Denver Stockyard Saloon, cornerstone of National Western complex, closing its doors

After decades serving up food, drinks and dancing in the National Western Center’s Livestock Exchange Building, the Denver Stockyard Saloon will close its doors in April after a clash between the restaurant and building owners over renovation plans.

Saloon owner and manager Dean Maus announced the closure in a Facebook post and confirmed the news to The Denver Post on Wednesday.

Maus said the building’s new owners initially tried to work with him on keeping the saloon open, but negotiations later fell apart and they stopped responding to his messages. But a partner with the real estate company, EXDO, told the Post they tried to accommodate the saloon owners but couldn’t reach an agreement.

Maus first learned the extent of the renovation plans in April when the building’s new owners — whom Maus declined to name — told him the restaurant would need to close for at least a year for remodeling.

A group of partners, including EXDO, the National Western Center Authority and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, bought the building from the city in 2020, according to previous reporting.

National Western Center Authority CEO Brad Buchanan had previously pledged to keep the saloon open amid community concerns about redevelopment.

“What are we supposed to do for a year?” Maus said he asked the building owners when he heard the plan. “You’re going to put us out of business.”

Maus said the building owners initially seemed willing to work with him on finding a temporary location for the saloon during renovations, but he was later informed the rent would increase after renovations but they wouldn’t tell him by how much.

Then he proposed that the building owners buy out the business, but that option also fell apart, he said. Maus said they stopped responding to his messages in October.

“I’ve built the business, I’ve been here for 24 years and they should compensate us and not just throw us out on the street,” Maus said.

EXDO CEO Andrew Feinstein told the Post that the building had a decade of deferred maintenance when purchased in 2020 and that closing it for at least a year is necessary. Feinstein declined to talk about the specifics of the company’s interactions with the saloon owners.

“What I will say is we did make a good deal of effort to accommodate the tenant and those efforts were rebuffed,” Feinstein said. He did not specify what the proposed accommodations included.

Feinstein also has ties to the building — he’s dined at the saloon and his great-grand-uncle held offices in the building as head of the grocer’s union — and said he doesn’t take the ordeal lightly and is sympathetic to the saloon operator.

“When we bought that building from the city we took a vow to the whole community that we would preserve that asset, bring it back to life and bring it back to the treasure it was,” Feinstein said.