Here’s what the old Denver Diner building on West Colfax looks like now

The building was sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. in October of last year.

The old Denver Diner building on Colfax Avenue stands abandoned and empty, awaiting its new life as a Chase bank. November 2, 2021.

The old Denver Diner building on Colfax Avenue stands abandoned and empty, awaiting its new life as a Chase bank. November 2, 2021.

Kevin J. Beaty
230210-OBED-MANUEL-STAFF-PHOTO-KEVINJBEATY-08-sq

The Denver Diner closed its doors permanently in January 2021. The building sat empty for months until it was purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in October of last year for almost $4.9 million.

As you can probably guess, the former W. Colfax staple’s fate was to eventually become a new Chase branch. Last year, we reported that the bank planned to renovate the building and open at the end of 2022, and a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that’s still the plan.

The crews tasked with making updates to the building have been at work and the place looks totally different now.

Kevin Beaty swung by the old locale with his camera yesterday and here’s what he saw:

The old Denver Diner building — now a soon-to-open J.P. Morgan Chase Branch — sets fenced on Oct. 5, 2022.

The old Denver Diner building — now a soon-to-open J.P. Morgan Chase Branch — sets fenced on Oct. 5, 2022.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Crews work on a new J.P. Morgan Chase branch that was once the old Denver Diner on on Oct. 5, 2022.

Crews work on a new J.P. Morgan Chase branch that was once the old Denver Diner on on Oct. 5, 2022.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The old Denver Diner-turned JP Morgan Chase branch sits at W. Colfax on Oct. 5, 2022.

The old Denver Diner-turned JP Morgan Chase branch sits at W. Colfax on Oct. 5, 2022.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

Change, as they say, is life’s only constant.

But the spirit of the Diner lives on in the memories of those who visited — and in some of its old furniture, which found new life earlier this year. Team Rubicon — a volunteer group founded by U.S. military veterans — reclaimed tables in February that had been sitting in boarded-up spot and gave them to refugees who had recently settled in the area after the U.S. ended its decades long occupation of Afghanistan.

This story has been updated with comment from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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