Denver’s historic Press Club is struggling back to life after back-breaking debt forced closure of its restaurant for about six months.
The 130-year-old club reopened the kitchen Feb. 14 for a buffet dinner on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; the club no longer serves lunch.
“We closed the restaurant on Aug. 6. It was just losing us huge amounts of money,” said Bruce Goldberg, president of the club’s board of directors.
The financial crisis in 2005 and 2006 resulted in late property-tax and insurance payments, delayed payments to vendors and bounced paychecks.
The club, which is the oldest continuously operating press club in the nation, has since refinanced its mortgage and used the loan to pay off debt, Goldberg said.
“That enabled us to pay off old debts and wipe out a provision from a previous loan that had an impossible-to-meet balloon payment,” he said.
The club is concentrating on hosting weddings, meetings and other events, Goldberg said.
The nonprofit club has also begun an aggressive marketing effort to boost the number of events held and rehired former manager Carmen Green, who left in 1999.
“That’s where the opportunity lies,” for the club on Glenarm Place, said Denver restaurant consultant John Imbergamo. “It is not a great retail location because there isn’t a lot of walk-by traffic, but it is perfect for weddings and other events because it is surrounded by parking lots and it is a cool, old building.”
Private clubs in general have fared poorly in recent years, he said.
While restaurants can lure diners from a large pool of potential customers, private clubs generally limit themselves to serving members and their guests, Imbergamo said.
The club has flirted with financial disaster a number of times. Before it was remodeled in 2002, it was close to financial ruin.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
