Ciaran O’Brien is packing swim trunks for his next foray in the restaurant industry.
O’Brien, the man behind The Radiator in Sunnyside and The Patio at Sloans, will soon open a dual concept at The Penrose, an apartment complex at 1740 36th St. that opened last summer in RiNo.
Rose, a rooftop bar and restaurant with a pool, is set to open July 12. Thorn, a speakeasy basement concept that will feature live DJ sets in a lounge space, will open in August or September, O’Brien said.
“We made a decision to go first with a rooftop pool bar because of a gap in the Denver market,” O’Brien said, noting that prospective swimmers will have to reserve a spot if they want to enjoy the water.
“And then Thorn came up second,” he added. “We see the same thing with a lot of speakeasies in town, and ours is going to be more eclectic, more music-focused, than what you would see at a traditional speakeasy.”
Rose’s menu will serve summer grill-type bites, such as wagyu beef sliders, watermelon salad and sishito peppers. Later in the summer, when the full-scale kitchen is finished being built, O’Brien said there will be more offerings.
“(The menu) will be elevated but very sharable,” he said. “Not a lot of knife and fork dishes.”
Both will also serve from the same cocktail menu, which includes takes on classics like a lavender paloma and fig and smoke old fashioned.
The goal is to provide an all-day experience for guests at the 16-story building, he said. Once the sun falls behind the Rockies at Rose, he wants Thorn to be the next stop.
Patrons will take a dedicated elevator to either the rooftop or basement. O’Brien said it’s similar to a hotel restaurant in that it’s open to the public but people still live within the building.
O’Brien declined to disclose the build-out cost but said the building’s developer, former Denver Housing Authority exec Ryan Tobin, footed a significant portion of the bill. He signed a seven-year lease for both the spaces, and his staff will be about 50 people.
“They just needed something with what they created with the rooftop bar, and you don’t have many in Denver,” he said. “And to have a pool in the RiNo area, it just felt like there’s a need for this.”
O’Brien and his group, Ósta Holdings, also have two other projects in development.
A food hall in Wheat Ridge, part of a triple whammy of concepts including Prost Brewing and Troy Guard’s HashTAG, just broke ground and is slated to open in May 2026. O’Brien also said he’s bringing an Irish bar to Golden, and he hopes to start pouring pints by next St. Patrick’s Day.