After March Stabbing, Downtown Denver Club Could Lose Business Licenses

Sky Lounge is the latest business at 1919 Blake Street in trouble with the city after violence broke out on the premises.

According to a show-cause order issued by the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses on May 14, Sky Lounge could lose its standard cabaret and hotel and restaurant licenses after a stabbing occurred there on March 8. Both the Denver Police Department and Excise and Licenses have been investigating the bar since last November, according to the order.

Along with the stabbing incident, Sky Lounge has allegedly failed to report disorderly behavior, hired unlicensed security guards and allowed indoor hookah smoking without the proper permit. The bar also hosts DJs and dancing patrons
without a dance cabaret license, according to the licensing department.

The stabbing is one of several incidents at 1919 Blake. In fact, Sky Lounge almost wasn’t allowed to open last May thanks to the sketchy history of the building.

Sky Lounge was formerly Falling Rock Tap House, a craft beer bar, for decades before becoming Cabin Tap House in 2021 after the space was sold to Valentes Corleons (legal name Hussam Kayali). Corleons is known for being behind Beta Event Center when the city shut down the venue; he also conducted construction without a permit inside the legendary El Chapultepec jazz club before selling the building. He couldn’t keep Cabin open, either.

After a shooting at Cabin in January 2022 left two people dead, the city closed the business down for being a public nuisance; the same fate that befell neighboring Beta. Corleons sold the Cabin space to Thomas Schaefer around the time of the 2022 shooting.

In 2023, Tom Saifuldeen Zaidan applied to open Sky Lounge in the former Cabin space. Saifuldeen Zaidan lives in Aurora and owns several businesses, including a trucking outfit and a bar and lounge in Grand Junction.

Because of the previous controversies at the building, the city placed three conditions for Sky Lounge before approving the bar's hotel and restaurant and standard cabaret license. Under the terms, Sky Lounge has to notify the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association (LoDoNA) ten days before it files a transfer of ownership application, and provide licensed security from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and during special events. Additionally, Sky Lounge is not allowed to employ anyone who managed or owned an establishment that had its license revoked.

According to the new show-cause order, Sky Lounge broke one of those conditions by hiring unlicensed security personnel. On April 6, DPD officers conducted a check on the club and reportedly identified three people working as security guards who admitted to not having proper licensing, which is illegal.

“The individuals were dressed in tactical pants, wearing tactical-type gloves, and had a radio with an earpiece,” the order describes. “Officers also observed a DJ booth with an individual inside providing recorded music over an amplified sound system. The officers also saw several hookahs throughout the Club and at least two patrons using the hookahs indoors.”

During a May 2024 licensing hearing, Saifuldeen Zaidan said Sky Lounge would not be “crazy” and would only hire DJs to provide ambient music.

“Sky Lounge is going to be very regular,” he said at the time. “It’s more like a sports bar. ...It’s going to be a nice crowd. People would like to come and watch sports, drink, enjoy their food.”

However, things did get crazy on March 8 at Sky Lounge. According to city documents, DPD officers responded to the club after reports of a stabbing. Two people were taken to Denver Health for treatment, including one person involved in the fight, identified only as J.W., and an employee who was injured while trying to break it up.

"Security footage obtained of the incident shows the first victim, J.W., speaking with the suspect (name unknown),” the show-cause order describes. “J.W. and the suspect appear to throw gang signs at each other before the fight began. J.W. is then seen wrapping his belt around his right hand, jumping towards the suspect, and hitting the suspect in the head.”

Then, the suspect grabbed something from his pocket and “slashes with his left hand at J.W.’s stomach area.”

Though LoDoNa had supported Sky Lounge's license approval and worked out a Good Neighbor Agreement with the business, the investigation into the bar was kickstarted by a complaint from an unnamed registered neighborhood organization.

A hearing is scheduled for June 18. Without its restaurant license, Sky Lounge would likely have to close.

Saifuldeen Zaidan could not be reached for comment.