The former owner of the Regency Hotel, which became infested with drugs and violence before the city of Denver condemned and closed it two years ago, wants to open a large nightclub in Lakewood.
Art Cormier has applied for a liquor license for the Lakewood Event Center, to be in the old Hobby Lobby store at South Harlan Street and West Alameda Avenue. Cormier’s attorney, Alan Dill, said the dance club will be just over 40,000 square feet.
The application has ignited the neighborhood in opposition, including the owners of a sports complex for kids directly across Alameda. The city of Lakewood also is opposed.
“This is a good neighborhood, a neighborhood for kids. We don’t want a bunch of drunks in it,” said Floyd Heinrichs, 69, a retiree whose family has lived half a block away for 34 years.
He’s been circulating a petition opposing the liquor license.
“There’s an elementary school a block and a half away,” he said. “There’s a retirement home 50 feet away. We just don’t want this in our neighborhood.”
The Gold Crown Foundation operates a baseball stadium and field house with six basketball courts directly across Alameda. About 3,000 to 4,000 kids a week use the facility until 9 p.m. on weeknights and 10 p.m. on weekends, according to director Jay Clark.
“Our kids are junior high school, some are high school,” Clark said. “Having liquor so close to the kids is not very appealing. The idea of having a nightclub that can accommodate 3,500 people is one we are not thrilled about.”
Lakewood has filed an official notice of objection to the application.
“We’re going to oppose the license because of the problems the owner has had in the past in Denver and in Westminster,” said Deputy City Attorney Paul Kennebeck.
Cormier, who will be the sole owner of the nightclub, currently owns the Best Western Central Denver hotel and restaurant at 200 W. 48th Ave.
From 1998 until 2004, he owned the Regency Hotel, a 410-room hotel near 38th Avenue and Interstate 25 that he filled primarily with Mexican laborers, sometimes four to a room, at $100 a week.
The adjoining Los Caporales Restaurant, the largest nightclub in Denver with a legal capacity of 7,700 patrons, had a $40 cover charge and became the city’s most popular place for live Mexican music.
It also became a magnet for drug dealers, prostitutes and car thieves, according to police reports. The city finally ordered Cormier to shut down in April 2004 because of long-standing fire-code violations, including inoperable elevators.
The Lakewood Liquor Licensing Authority will hold a public hearing on the application in the Lakewood City Hall at 7 tonight.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
