Lion's Lair Building on Colfax Sells for First Time in a Century

An iconic portion of Colfax Avenue is changing hands as the building at 2020 East Colfax just sold.

The building houses one of Denver's best dive bars, Lion's Lair, as well as Aladdin Liquors, End of Days Tattoo and High Level Health dispensary.

According to Denver Clerk and Recorder records and first reported by Naked Denver, the property sold for $1.6 million. Records show that the property has been held by members of the Schiff family for decades, most recently Lampert Family, LLP, which is registered by Judy Schiff in Denver.

The new owner of the building, Golden Plaza LLC, is registered by Joginder Singh at a residential address in Commerce City, indicating the strip of businesses might remain in local hands.

Lion's Lair signed a ten-year lease in 2023, around the same time that owner Tony Meggit added partners Demi Merritt and Michael Thorne. The dive bar has been around since 1967, and has never seen a change in building ownership.

Aladdin Liquors, another tenant, was named as an homage to the Aladdin Theater, which sat at the corner of the Colfax block until it was closed and demolished in the early 1980s; a Walgreens now occupies the space. End of Days Tattoo sits in a historic tattoo shop in the building that was formerly occupied by Emporium Tattoo as early as the '70s, before End of Days took over in the early 2010s and restored the space.

High Level Health, a medical and recreational marijuana store, has occupied the 2020 East Colfax building since 2009.

As of right now, no redevelopment plans or permit applications have been filed with the city so the local businesses should remain for now...as long as Colfax Bus Rapid Transit construction doesn't take them out. Meggit, particularly, has been outspoken about the challenges that construction designed to transform Colfax by placing bus service in the center of the street has caused Lion's Lair.

"We're terrified about what's going to happen," he told Westword in February. "We're seeing many businesses take quite the hit from this project. Many aren’t going to make it. We cannot land on that list of closures."

Though business may be down due to construction, the area is still attractive to at least one buyer.