice squad were served Coronas at Agave Shore, its owners admit. On two of those three occasions, owner LeJon Vivens was the server.
In a compromise with the city’s Department of Excise and Licenses, Agave Shore agreed to close for 30 days between mid-February and mid-March as a punishment.
“Although no underage person actually consumed alcoholic beverages, we take responsibility for failing routine identification compliance checks,” its owners said Wednesday. “We worked diligently with the city and local law enforcement to address the issues.”
But the City Attorney’s Office wasn’t satisfied. Agave Shore is “a public nuisance,” it told a judge in February, citing the three liquor violations there. County Court Judge Kelly Cherry agreed and, on Feb. 21, ordered Agave Shore to shut its doors for three years.
After that, Flyfisher asked Luxen to evict Agave Shore and order it to pay Flyfisher $525,000 — the amount that Agave Shore was to pay in rent over the next few years.
Agave Shore’s co-owners responded by countersuing Flyfisher. They say the City Attorney’s Office was willing to reduce the three-year closure to just 30 days, but Flyfisher wouldn’t agree to that offer because it harbors a years-old grudge against Agave Shore. (A spokeswoman for the CAO declined to say Thursday whether that offer was made).
Agave Shore, a tacos and tequila bar, opened in Five Points Plaza in 2021. (Courtesy of Agave Shore)
In the restaurant owners’ version of events, Burkett approached them soon after Agave Shore opened in 2021 and offered to buy a 30- or 40-percent stake in the restaurant for $40,000, an arrangement that would have let him make major decisions. They declined.
“Why the hell would we give you control of our restaurant if you don’t know what you’re doing?” co-owner Chuck Jones said in 2022. “He wanted to be our partner to receive all of the credit and have none of the liabilities.” It was in that interview that he called Burkett a crook.
In their May 3 countersuit, Agave Shore and its co-owners allege that Flyfisher “has been working to remove” them from Welton Street “since that failed enterprise” in 2021.
They also accuse Flyfisher of being a derelict landlord. In 2022, a Flyfisher maintenance man left a water tap on, flooding Agave Shore, they say. Flyfisher intentionally dragged its feet making the repairs, forcing the restaurant to close for eight days, its owners claim.
Then, in mid-2023, around the popular Juneteenth holiday, a sewer line ruptured, sending 2,000 gallons of raw sewage into the restaurant’s food preparation area. Its kitchen was closed for 10 days initially, then for several months as the building was repaired, the owners say.
A trial in the Agave Shore case has not yet been scheduled. Meanwhile, Luxen agreed to evict it and return 2736 Welton St. to Flyfisher on May 1, noting the liquor law violations in his order that day. “Defendants’ actions placed the public at risk,” the judge wrote.
Flyfisher’s attorneys did not answer requests for comment. They are Raven Velasquez, Eric Neeper and James Conley with the Robinson & Henry firm in Highlands Ranch.
Ben Currier at Miller & Steiert in Littleton represents Agave Shore and its owners.
