 "Photo: Photo by Melissa Laverty")
After 18 years of serving the Auraria Campus alcoholic beverages and leaving students smelling funky, The Boiler Room's doors were chained and locked shut on Friday July 11 for failure to fulfill contractual obligations.
"I was surprised," said Director of Student Life Obe Hankins. "Because I thought they were a successful business that served a unique crowd and nitch on our campus."
The Boiler Room's unfulfilled obligations were unknown as of press time because of contractual and legal reasons.
"They basically were not meeting their lease obligations," said Tivoli Finance Manager David Caldwell. "At this point we are not able to discuss them with anyone other than the owner of The Boiler Room out of respect for the him, his business, and other legal lease driven issues"
The Boiler Room was notified of the impending action Wednesday, July 9, but since the closure of the bar there has been no communication between the owners and campus administrators. As of now there is no way of knowing the exact fate of the bar until a communication is initiated between the two parties
"They were notified that we would take possession of the premise," said Caldwell. "We have given them a window of opportunity to discuss the situation and find out where each of us is at the moment, usually people want to talk when this sort of thing happens, but I haven't heard anything from them other than a voice mail."
According to campus officials the lease was terminated, but the opportunity to converse with officials on whether to continue business in the Tivoli is still open. Caldwell stated the lease is going through a process of termination, but they are still waiting to see what legal step to take next.
"They still have the opportunity to have a conversation that would ether stop or continue the process of us ending our business relationship," said Caldwell. "We are completely open to having the conversation, and there is the possiblity it could end positively or negatively."
Although, anonymous sources close to the bar have said there were management problems and the possibility of underage drinking. The Auraria Police department stated that there have been no serious violations by the Boiler Room in the last two years.
"It's been a relatively quiet establishment over there," said Sergeant Robert Barela of the Auraria Police Department.
The lease agreement between the current owners of the Boiler Room and the Tivoli was supposed to be from June of 2001 to June of 2005. Dale Trujillo the on-site manager of the Boiler Room was involved in a similar situation with the B-Movie Café over a year ago. Apparently once the lease was terminated for similar reasons, a Tivoli administrator received a page in the middle of the night stating Trujillo was loading equipment into a truck on a nearby loading dock. There were no criminal violations recorded, but the property remained empty for over a year.
If the Boiler Room receives the same fate as the B-Movie Café a bidding process will ensue.
"Once we have the proper clearance we would go out to public bid," said Director of Student Auxiliary and Tivoli Student Union Barbara Weiske. "Then we would solicit for interested people."
As of now there is no guarantee the Boiler Room will continue to operate as a bar on campus, because the new owners would have to go through the process of retaining a new liquor license. Whatever the case maybe, the future of the once infamous Boiler Room is now in a state of limbo.
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