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Page 20 — Retail Properties Quarterly — May 2017
Restaurant Spotlight
D enver’s culinary scene is
rapidly evolving and attract-
ing the interest of chefs and
restaurateurs from some of
the nation’s most promi-
nent dining cities, including NewYork
City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix,
Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Austin,
Texas. In fact, in 2016, approximately
220 new restaurants with “imported”
roots opened, and many more are on
the way.
There are many reasons for Den-
ver’s appeal to restaurateurs. First
and foremost is a growing population
of sophisticated millennials who are
migrating to Denver
in large part due to
the expanding job
market. Job oppor-
tunities in Denver
are plentiful, with
an unemployment
rate of only 2.9 per-
cent, a developing
startup scene and
major firms such
as Google, British
Petroleum, Charles
Schwab and Gusto
establishing significant footprints here.
Further contributing factors to this
migration are a
more moderate cost
of living than met-
ropolitan cities like
Manhattan and San
Francisco, and the
exceptional qual-
ity of life.The core
demographic enjoys
eating and drinking
out and appears to
prioritize spend-
ing their disposable
income on experien-
tial dining, as opposed to shopping and
accumulating material possessions. In
fact, since 2005 sales at food service
and drinking places have grown twice
as fast as all other retail spending. In
2016, for the first time ever, Americans
spent more money in restaurants and
bars than at grocery stores.
Restaurateurs and chefs who are
focused on delivering new concepts
and talent are meeting this increase in
demand for a creative dining experi-
ence.They view Denver as a burgeon-
ing opportunity to expand their busi-
nesses in a consumer and, heretofore,
labor-friendly environment.
Some of the newest “out-of-town”
additions to Denver include:
•STK Steakhouse and Quality Italian
Steakhouse fromManhattan;
•Rhein House from Seattle;
•Tupelo Honey Cafe fromAsheville,
North Carolina;
•Thirsty Lion and Departure from
Portland;
•Public School from Dallas;
•801 Chophouse from Des Moines,
Iowa;
•Postino from Phoenix;
•Rusty Bucket from Columbus, Ohio;
and
•Hopdoddy and Torchy’s fromAus-
tin.
Some of the “big city chefs” bring-
ing restaurant ideas from out-of-
state are Tyson Cole (Uchi), Brian
Vaughn (Low Country Kitchen), Clint
Wangsnes (Chop Shop) and Luke
Bergman (Concourse Restaurant
Moderne), to name just a few. These
are the kinds of intimate, sophisti-
cated concepts that are infiltrating
the Denver restaurant market.
Millennials statistically are fore-
going marriage and raising a fam-
ily – seven years later in life than
the baby boomers, on average – and
choosing to live a fun-filled night-
life for a longer period of time.
And with all that creative restaura-
teurs are bringing to the table, why
wouldn’t they? Denver has become
a hotbed for this kind of activity.
Restaurateurs and chefs from big
city environments view Denver as a
tremendous opportunity for growth
and adventure of their own. They
believe in Denver as a city that is
ready to try new things. In fact, in
many respects, Denver is challeng-
ing new restaurants to raise the bar,
above and beyond what they may
already be doing elsewhere. This is
a city that is filled with people will-
ing to take risks and looking for risk
takers. s
HARMONY SCHOOL SHOPS RETAIL CENTER
Representatives:
Jake Hallauer, CCIM
970-305-8113
Chrisland Real Estate Companies
Phone: 970-663-3150
Ryan Schaefer
970-295-4819
NEAR THE NEC OF HARMONY ROAD & TIMBERLINE ROAD, FORT COLLINS
• Junior anchor & end-cap retail space for lease
• End-cap & in-line space
• 6,038± sq. ft. to 20,037± sq. ft. available
• Co-Tenants include: 24 Hour Fitness, Office Depot,
Walgreens, Chipotle Mexican Grill & more.
• Shadow anchored by a Target & Lowe's anchored center.
• Harmony Road - 43,577± VPD
AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE
Kelly Greene
President, Urban
Legend Retail
Group, Denver
Lara Silversmith
Junior broker,
Urban Legend
Retail Group,
Denver
Eric Lucero Photography LLC
801 Chophouse, a popular steakhouse in the Midwest, recently opened its first
Colorado location in Cherry Creek.