The company spent $5.8 million to purchase the plot of land where the old Rockies Inn motel burned down in 2016. By summer of 2021, the company also successfully lobbied the city of Denver to rezone the land, allowing for a building of up to eight stories.

“We refer to it as the bubble gum machine for cars,” said Elyse Morris, who owns the Dirty Duck bar next door. “There it sits… blocking my mountain views.”

“We know that Carvana is not currently in the best position business-wise and we don’t know what’s going on,” she said.

The online car dealer was expected to boom during the pandemic when auto dealerships across the country were forced to close their doors during coronavirus lockdowns. According to Michael Wayland, an auto industry reporter for CNBC, the company struggled to acquire an inventory of vehicles to serve customers during the pandemic. By the time it did, it had overpaid for used cars and the market began to cool down.

“Carvana was really created to disrupt the U.S. vehicle market. It was meant to disrupt the dealership model,” said Wayland. “It was going to be largely online sales and offer these unique car vending machines. To an extent, it has actually successfully done that.”

Even though Carvana’s stock has lost most of its value, Wayland said most analysts don’t believe the company’s bankruptcy is imminent.

“Analysts say that they’ve got enough cash to really kind of go through this year. However, they will need an influx of cash to really continue operations how they were doing it,” he said.

Much of Carvana’s current capital is real estate, including the car vending machines.

“The car vending machine is a really novel idea,” Wayland said. “It’s kind of like having a wacky, waving inflatable man in front of a dealership or a giant gorilla. It’s just a little bit more costly.”

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