Jorge Pesqueira is on a mission to make his stretch of Colfax “as gay as possible.”
Last week, the co-owner of gay nightclub X Bar purchased the real estate of his next door neighbor, queer-friendly restaurant Champagne Tiger at 601 E. Colfax Ave., for $1.5 million in an all-cash deal.
“I’m already involved in the current business so the idea is to keep it as is – hopefully forever,” said Pesqueira, 40.
Champagne Tiger opened last August and offers “bougie rowdy energy,” per its owner.
The 3,700-square-foot building is shaped like an alien mothership and hosts drag shows on Sundays. It has an outdoor patio that seats 240.
The real estate fetched $395 per square foot in the deal.
Pesqueira is an investor and part of Champagne Tiger’s six-person board of directors. He met the restaurant’s owner, Chris Donato, six months before the spot opened.
“I don’t think we could have a better landlord,” said Donato, 42.
The Googie-style building was constructed in 1967. (Hayden Kim/BusinessDen)
The business has been profitable in its infancy, he added. It’s sold out its Sunday drag shows for the past four months, he added. The restaurant’s menu includes everything from oysters to burgers to fried chicken.
Donato said he’s contended with a street that’s under constant construction from a new bus line. And Colfax’s grit with attendant crime and vagrancy are a challenge.
“I’ve seen it get better in the last year,” he said. “When we first opened it was probably the worst I saw. But it’s been pretty quiet over here. There was a house of ill repute where God only knows what goes on there, and the cops broke that up a while ago and it had a great impact on the street.”
Before Champagne Tiger, the building was home to long-time eatery Tom’s Diner, which closed in 2020. Owner Tom Messina had planned to sell the property to a developer, who would have demolished the structure. But when neighbors stepped up to try and save the structure, Messina struck an alternate deal, bringing on Cleveland-based GBX Group as a part-owner of the real estate.
Then came Tom’s Starlight in 2022, a pricier and less-demanding bar and lounge run by Messina’s nephew, Hunter Landry. But it closed after just a year in business.
The two – GBX and Messina – were the sellers in last week’s transaction. Messina bought the property in March 2004 for $800,000. GBX, which specializes in repurposing old buildings, also owns the Urban Cowboy hotel at 1665 N. Grant St. Uptown.
“I don’t even live in Denver anymore. We’ve all moved on,” Landry said.
Pesqueira, the buyer in the transaction, is still focused on X Bar at 629 E. Colfax Ave., though. He’s been trying to build a rooftop patio and ice cream shop on the property for the past five years, with city permitting holding him up.
“It’s been a difficult process, but I think we’re close to getting permits and starting construction by the end of this year,” Pesqueira said.
Jorge Pesqueira is on a mission to make his stretch of Colfax “as gay as possible.”
Last week, the co-owner of gay nightclub X Bar purchased the real estate of his next door neighbor, queer-friendly restaurant Champagne Tiger at 601 E. Colfax Ave., for $1.5 million in an all-cash deal.
“I’m already involved in the current business so the idea is to keep it as is – hopefully forever,” said Pesqueira, 40.
Champagne Tiger opened last August and offers “bougie rowdy energy,” per its owner.
The 3,700-square-foot building is shaped like an alien mothership and hosts drag shows on Sundays. It has an outdoor patio that seats 240.
The real estate fetched $395 per square foot in the deal.
Pesqueira is an investor and part of Champagne Tiger’s six-person board of directors. He met the restaurant’s owner, Chris Donato, six months before the spot opened.
“I don’t think we could have a better landlord,” said Donato, 42.
The Googie-style building was constructed in 1967. (Hayden Kim/BusinessDen)
The business has been profitable in its infancy, he added. It’s sold out its Sunday drag shows for the past four months, he added. The restaurant’s menu includes everything from oysters to burgers to fried chicken.
Donato said he’s contended with a street that’s under constant construction from a new bus line. And Colfax’s grit with attendant crime and vagrancy are a challenge.
“I’ve seen it get better in the last year,” he said. “When we first opened it was probably the worst I saw. But it’s been pretty quiet over here. There was a house of ill repute where God only knows what goes on there, and the cops broke that up a while ago and it had a great impact on the street.”
Before Champagne Tiger, the building was home to long-time eatery Tom’s Diner, which closed in 2020. Owner Tom Messina had planned to sell the property to a developer, who would have demolished the structure. But when neighbors stepped up to try and save the structure, Messina struck an alternate deal, bringing on Cleveland-based GBX Group as a part-owner of the real estate.
Then came Tom’s Starlight in 2022, a pricier and less-demanding bar and lounge run by Messina’s nephew, Hunter Landry. But it closed after just a year in business.
The two – GBX and Messina – were the sellers in last week’s transaction. Messina bought the property in March 2004 for $800,000. GBX, which specializes in repurposing old buildings, also owns the Urban Cowboy hotel at 1665 N. Grant St. Uptown.
“I don’t even live in Denver anymore. We’ve all moved on,” Landry said.
Pesqueira, the buyer in the transaction, is still focused on X Bar at 629 E. Colfax Ave., though. He’s been trying to build a rooftop patio and ice cream shop on the property for the past five years, with city permitting holding him up.
“It’s been a difficult process, but I think we’re close to getting permits and starting construction by the end of this year,” Pesqueira said.
