The Denver Post has not paid more than $2 million in rent to the city as the newspaper attempts to buy out its long-term lease of the 11-story building it once called home.
That figure includes three $650,000-a-month rent payments that have not been paid since August, plus tens of thousands of dollars in late fees, according to city documents.
While the mostly vacant building still bears The Post’s name, the newspaper hasn’t operated out of the space at 101 W. Colfax Ave. in seven years. The last of parent company MediaNews Group’s employees moved to offices at the paper’s Adams County printing facility in 2020.
The city of Denver bought the building in 2024 and assumed The Post’s lease.
DP Media Network LLC, the newspaper’s legal name, has offered to buy out its lease with the city and hopes to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement, the company said in a statement.
“We stopped occupying this space while the building was under private ownership long before the city purchased it, so there was never any impression we would be using the space when the city made the decision to purchase the building,” said Marshall Anstandig, general counsel for The Post’s parent company, MediaNews Group.
The lapse in rent payments, first reported by CBS Colorado, comes as Denver battles a budget crisis that has led to layoffs, a hiring freeze and service cuts. The crisis is due to an estimated revenue shortfall of $200 million in 2026.
In an emailed statement, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Johnston said the city is working with The Post to resolve the issue, and added that officials “intend to recover every penny.”
“Denver pays its debts on time and DP Media Network should do the same,” spokesman Jon Ewing said.
Laura Swartz, a spokeswoman for Denver’s finance department, said the city pursued the property specifically because of the lease lasting through 2029, which made the deal financially feasible. A majority of the City Council approved the deal with that understanding as well.
Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez was one of four members to vote against the deal.
“I didn’t vote for this purchase because I knew Denver couldn’t afford it without guaranteed income,” she said. “Now that DP Media has stopped paying rent, our residents are left carrying the burden.”
The roughly 306,000-square-foot building opened in 2006 as the base of operations for both The Post and the Rocky Mountain News, which closed in 2009 — though neither newspaper ever owned it.
The Post, whose parent company MediaNews Group is owned by Alden Global Capital, moved its operations out of the downtown building in a cost-saving move between 2016 and 2018. The remaining corporate employees moved out in early 2020.
In 2024, the City Council approved the city’s purchase of the building from owner American Properties for $88.5 million, with plans to convert it into a courthouse.
The Post has about four years remaining on the master lease of the building, and also subleases space to other entities — including the city of Denver.
Today, as downtown Denver’s office towers and commercial spaces still struggle to recover from the pandemic, the building is largely empty. The city vacated several floors it had subleased from The Post when that agreement ended in February, according to the newspaper. It still subleases other parts of the building, as does Enova International.
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