Ballard Spahr Advises Chef Troy Guard as Denver's TAG Restaurant Group Expands to Hawaii

Ballard Spahr represented Denver culinary icon Troy Guard as he signed a lease on an approximately 6,000-square-foot new location in Maui. The yet-to-be-named seafood restaurant will be TAG Restaurant Group's 15th location.

"I grew up in Maui, so this is a homecoming for me," Mr. Guard said. "Denver has been a great home base for TAG Restaurant Group and I couldn't ask for a community to be more supportive of my work, but there's something special about the place where you grew up."

Damon Barry, a Denver-based Business and Transactions partner, represented Mr. Guard in lease negotiations for the new location. He was assisted by Desmond D. Connall, Jr., a Real Estate partner in the firm's Baltimore and Washington, D.C., offices, and Ryan W. Horka, a Real Estate associate in Baltimore. Mr. Barry also worked with Mr. Guard to open Guard and Grace Houston, a steakhouse that was TAG Restaurant Group's first foray outside of the Colorado market.

"It's been a privilege to work with Troy as his expansion plan has unfolded," Mr. Barry said. "It's great to see a Denver-based business flourishing and moving into new markets, and I'm pleased that our firm has been able to offer TAG legal counsel in other areas that have assisted Troy in growing his business."

TAG Restaurant Group, which includes #HashTAG, TAG, Los Chingones, FNG, and TAG Burger Bar, was formed in 2009 with the opening of TAG Continental Social Food in Denver's Larimer Square.