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COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— July 15-August 4, 2015
Retail
by John Rebchook
When the city of Wheat Ridge
recently celebrated the opening
of the Sprouts Farmers Market
at West 38th Avenue and Kipling
Street, a line of about 200 shoppers
already had formed.
“The response has been over-
whelming,” said Patrick Goff, city
manager of Wheat Ridge.
A few days later, the Wheat
Ridge City Council approved
a $6.2 million subsidy for a
40,000-square-foot Neighborhood
Market, Walmart’s grocery store
concept, a three-minute drive to
the east at West 38th Avenue and
Wadsworth Boulevard.
Some would say the response
also was overwhelming, with
about three dozen people protest-
ing the tax-increment financing
for the development planned by
Quadrant Properties.
The TIF would be used nearby
infrastructure improvements for
the entire development, which,
in addition to the Neighborhood
Market, would include another
40,000 sf in retail space and 37 for-
sale townhomes by Denver-based
New Town Builders.
Improvements would include
new sidewalks, gutters, landscap-
ing and the removal of asbestos
from blighted buildings that will
be demolished.
Some residents already are cir-
culating a petition that would
require a citywide vote for any
tax-increment financing for more
than $2.5 million, with hopes of
putting it on the November ballot.
“The City Council approved
it and earlier the urban renewal
authority approved it, so it is a
done deal right now,” Goff said.
Some people, however, are hop-
ing if the TIF vote ends up on the
ballot and passes, it would impact
the Walmart deal, retroactively, he
said.
“That would need to be a legal
determination,” Goff said.
If the 40,000-sf Neighborhood
Market is built, and with the
27,000-sf Sprouts in the Kipling
Ridge Marketplace opened, there
would be a variety of grocery
stores on just about every major
north-south intersection of West
38th, which Wheat Ridge consid-
ers its Main Street.
There is already a King Soopers
with about 70,000 sf on the eastern
edge of Wheat Ridge at Sheridan
Boulevard and about an 80,000-sf
Safeway at 3900WadsworthBlvd.,
basically at the northeast corner of
Wadsworth and 38th.
“I don’t think Wheat Ridge is
unique in this,” Goff said. “Inter-
estingly, I was just noticing up
at 80th and Wadsworth in the
Arvada area that there is a King
Soopers, a Safeway, a Walmart
Supercenter and a Natural Gro-
cers all within the same area.”
He noted that municipal bound-
aries mean little to grocery chains.
They are more interested in being
at Main andMain.
“Grocery stores probably have
the biggest hold on the retail mar-
ket these days and when they are
expanding, they want to be at the
best intersections,” Goff said.
Cities such as Wheat Ridge love
them not only because they pro-
vide an amenity to residents, but
also because they are big sales tax
generators.
“I can’t break out sales tax infor-
mation for specific stores, because
that is confidential,” Goff said.
“But they are in the top five, or
maybe the top eight, in terms of
tax generators. They are easily in
the top 10.”
Wheat Ridge itself covers about
nine square miles and many of its
grocery stores are on the periph-
ery, either with Denver or cities in
Jefferson County bordering them.
“I suspect the King Soopers at
Sheridan gets a lot of business
fromDenver residents in the West
Highland area,” he said. And
stores on the western border prob-
ablyareconvenientforpeoplewho
live inArvada and Lakewood and
are driving to employment centers
such the Federal Center.
He said it is good to get the tax
generations from people who live
outsideWheat Ridge, as inColora-
This Sprouts recently opened in Wheat Ridge.
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