The El Jebel Shrine’s fourth-floor, horseshoe-shaped theater in Denver, Colorado on Monday, December 12, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
A company that has renovated Denver’s historic Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine and turned it into an event venue is now suing the city after being denied a liquor license.
Non Plus Ultra, a California company that operates four other venues in the city, has spent more than $300,000 refinishing floors and repairing plumbing at 1770 N. Sherman St., according to court documents. It has been hosting events there under short-term liquor permits.
It has also been trying, and failing, to acquire a more permanent license since February 2024.
Denver does not allow liquor sales within 500 feet of a school and the far northwest corner of El Jebel is 494 feet from Downtown Denver Expeditionary School and Emily Griffith High, two public schools that are within the same building at 1860 Lincoln St. in Uptown.
After being denied a liquor license in April 2024, Non Plus Ultra amended its application. To ensure that booze would not be consumed within 500 feet of a school, the event company said that it would not allow it in the northwest stairwell. It then appealed the city’s denial.
In December, the matter went before Anna Martinez, a city hearing officer. The question in front of her was a simple one: Does the 500 feet rule apply to the exterior of El Jebel, or places inside where drinks are downed? After listening to testimony, Martinez sided with Non Plus Ultra and advised the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses to let it sell alcohol.
But Molly Duplechian, executive director at Excise and Licenses, disagreed. She believes the law requires the city to measure from the exterior of El Jebel. On May 28, she denied Non Plus Ultra’s liquor license application. NPU then sued Excise and Licenses on Monday.
Non Plus Ultra is asking Denver District Court Judge Jon Olafson to interpret the 500 feet rule the way that it and Martinez do, reverse Duplechian’s decision, and award it a license.
A spokesman for Excise and Licenses declined to comment. NPU’s lawyer, Adam Stapen at Dill Dill Carr Stonbraker & Hutchings, did not answer a request to discuss the case.
El Jebel (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The city’s interpretation of the 500 feet rule has come under criticism before. In 2023, Choice Market was denied a license to sell beer and wine because one corner of 939 Bannock St. was within 500 feet of a school, though not the corner that Choice operated on. The small grocer sued but quickly dropped its lawsuit. Choice has since shuttered.
Non Plus Ultra tends to rent historic or well-known buildings. It operates event venues at the Sports Castle in Cap Hill, inside Epic Brewing’s former RiNo building, within Great Divide’s former bottling plant in RiNo, and at 950 N. Broadway in Golden Triangle.
The 120-year-old El Jebel is owned by entities managed by a Virginia attorney, Robert Lubin, and has been run by a receiver with Denver’s Cordes & Co. since April of 2024 at the request of a lender. An adjacent parking lot, which is also under receivership, is now being leased by ABM Parking.
The two properties have outstanding tax bills of $492,750, Cordes & Co. reported in May.
“Given the cash flow generated by the property, the receiver has no ability to pay, nor does the receiver anticipate being able to do so in the foreseeable future,” it told a judge.
The El Jebel Shrine’s fourth-floor, horseshoe-shaped theater in Denver, Colorado on Monday, December 12, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
A company that has renovated Denver’s historic Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine and turned it into an event venue is now suing the city after being denied a liquor license.
Non Plus Ultra, a California company that operates four other venues in the city, has spent more than $300,000 refinishing floors and repairing plumbing at 1770 N. Sherman St., according to court documents. It has been hosting events there under short-term liquor permits.
It has also been trying, and failing, to acquire a more permanent license since February 2024.
Denver does not allow liquor sales within 500 feet of a school and the far northwest corner of El Jebel is 494 feet from Downtown Denver Expeditionary School and Emily Griffith High, two public schools that are within the same building at 1860 Lincoln St. in Uptown.
After being denied a liquor license in April 2024, Non Plus Ultra amended its application. To ensure that booze would not be consumed within 500 feet of a school, the event company said that it would not allow it in the northwest stairwell. It then appealed the city’s denial.
In December, the matter went before Anna Martinez, a city hearing officer. The question in front of her was a simple one: Does the 500 feet rule apply to the exterior of El Jebel, or places inside where drinks are downed? After listening to testimony, Martinez sided with Non Plus Ultra and advised the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses to let it sell alcohol.
But Molly Duplechian, executive director at Excise and Licenses, disagreed. She believes the law requires the city to measure from the exterior of El Jebel. On May 28, she denied Non Plus Ultra’s liquor license application. NPU then sued Excise and Licenses on Monday.
Non Plus Ultra is asking Denver District Court Judge Jon Olafson to interpret the 500 feet rule the way that it and Martinez do, reverse Duplechian’s decision, and award it a license.
A spokesman for Excise and Licenses declined to comment. NPU’s lawyer, Adam Stapen at Dill Dill Carr Stonbraker & Hutchings, did not answer a request to discuss the case.
El Jebel (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The city’s interpretation of the 500 feet rule has come under criticism before. In 2023, Choice Market was denied a license to sell beer and wine because one corner of 939 Bannock St. was within 500 feet of a school, though not the corner that Choice operated on. The small grocer sued but quickly dropped its lawsuit. Choice has since shuttered.
Non Plus Ultra tends to rent historic or well-known buildings. It operates event venues at the Sports Castle in Cap Hill, inside Epic Brewing’s former RiNo building, within Great Divide’s former bottling plant in RiNo, and at 950 N. Broadway in Golden Triangle.
The 120-year-old El Jebel is owned by entities managed by a Virginia attorney, Robert Lubin, and has been run by a receiver with Denver’s Cordes & Co. since April of 2024 at the request of a lender. An adjacent parking lot, which is also under receivership, is now being leased by ABM Parking.
The two properties have outstanding tax bills of $492,750, Cordes & Co. reported in May.
“Given the cash flow generated by the property, the receiver has no ability to pay, nor does the receiver anticipate being able to do so in the foreseeable future,” it told a judge.
