Cold Crush Fails to Evict Southside Bar, Scrambles for New Digs

Cold Crush continues to scramble for a new location after its current landlord refused to extend the music venue and bar's lease at 2700 Larimer Street in August; the venue must be out by the end of this month.

A logical spot to move to, says owner Brian Mathenge, would be the building he owns at 3014 East Colfax Avenue. One problem: He rents it out to Southside Bar and Kitchen, which has no plans to move.

Mathenge has offered to buy Southside owner John Elliott out of business, offering him $100,000, the Cold Crush owner says. Elliott has refused.

Last week, Mathenge took Elliott to court, hoping to evict Southside Bar and Kitchen, claiming the tenant had damaged property and failed to cough up rent, finish electrical work and pay the plumbing bill.

Elliott says all of those issues were tossed out by the judge.

"It was kind of anti-climactic," Elliott says. "The judge went through the bottom of the list and worked his way up from the least serious to the most serious charges. He was like, 'Nope, nope, nope...and you’re not evicted.' There’s still some stuff ahead. Right now, as far as any sort of eviction, any attempts to collect money that are not owed, any attempt by them to reset our lease to an exorbitant rate to force us out, anything like that — all that’s been thrown out and decided in our favor."

With two more years left on his lease, Elliott says Southside Bar & Kitchen isn't planning to leave or sell the business.

Since Elliott isn't going anywhere, Mathenge says he will have to sell the building on Colfax and look for a new future home for Cold Crush.

"It is what it is," he says. "We'll carry on."