George Skordos says he has no plans to sell the iconic Denver Diner, no designs on shuttering the doors to the Googie-style building.

“Where am I gonna go?” Skordos, who has owned the landmark on Colfax Avenue for 23 years, asked on Friday. “I’ll stay here another 50 years, and my kids will run the place after I’m gone.”

The reason for the sign at the entrance to the open 24-7 diner — the one notifying patrons of a “Certificate of Non-Historic Status Application” — he insists, is largely a matter of self-preservation against those who might be resistant to change, a preemptive strike against anyone who would try to label the diner a historic landmark.

Such a designation, Skordos said, would mean he’d have to jump through hoops to make any change to the building, which harks to funky atomic-age architecture.

“I should be doing a lot of things here — it should be a little bigger, I should have a liquor license — I have no idea exactly what I might do. But if I wanted to do anything, even like changing the sign, I wouldn’t be able to do it if someone said this was a historical landmark,” he said.

Even so, rumors abound that change is coming, with some speculating that the building is slated to be razed, perhaps as part of proposed redevelopment that has flowed down West Colfax Avenue since the Denver Sheriff Department’s Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center opened in 2010.

Skordos insists that’s not the case, which came as a relief to some of the customers grabbing lunch on Friday.

“I love this place — I love the food, I love the prices,” said Denver Judge Donna Schmalberger, a diner regular.

The application for nonhistoric status was submitted in early December by the Urban West Group, a Boulder-based development company. The application would apply to the properties at 700 and 740 W. Colfax, the latter building housing the Denver Diner.

Skordos said he spoke with Urban West “a while back, but nothing happened — it’s a dead horse.”

According to the city of Denver, Skordos signed the nonhistoric designation application in April. Attempts to reach Urban West co-founder and principal David Elowe

were unsuccessful.

A city representative says its staff has determined that the Denver Diner building has potential for landmark designation. Interested parties have until Jan. 12 to notify the city of an intent to designate. If that happens, the process of determining whether the building meets the criteria begins. It takes about three to four months to complete.

If the city isn’t notified of an intent to designate, the certificate of nonhistoric designation could be issued after Jan. 19.

Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@denverpost.com or twitter.com/anthonycottondp