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September 2020 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 91 / Avanti Food & Beverage / According to Boulder native O’Neill, they applied the same design approach here as they used at Avanti Denver, working withlocal fabricatorsandartiststocreateuniquefurnitureand art in an effort to achieve an industrial chic ambiance. “We’re trying tomake surewe’re highlighting and showcasing the art and skill of all of our makers. It keeps Avanti feeling authentic andwhen youwalk in, wewant you to feel like it’s your living room…where it feels really comfortable and inviting.” A list of local fabricators and artists whose work will adorn the Avanti Boulder interior includes: Easily Clearing Hurdles But, aswithmany downtownBoulder projects, this onewas not without someminor challenges. “We were taking the entire Cheesecake Factory space, repo- sitioning that into this selective eatery that is Avanti, on top of the core and shell work that Unico was doing, so there were a lot of eyes on the project,” says Johnson. “The building itself was being reviewed by Boulder’s landmark commission, we were required to have the restaurant use approved for both the first and fourth floors, create a management plan for the neighborhood, and obtain both health department and liquor licenseapproval. Abit complicated, but overall it seems like the city was very excited to welcome Avanti into the mix of Pearl Street restaurants.” While Unico worked on the core-and-shell remodel, Quinlan Construction was doing a construction do-si-do around those crews in order to get theirwork done on the interior. “It would have been nice if (Unico) had been finished, but sometimes things just don't work out that way,” says Jim Conaghan, president and co-owner for Quinlan Construction. “They took the whole front of the building off, so there were certain things we couldn't do until they were done with their work. We had lots of people on the site January, February and March of this year, two complete crews, and there was a lit- tle bit of overlap in that some of our subcontractors were the same as theirs, so, yeah, it was a complicated coordination ef- fort, let’s just say.” As Johnson mentioned, another hurdle in Avanti Boulder’s path was the need for a tavern liquor license. The incubator model of Avantimeans theywill runthe twobars andsublease space to the six restaurants. So, when third-party operators control the food sales, this makes a tavern license necessary. A needs and desires survey in the neighborhood showed 194 residences and businesses in favor of the tavern application and only two in opposition. In June 2019, the Boulder Beverage Licensing Authority voted unanimously to approve the tavern liquor license. AWideWorld of Flavors &Postcard Views Construction began in December 2019 and COVID-19 shut down construction for a fewmonths earlier this year, but the teammoved quickly to complete their late-summer opening. The first-floor features anexpansivebar, coffee shopand this eclectic lineup of restaurants: The fourth floor will feature a New York-style pizzeria, New Yorkese, another bar andahorseshoe-shapedseatingareawith stunning 270-degree views of downtown Boulder and the fa- mous Flatirons, Settlers Park, Mount Sanitas and Flagstaff Mountain to theWest. Sunsets fromtherewill be epic. Hahn and his team have succeeded in transforming The Cheesecake Factory space into a cool, funky, hip place to ex- plore a broad culinary spectrum. Not only that, they created Boulder’s family room in a downtown area that has recently grown stale, corporate and, in some cases, vacant. “I think the reason why Avanti is so successful is that you feel like you can just go in and grab a seat and just be at home and relax,” says O’Neill. “People have to be able to approach it and be comfortable to just, you know, enjoy it.” \ \ PROJECT TEAM DEVELOPER/OWNER: AVANTI FOOD & BEVERAGE ARCHITECT: OZ INTERIOR DESIGN: SCOUT INTERIORS GENERAL CONTRACTOR: QUINLAN CONSTRUCTION Housefish Denver furniture makers Denver Upholstery All custom booths Atla Boulder furniture maker Industrial Arts Denver furniture maker using wood from Boulder County trees Fenway Clayworks Denver pottery company making custom light fixtures Britt Madden Custom Boulder-themed wallpa- per from Boulder County artist/ printmaker Jack Ludlam Black and white photos of Boul- der-area tree species Color Cord Denver lighting company mak- ing custom festoon chandelier for the market area. D’Arcy O'Neill Art and wallpaper by Longmont artist LVTD Denver furniture company Mountains Vs. Plains Artwork Scot LeFavor Denver-based muralist Rye Society Made-from-scratch Jewish family recipes Rooted Craft American Kitchen Americana classics Quiero Arepas Venezuelan arepa concept Boychik Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant Pig & Tiger Taiwanese cuisine