A pic from earlier today of “The Real World: Denver” house at 1920 Market St.
– “The Real World: Denver” ends on May 16, which means we’ve only got two more episodes left. That isn’t stopping the new owners of the house from renovating like crazy. As you can see from the photo above, work is still going on at 1920 Market St. to transform it into a nightclub (we first told you about it right here).
– The sliding green mini-garage doors that hid the hot tub have been removed, and work permit stickers line the front windows. Why? Because the space will include The Abbey Restaurant and Lounge, a high-end LoDo nightlife spot. We spoke today with partner Josh Haakinson about the cost, the notoriety of the house, and the weird/cool things they’re planning for the basement…
GetRealDenver: So you and your partner in the Abbey Restaurant and Nightlife Group LLC, Shane Alexander, bought the house in late November for $3.3 million?
Josh: That’s right.
Tell me about what’s going on there, and who’s moving in.
What we’ve done is leased out the top floor to Gallun Snow Associates, an interior design firm. They’re occupying the second floor and will be moving in in about three weeks. The first floor has been divided up. We are occupying basically two thirds of the first floor and the outside patio, and that is going to be called The Abbey Restaurant and Lounge.
What’s the Abbey going to be like?
The Abbey concept is unlike anything in Denver. It’s going to be a high-end martini destination with food as well, high-end food, with nice presentation and good chefs.
What about the rest of the first floor?
The other third of the space we have leased out to a high-end wine shop called Sip. We just got done wit a complete demolition. The dividing wall has been put up, and we should be getting a permit today to move forward with construction. Both of us hope to be open by mid-July.
Who will run each place?
We as the owners are running The Abbey. In the basement probably within the next six months we’re going to create wine storage for high-end wines for the local wine enthusiasts. It will be temperature controlled and key-carded, basically like a bank safety deposit box for wine, because Sip is going to sell cases of wine up in the thousands of dollars.
Who will stock it?
It’s really both of them, we’ve actually created a great partnership between Sip and ourselves. We’re going to feature their wines at the restaurant. If people are interested in buying something they drink at The Abbey, they can go next door. If they want to try the wine before they go next door and plunk down a couple thousand dollars, they can do that too.
How much is all this costing?
We are spending about $1.4 million on the build-out of The Abbey itself. It’s very high-end. We’re going to have cabana booths, and Swarovski crystals will be in the light fixtures and also in the sheer curtains that will wrap the cabanas. We’re going to have two outdoor cabana booths as well as an outdoor bar, a water feature and seating for about 60 people.
How many people will it fit, total?
365 people ultimately will be the capacity.
What about the food?
It’s going to be more a California cuisine. We’re down to the final three chefs and are bringing one on in the next three weeks. General prices will range for $18-$35 for entrees.
How much of the original house decor or design will remain?
Zero percent. We want to capitalize on what MTV has already done for us, which is the publicity. However our crowd is the 21 plus crowd and we are trying to attract the higher-end professional downtown crowd. We want to make it a destination, definitely not another sports bar.
Do you think it’ll do well so close to Coors Field?
Absolutely, especially during the baseball season. Obviously people of all walks of life go to Coors Field. A lot of people are detoured from going to the sports bars because generally you associate them wit a rowdier crowd and this will be a destination for someone who wants to enjoy fine wine, food and a professional atmosphere.
More from Get Real Denver
- The last days of “The Real World” Denver
- Touring “The Real World” Denver house
- The art of “The Real World: Denver”
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These guys really made a point about how very high-end this place is gonna be. It sounds kind of ironic that such a high-end place will be in such of a low-end area – surrounded by the sports bars and chaos that LoDo can sometimes be. I generally don’t see too many $1k Bordeaux drinkers heading to the Rockies games. Sounds more LA than Denver, but I hope that can work for them. I just hope they bleach all the toilet seats that Colie might have sat upon.
Comment by really!!? — May 9, 2007 @ 12:44 pm
it’s kinda funny too that a place with such a trashy reputation is getting a “high-end” makeover.
Comment by geoff — May 9, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
in LA, well, West Hollywood, actually, the Abbey is a snooty gay bar. Just sayin’ – nothing wrong with it being a predominately gay establishment, but, it’s interesting that something like that is going to go in that ghetto area around Coors field.
Comment by california — May 9, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
Are you kidding me? Another martini bar? This is Denver, not Beverly Hills, not New York. I know so many people that avoid that area, there’s no where to park, cars get stolen from there all the time, and not to mention the young punks that frequent that area. If I want to enjoy fine wine, LODo is the LAST place I want to be drining it. Good luck, I give it 6-8 months
Comment by Betty — May 9, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Well, knowing the owners, it is not a Gay bar at all. If further research had been done, you would have noticed The Abbey is in Chicago (straight), Miami (straight), New York (straight).
Secondly, they are not selling 1K bottles of wine…the store NEXT DOOR is.
Third-they are here to stay, and they will.
Comment by Kari — May 13, 2007 @ 9:07 am
Well, Denver is a cow town. Maybe it is time to live beyond the pastures. I welcome all new business, and give KUDOS to them for investing such a large ammount of money in a funky area.
Comment by Thomas — May 13, 2007 @ 9:08 am
Well, I’m very excited for The Abbey to open! This part of Lodo needed something like this for long time. I talked with one of the managers and this is not going to be a Gay bar the abbey is going to be open to everyone.
After talking with them I see them around for a long time to come. Denver really needed this for a long time! Good luck to the abbey and thanks for brigning this to lodo!!!!!!!
Comment by Mark — May 13, 2007 @ 9:36 am
I’m glad this part of lodo is changing I welcome this new place! I see them around also for a long time. This is what denver needs
Comment by drew — May 13, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Those last few posts are obviously all from the same person, probably the owners or one of their friends. Open debate is nice, but stacking the deck is tacky.
Comment by Jay — May 13, 2007 @ 11:12 am
Kari, they did say they were selling very expensive wine:
The Quote:
“We’re going to feature their wines at the restaurant. If people are interested in buying something they drink at The Abbey, they can go next door. If they want to try the wine before they go next door and plunk down a couple thousand dollars, they can do that too.”
They’re probably just embelishing and meant a couple thousand for a case . $2k case of wine still translates to > $150 /bottle. But most wine stores will give a case discount while a restaraunt will almost double the bottle price.
Obviously, I’m reading into the quotes too much. The point is, its obviously how much they’re trying to oversell this as “high-end”. I wish them luck, I’m sure it will be great for Denver. But use a thesaurus and bleach those toilet seats.
Comment by really!!? — May 16, 2007 @ 2:14 pm