Mayor's office says "Denver will not be bullied" over Denver Post building lease

The Denver Mayor's Office fired back at the Denver Post Wednesday saying "We don't care how big of a corporation they are ... The City and County of Denver will not be bullied," after the Post stopped paying rent for the building on Colfax Avenue which is owned by the city of Denver.

"We intend to recover the money we are owed," said a spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnston.

On Monday, CBS reported DP Media Network LLC, had stopped paying its $650,000-a-month rent payments for the building Denver bought in 2024. Those rent payments stopped in August and with late fees, DP Media Network LLC owes the city roughly $2 million.

Attorneys for the Denver Post did not respond to inquiries from CBS, but told the Denver Post newspaper they want to buy out their lease, which runs until 2029 and was expected to yield about $8 million a year for the city in rent payments.

"This is extremely terrible for our tax-paying residents," said Denver City council member Flor Alvidrez during a Wednesday interview. She was one of four council members who voted against the city buying the 300,000 square foot building for almost $89 million, saying the city was paying too much and questioning if the city really needed the additional space for courtrooms.

"We should never have purchased the Denver Post building," said Alvidrez. "I do not believe the city did enough research on this project, this purchase, at all."

Alvidrez and other councilmembers said during a city budget crisis, as they were making weekly budget decisions, the mayor's office never told them about the non-payment of rent and the loss of revenue.

Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Johnston, responded saying: "We have historically not briefed council because a tenant has missed a rent payment , as it happens from time to time and is typically corrected. This occurs when you deal in as many real estate transactions as we do as a city."

Alvidrez called that statement "disingenuous."

She pointed out that the lease for the Post building is the largest revenue-producing lease for the city, and DP Media Network LLC did not miss one month, but three, and told the city in late July that they wanted to buy out their lease.

"They are being dishonest in saying that they could have just missed a payment. This wasn't an oversight," said Alvidrez. "This isn't 'We're behind, we're financially struggling.' This was a smart business decision, probably by DP Media to say, 'You know what, this isn't going to cash flow for us anymore. Let's just not pay rent anymore.'"

Alvidrez said she believed the debacle might impact how voters view the $950 million "Vibrant Denver" bond measure, on the November ballot.

"I think it will affect the bond issue. I think voters ... don't trust this administration, and so this is going to continue to build a lack of trust with our city government and that is devastating."

She said she was "putting this right at the foot of the mayor. I think he wanted to purchase this building. He should have been honest with us and told us what was happening."

But she also said there is "lack of trust with one of the long-standing media entities in the city of Denver... they are turning their back on us."

Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who also voted against the building transaction, said what has happened is, "An embarrassment to be completely honest."

"It's embarrassing and the city deserves better."

She, too, said she only found out about the lease payments ending from the CBS News Colorado investigation.

"So the moment it stops being revenue generating and starts to be a deficit, you have a responsibility as a mayor to tell your council members, period," Lewis said.

She said keeping Denver City Council in the dark was "disrespectful."

Lewis also said she is concerned citizens may now view the Vibrant Denver bond measure more skeptically after this real estate flap.

"They have lost confidence in this city's ability to manage the dollars that we have, so why would we be giving more dollars?"

While the mayor's office has said it intends to recover "every penny we are owed," some are less optimistic. Lewis was asked if she thought Denver taxpayers "were going to get left holding the bag." She said, "I absolutely do."