Denver music venue HQ, a popular anchor of the city’s South Broadway cultural corridor, is asking for donations after the owners said a water main break flooded its basement with at least 10 feet of water, destroying its contents and threatening to close the business for up to four months.
“Our entire 3,200 sq. ft basement, with 10-12 ft high ceilings, was completely filled with water from floor to ceiling,” owners Scott Happel and Peter Ore wrote in a Monday press statement, accompanied by photos of the apparent flooding. “Denver Water barely got water turned off to the entire block in time to prevent water from reaching the main venue space upstairs.”
The break occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, underneath the Broadway and directly in front of HQ, at 60 S. Broadway, Happel and Ore wrote. It shot high-pressure water “directly at our basement brick wall. The pressure build-up caused our basement wall to bow and eventually break open, pushing tons of dirt, mud, and water into the basement,” they said in the statement.
Denver Water officials said they responded to the break on Wednesday morning but have so far been unable to find the specific cause.
“Since we’re not there at the time of the break the only information we’re able to gather is what we see once we arrive and/or dig down to the broken pipe,” officials wrote in an email to The Denver Post. “We can confirm that the broken customer-owned service line was not directly hit by the separate construction project occurring on this block.”
The venue was formerly known as 3 Kings Tavern and hosted thousands of punk, metal, hip hop, indie rock and comedy shows over its 14 years. It closed in 2020 as one of the first pandemic business victims, but was revived by industry veterans Happel and Ore, who own The Oriental Theater and count dozens of years of venue ownership and booking at Soda Jerk Presents, Live Nation and other companies under their belts.
In July, HQ hosted some of the biggest indoor shows at the annual Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway — the vibrant strip’s biggest commercial event of the year.
The venue is now asking for donations at tickets.holdmyticket.com/tickets/420578 to pay for repairs to the broken basement wall. The statement warned that a worst-case scenario could see the club closed for 3 to 4 months. It’s impossible to calculate the cost of repairs “and replacing that which has been destroyed,” they wrote.
“HQ will be closed until further notice while clean up, and then repairs, take place,” the statement said, noting that despite their own business insurance — and their landlord’s insurance — Colorado policies have a “water exception” that protects insurance companies from paying out if the water is from outside the building. “Since the water main was located on city property underneath the street, we expect zero insurance coverage.”
The owners also wrote that while they could potentially sue the city for the damages, the legal fees and possible years-long courts process would be unproductive.
“While most of our staff are already seeking other opportunities and/or applying for unemployment, there are some staff that we have to keep on and keep paying,” the owners wrote. “Depending on the amount raised we hope to help out some of our part time staff in the short term as well.”
Denver Water officials said they fully understand “the hardship these events create for people, which is why we helped the businesses impacted by the break to get water restored as quickly as possible, provided emergency response, and cleaned up the debris from the break.”
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