In RiNo, local developers’ efforts to land grocery store come up short

Andrew Feinstein wants to be clear that he attacked this from every angle Everything we declared we were going to do we endeavored to do he revealed But the CEO of EXDO Group Cos explained it became clear six to nine months ago that he and his fellow Denver-based partners Elevation Expansion Group and Kentro Group would be unable to build a grocery store topped by apartments on a block they own in RiNo That s when Trader Joe s didn t work he declared Last week Dallas-based developer Trammell Crow Residential submitted plans to Denver for a -unit apartment complex on the block of Downing Street Feinstein endorsed he s under contract to sell the -acre site TCR s progress proposal shows just square feet of retail space in the building meaning there won t be a large grocery tenant They re going to do a great job Feinstein explained of TCR which declined to comment But he acknowledged he s profoundly disappointed The efforts by the three firms to bring groceries and residences to the site date to before the pandemic Feinstein s firm had bought much of the land in the mid- s before RiNo was a thing and before a commuter rail stop landed nearby Redevelopment over the past years has brought thousands of residents to the neighborhood But the only grocery store that followed was a Natural Grocers on Brighton Boulevard where options are limited The two things that come up the the bulk are we need a grocery store and we need more affordable housing Feinstein described Denver City Council members in EXDO and Elevation led by the Farber brothers previously worked together on The Hub office building Kentro led by the Balafas brothers is a grocery store specialist now building a new King Soopers just off Colorado Boulevard For a while the expected grocer was Sprouts Feinstein commented He thought he d secured the necessary city approvals But then he explained Denver recounted him he needed to rezone a small portion of the redevelopment site a short stretch of Lawrence Street he d bought from the Colorado Department of Transportation That delayed things about nine months We lost Sprouts on the other side of the rezoning If we didn t go through that process there would be a Sprouts there that you d be shopping at he commented Feinstein and his partners tried to secure a replacement which wasn t simple Every chain has unique requirements and wants a different-sized space Trader s is small Sprouts is medium Amazon Fresh is large Target is larger he revealed There were other factors Parking for a project like that is a challenge he disclosed And across the country high interest rates and construction costs have slowed advancement in newest years Feinstein revealed Denver s newest Expanding Housing Affordability regulations which require residential projects to incorporate income-restricted units or pay a large fee thus increasing costs from a developer s perspective hasn t helped Trammell Crow Residential the firm under contract to buy the site has developed a host of apartment buildings along the Front Range Its buildings generally have Alexan in their name Feinstein and his partners weren t the only ones trying to bring a grocer to RiNo About a mile to the southeast retail landlord Edens has for years talked of bringing a grocer to the city block across from the Denver Central Territory food hall Plans there have changed as well The grocery store was originally going to be part of a large-scale redevelopment which would have demolished structures in the block of Larimer Street and replaced them with apartments and new retail units Related Articles Trader Joe s to open ninth Colorado location in Westminster on July Union members start voting on King Soopers Safeway contract proposals Union reaches a tentative deal with King Soopers City Industry Talks stall Safeway hiring temporary workers as strike nears locations Safeway and Albertsons negotiations resume union prepares for King Soopers and City Field bargaining Earlier this year however the company pumped the brakes on that and indicated it is now looking at repurposing the existing structures A July memo from Tracy Huggins executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority states that from through mid- Edens attempted to secure a partner to construct the residential project but was not thriving While the residential units are no longer included in updated plans Edens has submitted to Denver a planned grocery store still is Documents show it would go in a new -square-foot building to be constructed at th and Lawrence streets but don t identify a particular grocer A local Edens executive didn t respond to a request for comment Friday Get more business news by signing up for our Market Now newsletter