Boulder’s World Famous Dark Horse could close as soon as the end of the year as developers behind the Williams Village II project run up against the city’s subdivision rules and seek to avoid construction delays.
City officials are reviewing a request from the property owner for greater flexibility in the subdivision process that could allow the Dark Horse to stay open until next spring while also keeping the redevelopment on schedule.
The project at 2952 Baseline Road will replace what is largely a strip mall and parking lot with 427 housing units and new commercial space. It has drawn significant attention because it will demolish the building occupied by the Dark Horse, a bar and grill dating back to the 1970s. The Boulder City Council approved the project last month.
The project team is seeking city approval for a plat as part of the subdivision application process. The plat is a legal map of property boundaries, easements and rights-of-way, and its approval is a required step before construction can move forward.
Petur Williams, the property owner, said in an email to City Attorney Teresa Taylor Tate this month that the city’s interpretation of the process for approving a plat would require the developers to demolish the Dark Horse as soon as this year if they want to keep the project on schedule. He is asking the city to provide flexibility to avoid closing the Dark Horse on an “unexpectedly compressed timeline” while also preserving the redevelopment schedule.
“My request is simple and made in the spirit of partnership: that your office work urgently with City staff and the development team to identify a lawful, flexible mechanism — phased recording, conditional treatment of easements, or another tool — that allows the Dark Horse to continue operating into early 2026 without delaying or jeopardizing the redevelopment schedule,” Williams wrote in the Dec. 4 email.
The Dark Horse building sits in the northwest corner of the Williams Village II redevelopment site, near or in the path of a proposed street, easements and a new building dedicated to student housing, according to architecture plans. The development is set to occur in two phases, beginning first with the construction of a building located in practically the same location as the Dark Horse building, according to the project team.
Cate Stanek, a spokeswoman for the city, said the city has not imposed a deadline for the development and that the developer wants to complete the subdivision process by the end of the year.
“The city has not imposed any deadlines for the completion of their subdivision application,” Stanek wrote in an email to Boulder Reporting Lab. “Their application remains under review. The owner’s plans for construction on the site can take place after the final plat, construction drawings and floodplain permit are submitted and approved.”
She said the city is reviewing the request from Williams.
Williams did not respond to requests for comment. A manager at the Dark Horse declined to comment until later this week.
“We continue to work through some extraordinarily complex issues on code alignment and schedules, and the Williams family and development team are all very grateful that the city’s professional staff has treated this issue with both empathy and urgency,” Bill Rigler, a principal at Greenlight Strategy and spokesperson for the project, told Boulder Reporting Lab in an email.
At stake are jobs for dozens of employees and the ability for Boulder residents to say goodbye to the Dark Horse, Williams wrote in his email to the city.
Under a 2024 memorandum, the developers had said they would work with the Dark Horse’s owner to look for possible relocation sites and help move and store the bar’s interior memorabilia. It remains unclear whether the Dark Horse intends to relocate or reopen elsewhere.
Building luxury housing for students (not CU housing) is not what keeps money inside Boulder. Students come and go, but institutions like Dark Horse don’t. They keep money local.
I don’t know another place like Dark Horse. I’m a regular and don’t know where or if I’ll go anywhere else.
If the City Attorney’s Office doesn’t let them stay open just for a few months, this, combined with them and the Police Oversight Panel stuff happening right now, gives me little hope for Boulder. I no longer want to stay as long as I once did.
Wait wait wait!!! The Dark Horse is being demolished and there are no plans to renovate/replace it???? How can this be, it’s an historic building, bar, restaurant and music venue attraction, what’s up Boulder?
Owner said they were working with the developer for a new location, and part of that agreement is that they wouldn’t pursue landmark status. Now, I’m not in on the know, but it seems to me if the owner didn’t agree to this, the developer and landowner (Colburn and Williams Family respectively), could just say “oh well” and continue plans with a demolished, never coming back Dark Horse. So it seems like this was the owner’s only option.
Still, I find it a little strange that this got unanimous approval from the Historic Landmark committee (they still voted on it), and the development was unanimously approved by City Council, despite months and months of public backlash and heavy concerns expressed by citizens at the city council meetings.
It seems to me that City Council does not want to follow the will of its constituents, unless they pay a pretty penny, which the developer, Colburn, did, so they wouldn’t have to make this low-income housing (which is stipulated in state law to be fair).
I live around WillVill, so everything being torn down really really blows, and I hate that I’m losing ease of access to so many great locations. Because of this, I won’t be living in this spot for long, and I most certainly won’t be voting for any of the incumbent city council members.
100% greed. Just because a place doesn’t have plenty of overpriced millennium cardboard shoeboxes, doesn’t mean the city “needs” them. Wonder how much each city council person/family/friends stand to make off this project? Seems like the typical “Bait citizens to think we listen to them & history matters during election season” then a “ FAST sneaky Switch to cater to a heartless-anti-environment, zero respect for local history developer.” Gross.
What a travesty Boulder has to go this way, when pioneer architectural alternates surely exist that could pave better futures all around.
Why do they have to demolish Dark Horse first? Since they are demolishing the strip mall (which is also sad because of Cosmo’s and an OK grocery store but not as sad) demolish that first and leave Dark Horse alone for a while.
The article says Dark Horse demolition is phase 1… switch that to the last phase.
I’m sure the inertia already exists and there’s fat chance of change just to please the public, but here’s to dreaming.
Yep, keep dozing all of Boulder’s historic and iconic places, and sell everyone out to developers. Glad to see that, as usual, the city has their priorities straight.