Denver restaurateur Frank Schultz is a co-owner of Tavern Hospitality Group. (BusinessDen file)
Frank Schultz is moving on from his old life in LoHi.
“It was our office, I used to live right next to it … there’s future potential there,” he said.
On Thursday, Schultz sold the two-story, 11,000-square-foot building at 2563 15th St. that once housed the office for his real estate business, Tavern Hospitality. The buyer, fellow Denver real estate player Thrive Development, spent $5.25 million to acquire the LoHi corner that sits at the intersection of five different streets.
That translates to $475 a square foot for the real estate. Patrick Henry and Boston Weir of Henry Group Real Estate represented Schultz in the deal.
“We had quite a few bites in a market that’s not so great,” said Schultz, 53.
The building houses approximately 5,500 square feet of office space up top with five, roughly 1,000-square-foot retail spaces on the bottom. Just one of those storefronts has a tenant, Ohana Island Kitchen, which plans to stay there, Jeff Ayres, VP of Development at Thrive, told BusinessDen.
The half-acre property dates to the late 1800s and is in a historic district that limits changes to the existing structure. The building comes with 46 parking spaces behind it, though the firm has no immediate development plans there.
A shot of the property from 15th Street. The building was constructed in 1887, records show. (Courtesy of Henry Group Real Estate)
“We’re big West Denver guys, and we love LoHi and think there’s a lot of potential down there,” Ayres said. “It seemed like a good opportunity to get in there and improve the look of the historic building and get some tenants in there relatively quickly.”
Thrive has been around for five years and is working on a couple residential projects near Sloans Lake that should break ground in the spring and summer of this year. It’s also working through getting permits for its planned food hall concept on an old industrial lot in Lincoln Park.
But they have a new type of project to take on in this little old building in LoHi.
“The office might be a bit of a struggle (to lease), but given that it’s a bit different than the other offices sitting vacant may help us,” Ayres said.
Before the pandemic hit, it was the office for Schultz’s business. From there, he oversaw a portfolio that stretched across the metro area, his holdings spanning industrial, office, retail and his favorite: hospitality.
COVID hit his business hard, as many of his properties relied on in-person foot traffic.
Following that up with a lawsuit in early 2023, when Schultz’ mother sued him; she also was his business partner. She accused her son of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from company bank accounts, cutting her out of real estate deals and failing to repay $3.7 million in promissory notes. Schultz countersued the next month.
The two settled their spat last year.
“My mom is an amazing person … she was a very big part of teaching me a lot of things, especially buying real estate,” he said.
“We’re one step closer to just being mother and son, which I’m looking forward to.”
But in the meantime, Tavern Hospitality – the company they ran together – continues to wind down. He listed a dozen of the business’ properties for sale last April, which included the one he just sold in LoHi. He’s also since sold two industrial properties in unincorporated Arapahoe County.
Schultz still owns half of Chopper’s Sports Grill at 80 Madison St. in Cherry Creek. He said he’d like to buy his mother’s half if “she’s willing” to sell.
Schultz also started his own company, Good Boy Hospitality. It owns the bar Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in Union Station North and restaurant Otravez along the 16th Street Mall. The former is slated to reopen in February, with the other to follow in March.
But he’s in no rush to do much more.
“Since these properties that have sold, including this one, there’s not a ton of pressure on us to get everything sold at a discount … there’s not a need to liquidate.”
Denver restaurateur Frank Schultz is a co-owner of Tavern Hospitality Group. (BusinessDen file)
Frank Schultz is moving on from his old life in LoHi.
“It was our office, I used to live right next to it … there’s future potential there,” he said.
On Thursday, Schultz sold the two-story, 11,000-square-foot building at 2563 15th St. that once housed the office for his real estate business, Tavern Hospitality. The buyer, fellow Denver real estate player Thrive Development, spent $5.25 million to acquire the LoHi corner that sits at the intersection of five different streets.
That translates to $475 a square foot for the real estate. Patrick Henry and Boston Weir of Henry Group Real Estate represented Schultz in the deal.
“We had quite a few bites in a market that’s not so great,” said Schultz, 53.
The building houses approximately 5,500 square feet of office space up top with five, roughly 1,000-square-foot retail spaces on the bottom. Just one of those storefronts has a tenant, Ohana Island Kitchen, which plans to stay there, Jeff Ayres, VP of Development at Thrive, told BusinessDen.
The half-acre property dates to the late 1800s and is in a historic district that limits changes to the existing structure. The building comes with 46 parking spaces behind it, though the firm has no immediate development plans there.
A shot of the property from 15th Street. The building was constructed in 1887, records show. (Courtesy of Henry Group Real Estate)
“We’re big West Denver guys, and we love LoHi and think there’s a lot of potential down there,” Ayres said. “It seemed like a good opportunity to get in there and improve the look of the historic building and get some tenants in there relatively quickly.”
Thrive has been around for five years and is working on a couple residential projects near Sloans Lake that should break ground in the spring and summer of this year. It’s also working through getting permits for its planned food hall concept on an old industrial lot in Lincoln Park.
But they have a new type of project to take on in this little old building in LoHi.
“The office might be a bit of a struggle (to lease), but given that it’s a bit different than the other offices sitting vacant may help us,” Ayres said.
Before the pandemic hit, it was the office for Schultz’s business. From there, he oversaw a portfolio that stretched across the metro area, his holdings spanning industrial, office, retail and his favorite: hospitality.
COVID hit his business hard, as many of his properties relied on in-person foot traffic.
Following that up with a lawsuit in early 2023, when Schultz’ mother sued him; she also was his business partner. She accused her son of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from company bank accounts, cutting her out of real estate deals and failing to repay $3.7 million in promissory notes. Schultz countersued the next month.
The two settled their spat last year.
“My mom is an amazing person … she was a very big part of teaching me a lot of things, especially buying real estate,” he said.
“We’re one step closer to just being mother and son, which I’m looking forward to.”
But in the meantime, Tavern Hospitality – the company they ran together – continues to wind down. He listed a dozen of the business’ properties for sale last April, which included the one he just sold in LoHi. He’s also since sold two industrial properties in unincorporated Arapahoe County.
Schultz still owns half of Chopper’s Sports Grill at 80 Madison St. in Cherry Creek. He said he’d like to buy his mother’s half if “she’s willing” to sell.
Schultz also started his own company, Good Boy Hospitality. It owns the bar Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in Union Station North and restaurant Otravez along the 16th Street Mall. The former is slated to reopen in February, with the other to follow in March.
But he’s in no rush to do much more.
“Since these properties that have sold, including this one, there’s not a ton of pressure on us to get everything sold at a discount … there’s not a need to liquidate.”
