Zeppelin Station Is Getting a Dinosaur-Themed Rebrand

"Imagine Rainforest Cafe but instead of giraffes and gorillas, it's animatronic dinosaurs," says Josh Schmitz, who is transforming Zeppelin Station, the market hall Zeppelin Development opened at 3501 Wazee Street in 2018, into the dinosaur-themed Clever Girl.

Schmitz is the founder of Handsome Boys Hospitality, which rapidly opened a number of bar-forward concepts starting in 2021. But after a recent shift in that group, Schmitz is moving away from the Handsome Boys moniker and becoming Ruckus Hospitality, named for the clothing brand he launched in 2009. As Ruckus, he's currently operating the bars Ghost and Disco Pig in Larimer Square.

Clever Girl is expected to make its official debut in April but the space "will be open regular hours for now with rolling closures as needed for construction," Schmitz notes. Current food vendors Uptown & Humboldt and Sushi Kuro will continue to serve, but there are a lot of big changes in the works.

The Clever Girl team includes Kcidy Design, which plans to create an immersive atmosphere inspired by Costa Rican islands and filled with animatronic dinosaurs from local creative Nolan Bushnell (not to be confused with the Nolan Bushnell who invented Atari). "The first dinosaur will probably move in in about three weeks," says Schmitz. "The bones here are incredible, so this is less of a remodel and almost more like set design."

The upstairs bar, which was originally dubbed Big Trouble and was briefly the home to the first iteration of Paul Qui's Koko Ni, will get a dino-themed makeover, too, with a dive bar twist and a DJ booth.

"The concept is gonna lean more like a Casa Bonita," says Schmitz, "but imagine if it was easy to get into and had $5 margaritas."
Additional plans include a prehistoric escape room and several new food options to fill the vacant stalls, including the comeback of two concepts that Schmitz formerly operated on Larimer Square: Hidden Gems ice cream and Drunken Bakery.

"It's a creative super haven for not only my own concepts, but also young entrepreneurs," Schmitz notes. "No one ever really knew what Zeppelin Station was — is it a coworking space? A food hall? It's had no real identity, so this is an opportunity to reintroduce people to the space."

Zeppelin Station attempted a reboot of sorts in 2022, introducing five new food concepts — but that move didn't boost business.

According to BusinessDen, Zeppelin Development "took out a $32 million loan from Wells Fargo" in 2019 and last year, "the San Francisco-based bank said the loan had been in default since June 2021 for failing to maintain the necessary ratios regarding property income to debt spelled out in the loan agreement."

While Zeppelin Development attempted to fight Wells Fargo's request to put the property into receivership, Denver District Court Judge J. Eric Elliff ultimately appointed the Stapleton Group as receiver for the building last April, giving it control of the food hall.

Schmitz originally connected with Zeppelin Station when he ran a Halloween pop-up there in October, followed by a Christmas pop-up in December. "We started bringing in events and people and the tenants got excited," he recalls. "It slowly evolved, then the offer was to run the entire space. We signed a five-year lease, so we're in it for the long-term."

The venture has "unlocked a bunch of potential for new creative ideas," Schmitz concludes. "It's gonna be nice to have life back in this building."