Law is what we do and a part of who we are, but our lives are fully immersed in the people, places and perspectives that create Denver’s identity.  Deeply entwined with our legal practice is our love of place.  This is our opportunity to share our personal insights.

An impressive number of Denver’s best restaurants are located in the Highlands area, attracting diners from across the Denver metropolitan area and beyond.  Although there is always a new restaurant to try, there are others that lure you back, time and time again.  Here are five of my favorite Highlands restaurants (in no particular order)

  1. El Chingon

El Chingon is a trendy, yet intimate restaurant located in a converted house on Tennyson Street, serving modern Mexican dishes with bold flavors and fresh ingredients.  There is always a fresh ceviche on offer as a starter, along with crowd-pleasing dishes like the enchiladas verdes and chiles rellenos.  Not to be confused with Troy Guard’s Los Chingones, El Chingon is run by executive chef David Lopez and his grandmother, Gloria Nuñez, and is owned by Lopez’ uncle Lorenzo Nuñez, making it a full family affair in the culturally rich Berkeley neighborhood.

  1. Wolf’s Tailor

Located on Tejon Street, perhaps the quietest commercial strip in north Denver, Wolf’s Tailor brings an unexpected energy to the Sunnyside neighborhood.  The main entrance is around the back, through the welcoming outdoor patio, and you walk past the fiery open kitchen in order to enter into a striking, minimalist dining room.  Chef Kelly Whitaker weaves together Italian and Japanese cooking techniques in innovative ways (without treading into the “fusion” category), establishing Wolf’s Tailor as both a neighborhood spot and a foodie destination.  The menu is ever-changing and optimal for sharing, creating an amalgamation of delicate crudos, binchotan-grilled skewers, house-made pastas, and family-style protein dishes.  Best suited for open-minded diners, Wolf’s Tailor offers an adventurous dining experience that is filled with culinary surprises.

  1. Sushi Ronin

For a landlocked city, Denver has a surprising number of great sushi restaurants.  Sushi Ronin further differentiates itself with melt-in-your-mouth fish and a curated list of sushi rolls, mingled with a standard soundtrack of old-school hip hop and laidback atmosphere.  One of the servers attributes the high-quality sushi to Chef Corey Baker’s innate ability to select the freshest fish.  Sushi Ronin always offers a cool and delicious night out in LoHi.  For my money, Sushi Ronin is the best sushi that the Mile High has to offer.

  1. El Five

A sultry penthouse with panoramic views of downtown Denver and Instagram-worthy interiors, El Five could thrive simply on its looks.  However, the Mediterranean-style cuisine and delightful cocktails soar at similar heights.  Come with a group to indulge in shareable cocktail pitchers, paella, and a dozen or more tapas.  As the sister restaurant to Highlands favorites Linger and Root Down, El Five will certainly be a mainstay of the Highlands restaurant scene as well.

  1. Spuntino

Spuntino’s modest façade near the corner of 32nd and Clay could lead you to assume it is just another standard Italian eatery in a historically Italian neighborhood.  However, the unassuming little restaurant consistently exceeds expectations.  The creative Italian dishes, using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, are executed to perfection.  The friendly staff, extensive wine list, irresistible desserts, and inviting atmosphere provide for a perfect date night in West Highland.

Denver’s ban on source-of-income discrimination took effect on January 1, 2019.

The ordinance, which the Denver City Council approved back in August, prohibits a wide range of conduct in real estate transactions “based upon … source of income.”  Protected sources of income under the ordinance include government housing assistance, Social Security payments, veterans’ benefits, student loans, legal settlements, and court-ordered child support and alimony payments.  The income source must be both “lawful” and “verifiable” to be eligible for protection.  The new law applies to landlords, real estate agents, property managers, and mortgage lenders.  Property owners who rent a single unit are specifically exempt. Continue Reading Denver Bans Source-of-Income Discrimination in Real Estate Transactions Beginning January 1

Denver released a public draft of a new Blueprint Denver on August 6. This marks the first wholesale revision to the citywide land use and transportation plan since the city adopted the first Blueprint Denver in 2002. The new Blueprint contains a serious (and for some, a welcome) departure from the first version of the plan, which has shaped the development of the city through tremendous growth over the last sixteen years.

A bit of background and context. Cities adopt long‑term plans that are supposed to guide subsequent decisions about land use policy and individual development applications. For example, a plan may say that the community values its open space. When the city receives an application to develop open space, the decision makers, be they the planning department, zoning commission, or city council, are supposed to consider the plan’s statement about open space in evaluating the development application. Continue Reading Blueprint Denver 2.0: R.I.P. Areas of Stability

Credit: Valentin Brajon

Later this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) will institute more stringent, recalibrated Energy Star certification metrics in an attempt to reflect current market conditions. As a result of this recalibration, Energy Star scores are expected to drop an average of 10 points for office buildings and 16 points for retail buildings.

If maintaining your current Energy Star score is a priority, the EPA recommends that you apply for your building’s 2018 Energy Star certification no later than July 26, 2018. To accommodate as many applications as possible before the more stringent metrics kick in, the EPA will not enforce its typical 11-month waiting period between applications during this application cycle.  As a result, all buildings that earned a 2017 Energy Star certification will be eligible to earn a 2018 Energy Star certification before the deadline this summer.  Applications submitted after July 26, 2018 may be evaluated with the updated metrics, especially if extensive follow-up is required, and applications submitted after August 26, 2018 will definitely be evaluated with the recalibrated metrics.

For more information about Energy Star and this summer’s updates, please visit https://www.energystar.gov.

Resolute’s proposed self-storage facility is shown in the graphic above. Source: Resolute Investments.

In May, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the City of Thornton’s approval of a specific use permit for a self-storage facility against a challenge brought by a competitor self-storage facility.  While the court’s decision in Stor-N-Lock Partners #15, L.L.C. v. City of Thornton was a victory for the defendants, including the city and the developer, the court ruled that defendants in Rule 106(a)(4) actions may not recover delay-induced damages through the imposition of a bond.  Otten Johnson attorneys Brian Connolly and Bill Kyriagis represented the defendant landowner and developer, CenturyLink and Resolute Investments, Inc., respectively, throughout the proceedings.

In the case, Resolute obtained the city’s approval of a specific use permit for its project.  A neighboring self-storage facility challenged the approval under Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 106(a)(4), which allows for judicial review of quasi-judicial decisions by local government bodies.  The plaintiff alleged that the approval of the specific use permit did not improve the welfare of its property, which was one of the Thornton code’s criteria for the issuance of a specific use permit.  The district court affirmed the city’s decision but denied the defendant’s motion to require the plaintiff to post security in an amount that would cover the defendant’s losses incurred as a result of litigation-related delays.  Continue Reading Colorado Court of Appeals: Court Should Defer to City Council’s Code Interpretations, But No Bond for Rule 106 Defendants