1670 Champa Street

Trybal African Speakeasy's run in downtown Denver is coming to a close. Roughly two months after the owners announced in August that the speakeasy would shut down and the space would transition into an event venue, the furnishings, artwork and equipment inside 1670 Champa Street are now being sold at public auction on behalf of the City and County of Denver.

The online auction, run by Denver-based Dickensheet & Associates, opened October 16 and includes 107 lots, ranging from the host stand and plush lounge chairs to patio seating, kitchen equipment, sculptures and framed artwork. Bidding closed Monday, October 26 at 2 p.m., with on-site removal scheduled for the following day. Naked Denver reached out to Trybal's ownership and did not receive a comment before publication.

Trybal opened on October 25, 2025, in the roughly 1,900-square-foot space previously home to Wild Woman Wine. Co-owners Jeff Sankeu and Collantine Nkaum, both originally from Cameroon, set out to build a sit-down room where Denver could spend an evening with African culture rather than another nightclub. Entry started with learning: guests answered a question about Africa through the venue's website to receive a QR pass good for the day of their visit, with the to represent all 54 African countries.

Inside, the walls carried art Sankeu sourced on regular trips to meet artists across the continent, rotated over time. The kitchen leaned on family recipes from Cameroon, with relatives traveling to Denver to teach the techniques: skewers finished with a peanut-based spice, puff puffs, jollof rice and fried plantains, alongside cocktails built on hibiscus, soursop, wineberry and sugarcane. We toured the space ahead of its debut in September 2025 and covered opening day, and in the year since, Trybal joined the Upper Downtown neighborhood association, UpDoNA, as a business member and hosted gatherings including a WhatNow Accelerate networking event for Denver restaurant leaders in April.

Operating a new concept downtown has been especially difficult over the past several years. The core's recovery has been uneven, with office attendance and weeknight foot traffic still short of pre-pandemic patterns, and that environment is hardest on ideas that ask guests to try something unfamiliar. Owners and public agencies are still working through what comes next for many of the surrounding blocks, including the Symes Building at 820 16th Street, which recently sold for $2.7 million as its new owner seeks $5 million from the Downtown Denver Development Authority.

The auction closes out the Champa Street location, not the team behind it. Sankeu's Scatta Afrobeats, the African dance party series he has run for roughly five years, continues to draw crowds around Denver, and creative entrepreneurs with unique ideas rarely stop building. Concepts like Trybal often come down to timing, and the right moment tends to arrive for people who keep at it. We look forward to seeing what the team takes on next. For now, Trybal is a place the city is sad to see go and glad to have experienced.