The northwest arts scene got another positive jolt Thursday with word that the local owners of the Oriental Theater and HQ will be reopening the nearby Federal Theatre as a 650-seat live-music venue at 38th Avenue and Federal Boulevard.

“After working closely with the City of Denver since early 2024, we’re on track to reopen this beautiful, historic venue in September 2025,” the Oriental’s Scott Happel told The Denver Gazette, trumpeting the venue as “proudly locally owned and fully independent.”

Happel envisions varied programming of both national touring and local live music, comedy, wrestling, burlesque, podcasts and more — “just like the Oriental Theater,” said Happel, whose partners are Andy Bercaw and Peter Ore. 

Northwest Denver is undergoing a revitalization as a live-entertainment district. The Oriental has become the busiest and most active live-music venue in the area. In recent years, the MCA Denver has reopened the Holiday Theatre as a live event space near North High School. And this month, Julia Tobey will reopen a large art gallery as a coffee shop and performing event space called Ballyhoo at 3300 Tejon St. Over at 3654 Navajo St., the 112-year-old Bug Theatre never seems to take a night off. 

“It’s funny because it’s both terribly exciting and super promising – but also a little scary,” Happel said. “We’re very proud to be part of the independent scene in Denver that is kind of fighting against the man and trying our best to create cool, amazing art spaces for live music and live entertainment of all kinds without giant AEG money or the like.

“The harder side is given the state of the world today, who knows what’s going to happen next? Touring costs more money than it’s ever cost for a million different reasons, which means ticket prices cost more than they’ve ever cost. And so there are a lot of challenges.”

The 102-year-old Federal Theatre, built in 1923, was remodeled in 1948 by architect Charles D. Strong, according to the website cinematreasures.org. The theater, a moviegoing staple for generations of Denverites, was last used for films in the 1970s.

After that, it was used as a church (for the first time), for one-off concerts, and as a carpet warehouse. For a time it was called the Aquarius, with red letters placed atop the word “Federal” on the marquee. Then the space came to be used for live theater, which was not particularly conducive to its cavernous space.

In 2002, the Industrial Arts Theatre put $30,000 of its own money into a renovation that included a reduction in capacity to 250. Ironically, the reluctant landlord at the time was George Sager, who also owned the Oriental. His sons continue to own both buildings today.

The Industrial Arts Theatre presented a variety of plays at the Federal ranging from Neil Simon to children’s musicals to “Tarnished Eagle,” an original adaptation of former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm and Arnie Grossman’s cautionary potboiler “1988.” (That was the juicy tale of a disillusioned liberal media consultant who is bought off to help a third-party presidential candidate who is secretly backed by terrorists.) The company moved out at the end of 2004. 

“We left because the electrical began smoking,” Winn said. “There was a mix of original 1923 and 1950s wiring in the building. It needed to be restarted from scratch as far as we knew. There was no cooling and the heat was gravity furnace. Summers were sometimes tough.”

The Federal reopened in 2009 as a church that relocated in 2023. 

In 2013, Happel became the general manager of The Oriental, located about a mile from the Federal at 44th Avenue and Tennyson Street. In 2020, when 3 Kings Tavern announced it was going out of business during the pandemic shutdown, Ore and Happel took over that essential live-music venue at 60 S. Broadway and reopened it as HQ. The Federal essentially becomes the team’s third rescue project. 

Asked why it’s important for him to be investing in these essential pieces of old Denver culture, Happel laughed. 

“I suppose insanity is not the best answer, is it?” he said.

“With the Oriental, I just fell in love with the whole aesthetic, and everything about that was fun. It was  a unique kind of challenge in my life. When the pandemic hit and 3 Kings closed, I thought it would really suck if some giant corporation took over that space. And with the Federal, the landlord called us in January of 2024 and said, ‘Would you have any interest in trying to turn this into a more legit sort of space?’ So it really just kind of fell into our lap.”

And it fell to them in much better shape than they imagined. Since then, most of the work has been taking place behind the scenes. 

“It took 10 months to get through the zoning and use process with the city,” Happel said. “It just took forever to get through that. Then in November, we were able to start the liquor-license process. We’re about halfway through our inspections now. With some wiggle room, we should be able to plan a grand opening sometime in September.”

One major priority before then: Restoring the majestic but now completely dismantled neon marquee outside the theater. That job will go to a Denver company called Morry’s Neon, which restored the Oriental’s historic sign in August 2023.

Asked what he and his partners are willing to invest in upgrading the current facility, Happel said: “No small amount.

“But it is not our vision that we are going to spend a giant pile of gold and make it look like the Federal had had a $10 million renovation inside. When it opens, it is going to look nice and we are going to be proud of it, but it is going to be very much the bones of this beautiful old theater.

“Over the next several years, as the business grows, we’ll be able to make improvements and continue to reinvest in it just as we have with the Oriental for all these years. So we will be picking and choosing our battles.”

As part of the Federal’s reopening, the owners are launching “Club Fed,” a Founders Club for members “who want to be part of the journey from the ground up,” he said. Membership, which comes in four levels ranging from $50-$500, includes discounts, early access ticket-buying, front-of-the-line access to all shows, exclusive merch made locally at IndyInk, and a limited-edition art print of the theater by Denver artist Andre Lippard. Membership closes July 31.

Happel said it is too soon to know what band will headline the new Federal’s grand opening — but a wish list has been started. 

“At this point, we’re seeking out the right artists to open with,” he said. “We’re trying to lure some prominent local artist that would never otherwise play a room that small. We want to see if we can — with a wink and a smile — get somebody to do it. But we haven’t gotten there yet.”