He Not Busy Being Born Is Busy Dyin'

Like humans, buildings are constantly evolving or dying; appreciating or depreciating. We believe while community is the heart of Highland, history is its soul.

Nearly 130 years after its construction, the historic Highland building is a living, breathing and ever changing structure. Instead of being a relic of the past, Highland strives to stay on the cutting edge of technology, evolving as we change the way we live, work, eat, entertain and socialize.

Although we are fortunate to live in a country ruled by law, laws often change slowly and are usually years, if not decades behind zoning, code and technological changes. As Highland continues to morph from an elementary school to a luxury office, and now a private club, we have had to secure multiple zoning changes, building permits, land exchanges, subdivisions, sales tax, commercial kitchen, spa and liquor licenses, just to name a few.

After over a year of negotiations with City of Boulder Planning staff, we have decided not to seek a Venue Permit to hold large public events like our popular Kentucky Derby and Grapes & Grass festivals. Instead, we have agreed to limit the size of our regular events to 100 and seek a new liquor license called “Lodging & Entertainment” that allows us to serve alcohol to our “customers,” instead of our current “Private Club” license that only allows us to serve alcohol to our “members and their accompanied guests.”

In the last 44 years I have spent developing property in Boulder, I have had my share of dealing with bureaucracy. However, instead of acting frustrated, I am always thankful that we live in a land ruled by law, and fortunate that Boulder bureaucrats are smart, honest and hard working people doing their job, This is certainly one of the many reasons why Boulder is on the list of the top ten most livable cities in America.

Securing a new liquor license is a long and arduous task, but we’ve been there and done that and trust that with help from our staff, members and neighbors, we can get this job done in under six months. Meanwhile, until we secure the new license, we are no longer holding any public gatherings that requires serving alcohol to non-members.