A unique Denver marijuana lounge came closer to becoming reality last month, but the city's licensing department has yet to give the final go-ahead.
The group behind Cirrus Social Club would like to open an intimate social club that allows visitors to enjoy live music as well as legal marijuana products. It's already begun renovating an old tae kwon do studio at 3200 East Colfax Avenue, which could soon be home to both a five-figure Steinway & Sons player piano and Volcano vaporizers.
Before Cirrus can put an opening date on the calendar, however, the establishment must be approved for marijuana hospitality by the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses. Executive director Molly Duplechian has not yet issued her decision, but Cirrus got a big vote of confidence on February 22 from a city hearing officer who recommended that the lounge's license be approved.
Cirrus isn't pursuing a license to sell marijuana on East Colfax, a dispensary-heavy stretch of Denver. Instead, adults would be able to enter the lounge for a fee, rent vaporizers and glassware, and consume their own marijuana products there. Vaporizing, edibles consumption, electronic dabbing and smoking from glass would all be allowed, but torches and smoking with papers would be prohibited. Events with partnering cannabis brands and vendors would be part of Cirrus's lineup. too.
Owner Arend Richard envisions Cirrus as a spot for date nights and intimate evenings, and not necessarily crowds of regular marijuana users. He hopes to have a four-piece jazz band on the weekends to join the player piano, which can play live performances from Steinway music halls around the world on its keys.
Richard says that his group plans to spend around $3 million on the building's renovation. Details such as entrance fees, possible membership options and an official opening date are still being ironed out, but Cirrus's website currently reads "set to open summer 2023."
"We're going after a demographic of people who are not heavy cannabis consumers, but rather the out-and-about social person who's older than 27," Richard says. "If a date night for you is dinner and a movie, then it now becomes Cirrus and dinner. You come in, have a lovely sesh with us, and hear the jazz music in the background."
For its licensing application, Cirrus received a letter of support from the Bluebird Business Improvement District, a registered neighborhood organization, and collected nearly 100 local signatures in support of a marijuana-friendly establishment in the area. One resident was opposed to the lounge because of concerns over the odor of burning marijuana, as well as a lack of parking on the block, where street parking is the main option; Richard told the hearing officer that he hopes to work with the Bluebird BID to create a community parking lot nearby.
If Excise & Licenses ultimately approves Cirrus's application, the new lounge would be among a limited number of businesses licensed for marijuana use in Denver. Only one licensed marijuana lounge is currently operating in the city, and that establishment, the Coffee Joint, only allows electronic vaping indoors. A mobile marijuana lounge was issued a license in late February. According to its owner, the bus will shuttle riders to and from Denver International Airport and service private events, but has not yet launched.
The Patterson Inn was approved for indoor marijuana smoking last March, but the Capitol Hill hotel is still renovating an indoor parlor to meet city codes. Tetra Lounge, another marijuana-friendly space in Denver, was approved for local hospitality nearly a year ago, but hasn't received its official permit. Colorado Cannabis Tours was approved for marijuana use at its headquarters in south Denver earlier this year, but the building still needs to undergo renovation before opening.
The lack of permitted spaces for social marijuana use in Denver was a factor in the hearing officer's recommendation that Cirrus's license be approved, according to the decision document.