What’s Happening With 20th and Depew: September 2017 Update

Mostly vacant property at 20th and Depew

The Edgewater City Council meeting on September 21, 2017 was full of residents optimistically waiting to hear news on the mostly vacant property at 20th and Depew. For those who have lived in town for more than twenty years, the optimism is reserved because this property is the parking lot of broken dreams. Since the City of Edgewater purchased the land in 2004, there have been many plans for how to redevelop the property but all of them have fallen apart. Plans have included using the space as a civic center, an ice skating complex and numerous other ideas. Last night it was stated that someone even came to City of Edgewater staff with a plan to use the land as a drone port. Most recently, Trinity Redevelopment had plans to redevelop the site but those plans sat dormant and the City of Edgewater moved on.

Now there is a new developer coming in with plans for what the site at 20th and Depew could become. At the City Council meeting, staff from Littleton Capital Partners (LCP) outlined their ideas for redeveloping the site. LCP has successfully completing projects along 38th Avenue, at the former St. Anthony’s site and in RiNo. They hope to keep the original buildings on the site and renovate them. They showed mockups of the former King Soopers building as a food hall like Avanti with a brewery and possibly a natural food market. Here’s a look at the trend of food halls from the Denver Post. Then the other buildings on the site would be renovated to hold craft retail offerings like high end wine, beer, restored furniture and other options. There was not a mention of incorporating the only remaining tenants on the property, Depew Liquors and La Cascada.

Full house at the September 21, 2017 City Council meeting

The meeting wasn’t without drama as another developer with interest in the property shared their ideas for the site during public comment.. This developer confidently stated that they had solid interest from Alfalfa’s Market in being the key anchor of the site.

In the end, Edgewater City Council voted unanimously on a first reading of the ordinance involving the sale of the land to Littleton Capital Partners. Discussions between LCP and Edgewater City Council will continue over the next few months and the plans will be developed further.

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.