A rendering of the 16-story Aliyah Tower, part of a $300 million project that Zocalo Development recently broke ground on in Denver’s Sloan’s Lake neighborhood. (Courtesy Zocalo Development)
A shareholder and former executive at Denver’s Zocalo Development claims its CEO has used Zocalo’s construction subsidiary “as a piggy bank,” robbing it of $3.7 million and bringing it to the brink of insolvency even as it begins $300 million worth of work at Sloan’s Lake.
Clark Atkinson, a longtime builder who lives in Grand Junction, was the chief development officer and is a 22.7% owner of Zocalo. He also co-owns and runs Zocalo Construction, the affiliated construction company.
“Zocalo Construction has become a funding source for other Zocalo entities, with monies being transferred, in many cases, for reasons unknown,” Atkinson’s Oct. 31 lawsuit alleges.
Atkinson says he has been trying to retire from Zocalo Construction for nearly two years but the firm has used “subterfuge and corporate gamesmanship” to keep him there by refusing to buy him out at a reasonable price and by trying to dissolve Zocalo Construction to avoid paying. He is asking a judge in Denver to appoint a receiver for the construction firm to protect it.
“We’re not able to comment beyond saying that the suit is without merit and we’re only now reviewing it,” David Zucker, the CEO of Zocalo Development, said this week.
Atkinson, who owns 43.5% of Zocalo Construction, or ZCON, says he looked closely at the company’s books as he was nearing retirement in February 2024. He reportedly learned then that Zucker, along with Zocalo Chief Operating Officer Susan Maxwell and then-Chief Financial Officer Cade Scholl, had clandestinely been moving money out of his construction business.
Specifically, Atkinson says he uncovered 19 transfers totaling $2.5 million between 2022 and 2024. While characterized as intracompany loans to other Zocalo entities, they were never repaid and no documentation shows the loans’ interest rates or collateral, he says. Most importantly, at least in Atkinson’s eyes, the loans were made without his permission.
In one case, according to Atkinson, ZCON lent $1.1 million to Digital Cowboy LLC, a Zocalo entity, and then did build-out work for it. Both the loan and the work went unpaid. Atkinson says the loan document between ZCON and Digital Cowboy is undated and unsigned.
“Zucker, Maxwell and Scholl essentially used ZCON accounts as a piggy bank, a term Zucker himself used in a March 2022 email to Maxwell and Atkinson requesting that ZCON bail him out of a loan that he had personally guaranteed,” according to the builder’s lawsuit.
In addition to the purported loans, Atkinson also claims to have uncovered $1.2 million in transfers from ZCON to other Zocalo entities that were used to make payroll, pay bills, fund bonuses and cover the cost of an office holiday party as recently as September.
David Zucker
Meanwhile, the 60-something Atkinson has been unable to retire and remains in charge of Zocalo Construction, he says. An appraiser allegedly chosen without his input valued Zocalo Development at just $1.5 million, far less than it is worth, so he declined a buyout offer. Zucker then moved ZCON’s contracts to a new company he founded, Atkinson alleges.
“The backlog of construction contracts, which Atkinson and ZCON had been developing for years, is worth more than ZCON’s total revenue for the previous five years,” according to his lawsuit. “Defendants have acted to deprive Atkinson of his rightful interests in ZCON in the short term, while virtually guaranteeing their future success on the back of Atkinson’s work.”
Atkinson is suing several Zocalo entities, along with Zucker, Maxwell and Scholl, for theft, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. He is asking Judge Chris Baumann to stop them from moving more money out of ZCON and to appoint a caretaker to ensure that.
Atkinson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology alum, was president of Shaw Construction before leaving in 2015, after 23 years with that Colorado company. He had worked together with Zucker on some apartments near Coors Field and the two later reconnected during a chance encounter in Israel, according to a past media report. Zucker hired him in 2016.
Atkinson and his brother Gene are also in the middle of legal disputes surrounding the restaurateurs William and Renee Brinkerhoff following their 2024 divorce. Gene Atkinson, also a builder, is seeking $3.5 million for work he did on Renee Brinkerhoff’s La Loma restaurants, and Clark claims he is owed $1 million that he lent the Brinkerhoffs for that construction.
In that case as well as his lawsuit against Zucker and Zocalo, Clark Atkinson is represented by Ben Wegener and Dan Belcastro with Wegener Lane & Evans in Grand Junction.
A rendering of the 16-story Aliyah Tower, part of a $300 million project that Zocalo Development recently broke ground on in Denver’s Sloan’s Lake neighborhood. (Courtesy Zocalo Development)
A shareholder and former executive at Denver’s Zocalo Development claims its CEO has used Zocalo’s construction subsidiary “as a piggy bank,” robbing it of $3.7 million and bringing it to the brink of insolvency even as it begins $300 million worth of work at Sloan’s Lake.
Clark Atkinson, a longtime builder who lives in Grand Junction, was the chief development officer and is a 22.7% owner of Zocalo. He also co-owns and runs Zocalo Construction, the affiliated construction company.
“Zocalo Construction has become a funding source for other Zocalo entities, with monies being transferred, in many cases, for reasons unknown,” Atkinson’s Oct. 31 lawsuit alleges.
Atkinson says he has been trying to retire from Zocalo Construction for nearly two years but the firm has used “subterfuge and corporate gamesmanship” to keep him there by refusing to buy him out at a reasonable price and by trying to dissolve Zocalo Construction to avoid paying. He is asking a judge in Denver to appoint a receiver for the construction firm to protect it.
“We’re not able to comment beyond saying that the suit is without merit and we’re only now reviewing it,” David Zucker, the CEO of Zocalo Development, said this week.
Atkinson, who owns 43.5% of Zocalo Construction, or ZCON, says he looked closely at the company’s books as he was nearing retirement in February 2024. He reportedly learned then that Zucker, along with Zocalo Chief Operating Officer Susan Maxwell and then-Chief Financial Officer Cade Scholl, had clandestinely been moving money out of his construction business.
Specifically, Atkinson says he uncovered 19 transfers totaling $2.5 million between 2022 and 2024. While characterized as intracompany loans to other Zocalo entities, they were never repaid and no documentation shows the loans’ interest rates or collateral, he says. Most importantly, at least in Atkinson’s eyes, the loans were made without his permission.
In one case, according to Atkinson, ZCON lent $1.1 million to Digital Cowboy LLC, a Zocalo entity, and then did build-out work for it. Both the loan and the work went unpaid. Atkinson says the loan document between ZCON and Digital Cowboy is undated and unsigned.
“Zucker, Maxwell and Scholl essentially used ZCON accounts as a piggy bank, a term Zucker himself used in a March 2022 email to Maxwell and Atkinson requesting that ZCON bail him out of a loan that he had personally guaranteed,” according to the builder’s lawsuit.
In addition to the purported loans, Atkinson also claims to have uncovered $1.2 million in transfers from ZCON to other Zocalo entities that were used to make payroll, pay bills, fund bonuses and cover the cost of an office holiday party as recently as September.
David Zucker
Meanwhile, the 60-something Atkinson has been unable to retire and remains in charge of Zocalo Construction, he says. An appraiser allegedly chosen without his input valued Zocalo Development at just $1.5 million, far less than it is worth, so he declined a buyout offer. Zucker then moved ZCON’s contracts to a new company he founded, Atkinson alleges.
“The backlog of construction contracts, which Atkinson and ZCON had been developing for years, is worth more than ZCON’s total revenue for the previous five years,” according to his lawsuit. “Defendants have acted to deprive Atkinson of his rightful interests in ZCON in the short term, while virtually guaranteeing their future success on the back of Atkinson’s work.”
Atkinson is suing several Zocalo entities, along with Zucker, Maxwell and Scholl, for theft, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. He is asking Judge Chris Baumann to stop them from moving more money out of ZCON and to appoint a caretaker to ensure that.
Atkinson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology alum, was president of Shaw Construction before leaving in 2015, after 23 years with that Colorado company. He had worked together with Zucker on some apartments near Coors Field and the two later reconnected during a chance encounter in Israel, according to a past media report. Zucker hired him in 2016.
Atkinson and his brother Gene are also in the middle of legal disputes surrounding the restaurateurs William and Renee Brinkerhoff following their 2024 divorce. Gene Atkinson, also a builder, is seeking $3.5 million for work he did on Renee Brinkerhoff’s La Loma restaurants, and Clark claims he is owed $1 million that he lent the Brinkerhoffs for that construction.
In that case as well as his lawsuit against Zucker and Zocalo, Clark Atkinson is represented by Ben Wegener and Dan Belcastro with Wegener Lane & Evans in Grand Junction.
