The building at 101 W. Colfax Ave. in 2019. (BusinessDen file)
The Denver Post continues to play hardball with Denver.
The newspaper didn’t pay December rent for the 101 W. Colfax Ave. building, marking the fifth month in a row of not ponying up.
The newspaper now owes over $3 million to the city, which bought the 11-story building in April 2024.
“The city is continuing to work this as a legal matter with the tenant and will not have more to share until this is resolved,” said Laura Swartz, a spokeswoman for the city’s finance department.
The Post has vacated the building but has a lease for all 305,000 square feet. The lease runs through October 2029 and calls for The Post to pay about $650,000 a month.
The Post, which never owned the building, said in an October article that it has offered to buy out its lease.
City officials cited the Post’s rent payments ahead of the 2024 purchase as partial justification for its hefty $88.5 million price tag, which came in an era of depressed office valuations. Denver bought the building from a New York real estate firm to allow for an eventual expansion of the court system.
On Oct. 22, nearly four months after the Post stopped paying rent, Mayor Mike Johnston directed City Attorney Miko Brown to “institute appropriate proceedings in a court of proper jurisdiction.” But no lawsuit had been filed as of Thursday.
The Post, which now operates from its printing facility in Adams County, has subleased some of the Colfax building.
One subtenant is the city itself, which began using space years before the 2024 purchase. There are also two other subtenants, Swartz said.
The building at 101 W. Colfax Ave. in 2019. (BusinessDen file)
The Denver Post continues to play hardball with Denver.
The newspaper didn’t pay December rent for the 101 W. Colfax Ave. building, marking the fifth month in a row of not ponying up.
The newspaper now owes over $3 million to the city, which bought the 11-story building in April 2024.
“The city is continuing to work this as a legal matter with the tenant and will not have more to share until this is resolved,” said Laura Swartz, a spokeswoman for the city’s finance department.
The Post has vacated the building but has a lease for all 305,000 square feet. The lease runs through October 2029 and calls for The Post to pay about $650,000 a month.
The Post, which never owned the building, said in an October article that it has offered to buy out its lease.
City officials cited the Post’s rent payments ahead of the 2024 purchase as partial justification for its hefty $88.5 million price tag, which came in an era of depressed office valuations. Denver bought the building from a New York real estate firm to allow for an eventual expansion of the court system.
On Oct. 22, nearly four months after the Post stopped paying rent, Mayor Mike Johnston directed City Attorney Miko Brown to “institute appropriate proceedings in a court of proper jurisdiction.” But no lawsuit had been filed as of Thursday.
The Post, which now operates from its printing facility in Adams County, has subleased some of the Colfax building.
One subtenant is the city itself, which began using space years before the 2024 purchase. There are also two other subtenants, Swartz said.
