DENVER — Welton Street Café’s years‑long struggle to rebuild has now culminated in a more than $1 million judgment against the contractor accused of stalling and botching the project.
Welton Street Café, in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, has been a family‑run fixture for a generation.
“Welton Street Café is like my favorite place on Earth,” said co‑owner Fathima Dickerson. “When I say that, I mean that I'm spending time with people I love and people that love me. And there's no other place like this.”
Her family has been in restaurants in Five Points since 1986. Welton Street Café opened in 1999 and quickly became a cornerstone in the neighborhood.
From community support to stalled progress
Welton Street was nearly lost post‑pandemic.
In 2021, Denver7 Gives viewers and the community raised money to help them relocate and rebuild.
“We're very appreciative of Denver7 and the community for helping us raise the money to relocate and just be here,” Dickerson said. “We want to be here.”
They hired Denver design‑build firm Desibl and owner Keesh Pankey to design and construct the new space.
“We took some bids. You always want to support the small guys, because we're a small guy,” she said.
According to Dickerson, the project was supposed to be completed in six months.
“It took almost three years,” she said. “We had already had this [new] building before we closed our door at 2736 Welton. … Our last day there was March 12, 2022. We had a temporary location for about five months. There wasn’t a lot of progress with this [new] space at all.”
She said early construction gave them hope.
“It was August of 2022 when there was a wall in here that got knocked out," she said. "We thought it was going to get started, but it didn't get started."
Costs rise, equipment paid for but not delivered
Fathima said the budget began at just over $600,000, but it began to balloon.
“The money we paid out just didn't match the work that was being completed,” she said. “There's something that's just not right. … We're funded, we had community support, and then there's no progress being made.”
She described paying multiple times for essential equipment and work:
- Commercial kitchen hood: paid for three times.
- Electrical work: redone after residential‑grade wiring was installed in a commercial space.
- Plumbing: paid for again due to inspection issues.
“We don't believe the team was qualified to do a project this size at all," she said.
Meanwhile, the delays were taking a financial and emotional toll, as family members struggled to pay rent and bills and took on second jobs.
"My sister was substituting… I was finding odd jobs. At one point, my apartment complex put a note on my door about the rent," said Dickerson. "Does the money I get go to me, or does it go to the business? I looked at my bank account, and I had $53 to my name, and I was, like, broken,” Dickerson said. “I don't even know if this is going to happen.”
Lawsuit and default judgment
Attorney Jason Krueger filed a lawsuit alleging Desibl and Pankey didn’t buy the more than $167,000 in kitchen equipment they were paid for, stopped work for weeks at a time, and drove up costs with delays and unexplained charges.
Court filings also detail what the owners describe as widespread defective workmanship that left major portions of the project unusable.
The suit claims Desibl’s crews installed residential‑grade electrical wiring in a commercial restaurant space, forcing the café to pay for the job twice.
Plumbing work repeatedly failed inspections, requiring additional payments to fix.
The complaint also cites significant flaws in insulation, drywall, paint, caulking, doors, flooring, HVAC, plumbing, and window installation.
A judge awarded Welton Street Café a default judgment of $1,054,079.15 for breach of contract, civil theft, and trust fund statute violations, plus treble damages for equipment funds and interest.
“I appreciate Denver7 for covering this story,” Krueger said. “Because it will send a message to contractors: You get your hand caught in a cookie jar, and there are consequences.”
In a statement to Denver7 Investigates, an attorney for Desibl and Pankey declined an interview, stating, “Since this is an ongoing litigation, we cannot comment on it.”
They have filed a motion to set aside the default judgment.
About more than money
Meanwhile, Dickerson said she doubts she will ever see any of the million-dollar award, but for her, it was not just about the money.
“It felt good to know that we were seen,” Dickerson said. “We lost time, we lost celebrating life together, we lost our space… the emotional, mental, every kind of stress.”
Dickerson said some people accused them of stealing the money that had been donated to save the restaurant.
“We would get comments on Facebook, like, ‘what happened to the money,’” she said. “They have no idea what we're going through.”
“You just don't want the people in your community to ever have to feel this or go through it,” she said.
Welton Street Café reopened in November 2024 with a different contractor and has been serving customers again.
State records show Desibl LLC was voluntarily dissolved in January.
Pattern of problems
Court records reviewed by Denver7 Investigates show this is not the only recent default judgment involving similar allegations against the same contractor.
In another case, a Colorado court awarded almost $550,000 in a default judgment after allegations breach of contract, fraud, and trust fund statute violations tied to defective work and unpaid suppliers.
What you can do
Dickerson says she wants people to be proactive before hiring contractors so they never go through what her family experienced.
- Check references and speak directly with past clients about their experiences.
- Verify licenses and registration with state agencies.
- Research court records for any prior lawsuits.
- Insist on written change orders for any scope or budget adjustments.
- Use escrow or trust accounts for large equipment purchases to ensure funds are used as intended.
◼️ Previous coverage
Welton Street Café, well-known gathering place in Five Points, may soon close its doors
Denver7 Gives raises $41,561 to save Welton Street Café
Five Points' Welton Street Café launches second fundraiser to help cover costs at new location
Welton Street Cafe is close to reopening at a new location in Five Points
Five Points business leaders discuss priorities and the future of Welton Street
