Denver developer Bernard Hurley owns a string of properties in RiNo running along the South Platte, from 38th to 36th streets. On Tuesday, he purchased 3759 Chestnut Place for $1.5 million, formerly home to the River bar.
The establishment moved down the street earlier this year. The building fetched $464 per square foot in the deal.
“Itap the only piece that we didn’t have,” Hurley said. “It completed that assemblage.”
The 0.29-acre lot is home to the 3,300-square-foot bar building. Hurley is in talks with an operator to take over the spot but declined to share who.
“We’re going to keep it a bar and we’re going to do a concept there thatap going to include some activation of the adjacent property to make it an experience,” he said.
“We want to keep it something RiNo-esque.”
The sellers, Karl Cdebaca and Barbara Mondragon, bought the property in 2014 for $289,000, property records show. Karl Cdebaca is a relative of River bar co-owners Kourisa and Gil Cdebaca. Before River opened there in 2021, it had been home to the dive bar Welcome Inn, which opened in 1977.
Across the street from River is the former Blue Moon Brewing space, which went dark in the spring of 2025. Hurley is working on adding a Sprouts Farmers Market in its place. He declined to comment on those plans.
Much of the area from 38th to 36th south of Delgany Street is envisioned as becoming Hurley Place. The mixed-use development is fully entitled and will have an office building, residential and hotel units along with new retail connected by walking paths and open space.
The property Hurley purchased at 3759 Chestnut is adjacent to a planned apartment building, but does not fall under the Hurley Place plans. The building hit the market earlier this year and Hurley jumped at the opportunity.
“We wanted to have control over that corner and how it looks for the overall project,” he said.
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