By the end of April, and just shy of its 85th birthday, Denver’s Bonnie Brae Tavern could be one step closer to being razed and redeveloped.

According to city records, the owners of the restaurant at 740 S. University Blvd. earlier this month applied for non-historic status on their building. If approved, the certificate would exempt the tavern from further review if its owners decide to demolish it.

They can do so soon after the decision or up to five years later, Alexandra Foster of Denver Community Planning and Development told The Denver Post over email.

“By ordinance, all demolition applications are reviewed for historic potential regardless of whether they are designated landmarks or historic district properties,” she said. “This is done precisely to give the community an opportunity to speak up for beloved sites.”

But a family spokesman this week wouldn’t say what plans are for the restaurant.

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“Whether we’re going to remodel, expand, sell … we’re just weighing our options at this point,” Michael Dire, a third-generation Bonnie Brae Tavern owner who owns the business with his sister and two cousins, told The Denver Post on Tuesday.

By applying for non-historic status, Dire said that his family was “just trying to find out where we stood” as they consider next steps for the building and their business.

But based on community response, the inquiry has “turned into a nightmare, let me tell you,” he added.

Dire said questions and concerns from customers started rolling in after Denver’s Landmark Preservation office posted a sign outside the tavern on April 9 notifying the public of the application process.

Community members have until April 30 to counter-apply for landmark designation in order to preserve the building, though applying without the owners’ consent comes with a fee of $875, according to the city’s application page. (Read more about the process in Westword.)

The landmark preservation office already has deemed Bonnie Brae Tavern potentially historic for its “direct association with development of the city,” and architectural features such as the iconic neon sign on its facade, according to a landmark preservation staff briefing. Its evaluation prompted the public response period.

“As one of the earliest commercial enterprises in the area, the Bonnie Brae Tavern grew with the neighborhood around it and became an integral part of the community during its 85 years of operation,” the city’s brief says.

If a formal landmark designation application is not filed by the end of the month, Bonnie Brae Tavern will get its non-historic status by May 8, according to the posted notice. That status would allow “demolition permits to be issued upon compliance with all state and city requirements,” it said.

But at the tavern, it’s business as usual, according to Dire.

“There’s nothing really going on,” he said, adding that the family is targeting June 6 and 7 for its 85th-anniversary celebration.

Bonnie Brae Tavern was built and opened in 1934, just after the repeal of Prohibition. The spot soon became a destination for families to get pizza in the community. By the time of second-generation owner Hank Dire’s death in 2012, his daughter Angela told The Denver Post that her father had considered Domino’s Pizza to be the family’s big competition.