The downtown Denver space that once housed 801 Fish has a new tenant lined up. Jeff Moerke, the restaurateur behind Tavern on Blake Street, signed a lease this week to take over 999 17th St. and open a steakhouse he's calling Nine9Nine Steakhouse, Seafood and Raw Bar.
Moerke hopes to open the new restaurant by the end of 2026, according to BusinessDen, though that timeline is a goal rather than a locked-in date. The move comes just months after Moerke opened The Tavern on Blake Street in June at the former Blake Street Tavern site near Coors Field, meaning he's now expanding his Denver footprint for a second time within the same year.
From Mountain Towns to Downtown Denver
Moerke and his wife, Ashley, built their reputation running The Tavern Kitchen & Bar in Snowmass, a business the couple still owns and operates. The same report notes they also run a Tavern Kitchen & Bar location in Carbondale and Il Poggio in Snowmass, giving Moerke an established base in Colorado's mountain dining scene before he set his sights on the city.
Part of the appeal of planting a flag downtown, Moerke has said, is escaping the seasonal swings that come with mountain-town tourism. He said Denver's larger population and greater affordability would mean a steadier, year-round stream of income compared with the ups and downs of his other spots.
Downtown’s business backdrop is mixed: the Downtown Denver Partnership counted 72 new ground-floor businesses opening in 2025, a net gain of 39, while office vacancy stood at 29% at year’s end. The Partnership also put the average return-to-office rate at 66% for the year. Those figures suggest new storefronts are arriving even as the office market—and the weekday foot traffic restaurants often rely on—remains under pressure. The Partnership’s year-end snapshot offers a broader measure of the market Moerke is entering.
The Space's Troubled Recent History
The 999 17th St. address isn't a stranger to turbulence. 801 Fish opened there in early 2023 and closed in late 2024, and its exit wasn't quiet. Court documents showed the restaurant had been evicted from the space, and landlord Shea Properties alleged in a lawsuit that the operator, Iowa-based 801 Restaurant Group, stopped paying rent in September and left behind significant damage while removing furniture and equipment, as reported by the Denver Post.
Those allegations remain attributed claims from the landlord's lawsuit rather than settled findings, but they paint a picture of a messy handoff before Moerke's group stepped in. Harper & Hudson Hospitality Chief Operating Officer Chris Erickson is involved with the new project, per the BusinessDen report.
A Steakhouse Built on a Colorado Pitch
Moerke has framed the concept around the idea that Colorado is landlocked while Denver is, at heart, a cattle town — a pitch that fits a steakhouse and raw bar concept replacing a seafood-focused predecessor. The name Nine9Nine nods to the building's own street address.
Opening a restaurant downtown also involves a permitting sequence beyond signing a lease. Denver says restaurant projects generally need zoning approval and building permits, with reviews that can include building, health, sewer and fire requirements. For a restaurant serving alcohol, the city advises applicants to allow at least 120 days from a complete license application to issuance; applications can begin during zoning review, but licenses cannot be approved before a zoning permit is issued. Denver’s restaurant permitting guidance underscores how approvals and construction could shape the opening target.
Moerke's other downtown project offers a sense of his ambitions when he commits to a space. At Tavern on Blake Street, repairs tied to HVAC, electrical and plumbing work were initially pegged at $425,000, though a later Denver Post report said the date was pushed back due to HVAC and patio repairs and that total costs reached about $1 million. Denver Post accounts have described that space's size differently — one report put it at 18,000 square feet, another at 19,000 square feet — and the discrepancy hasn't been resolved.
That Blake Street buildout turned into something of a showpiece, with 84 televisions and a menu featuring pricey tomahawk steaks and caviar. Denver7 reported that the old arcade moved upstairs to make room for a live entertainment venue in the basement, underscoring how far Moerke was willing to go to reinvent a legacy sports-bar space for a new era.
Whether Nine9Nine gets a similarly elaborate transformation remains to be seen. For now, the lease signing marks the first concrete step toward replacing one of downtown Denver's higher-profile restaurant closures with a steakhouse built around Moerke's cattle-country pitch.
