Tony’s Market is opening a Downtown location!  Tony’s has confirmed that they will open their fourth location on the first floor of 950 Broadway in the Golden Triangle in early in 2009.  At 15,000 square feet this will also be the largest Tony’s in the metro area.  Also unique to this new store will be a 4,500 square foot bistro with indoor and outdoor seating that can accommodate 80 people and will serve beer and wine.  Tony Rosacci, founder and president of Tony’s Market is thrilled:

“We’re thrilled to have found such an ideal location!  I’ve been looking forward to opening a Denver location for years.  We just needed to find the right space and this building is a terrific site.”

Tony’s Market, originally Tony’s Meats, was founded in 1978 and is a specialty foods retailer offering local produce, a large deli that prepares food daily, a European style bakery and a huge selection of meats and seafood most of which is prepared in house including freshly ground beef, homemade sausages, BBQ brisket and seafood flown in daily.

This could be just the shot in the arm the Golden Triangle needs to attract additional residents as this entire neighborhood has no grocery or fresh food retailer that people can conveniently walk to.  Even better Tony’s will activate the ground floor of this building and it doesn’t hurt that they will have 90 parking spaces either.  I hope this continues the trend of successful, popular, and local independent grocers that now call Downtown home like Marczyk Fine Foods on 17th in Uptown and Cook’s Fresh Market on the Mall in the CBD.  Tony’s new location is another indication that Downtown Denver is evolving more and more into a 24/7 place to live.

The McDonald’s at 16th & Court has closed temporarily and will be completely “re-built” according to signs posted on their doors. 

I am surprised by the timing as I had suspected they would complete the remodeling to coincide with the DNC.  I had noticed a building permit posted inside the store about a year ago but never saw any work begin.  I really hope this “re-build” will involve the unused second floor above.  It will be interesting to see what they decide to do with the basement as well which I have never seen open.

It would great if they do a more iconic - destination kind of store and really open up the side of the space - along Court - with floor to ceiling glass windows which would make it much more transparent.  I will do follow up posts once work has commenced.  According to the sign the work will be complete sometime this fall.

Downtown Denver’s sculpture “I See What You Mean” a.k.a. the Big Blue Bear is undergoing a bit of renovation.  More accurately the plaza of the sculpture is getting a facelift.  Since the installation of this piece I have noticed that the Convention Center staff has had a hard time keeping the grass alive.  To remedy this it looks as if they have removed the grass, installed an improved sprinkler system and new walking paths.  I have included some before and after photos.

Recognizing how iconic this piece is for the city I think it is smart to allow for people to pose with it without trampling the grass.  It also appears that this landscape project will be “green” in that all of the sod has been removed and replaced with plants which should take less water to maintain.

I walked past the Bubba Gump Mural last week and again yesterday and was surprised by some major changes.  As you can see in the photos below the Saturn V Moon Rocket has been erased and converted into the rest of Teddy Roosevelt’s horse - you can see the previous photos here.

I will try and find out the reason for the change but have an idea of why.  Also new is the car which takes the mural almost to the other end of Bubba Gump’s.  I will keep updating as it is completed.

Today I joined a number of colleagues on a tour of the Sugar Cube project at 16th & Blake in Lower Downtown.  Our tour actually started next door in the original Sugar Building in the developer’s 6th floor office.  I had never been inside the Sugar Building and it was beautiful - they even preserved and restored the original elevator.

We were given a brief overview of the “program” of the entire project which has 37 rental units, 50,000 SF of office space and 8,000 SF of ground floor retail.  After that we headed over and entered the recently finished lobby of Sugar Cube.  Our tour guide had explained to us that the developer purposely did not separate the residential and office lobbies for the building.  They chose to create a museum quality lobby space that worked for both users.

We toured 2 of the 3 penthouses on the 10th floor which had remarkable views from all sides of the building - some more unique than others.  The balconies and all of the finishes were modern and the spaces felt very Architectural Record.  I preferred the darker hard wood floors in the second unit we looked at.  After the penthouses we worked our way down the building ending our tour in one of the two level units.  The best feature of the two level unit in my opinion was the massive corner terrace that comes with it which in Denver’s climate easily doubled the square footage of the unit.

We did not get to tour the office or retail space.  Core to the vision of this project is that the building will have a 24/7 concierge staff that caters to the needs of the residents and provides them whatever they need (within reason of course).  We were told that they hope to get two restaurants along the 16th St. Mall in their retail space and that leasing of the office space is ongoing.  Sugar Cube’s first resident will be moving in this weekend.  Personally I think this project does a great job of anchoring this corner of the mall and compliments 16 Market Square nicely.  Congrats to the developer and those lucky future residents who get to live here! 

Streetscape improvements on California Street along the Denver Dry Building block are now complete.  I first posted about this project in April.  I have included some construction photos I took since that post.  I think it has made a tremendous difference and the plants look great.

You can also see in the photos that Jason’s Deli has installed a seasonal patio as well.  This whole stretch of California really feels welcoming and pedestrian friendly.  I look forward to future improvements on Block 162 and the Bubba Gump sides of the street.  The photo of the daisies is none other than the Denver Daisy which was cultivated just for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  This landscaping really helps soften and bring the street to life.

Last Friday I got to go on a tour of TwentyOne|01 Market down in the Ballpark neighborhood.  I first wrote about this project in my April 9th post and they have made great progress since then.

The tour was very interesting - adding three floors (not two) to an old warehouse and then connecting it to a seven story new build structure made for some unique transitions between the spaces.  Our tour started in Phase One which is the old Piggly Wiggly Warehouse.  The ceiling heights combined with remnants of the past created one of a kind layouts and finishes.

The tour wrapped up with us walking through units on the 4th & 6th levels - the new floors on top of the Piggly Wiggly.  While it was all new construction, the views from these units are what will sell them to future tenants.  I feel this location will be very conducive for rental units given its proximity to Coors Field, 20th and the rest of Downtown.

The clubhouse for TwentyOne|01 Market will be on the ground level of the new 7 story building along Market Street and join a new wine shop that will fill in the rest of the street level space.  The addition of 226 residences to this part of Downtown will take it one step further in becoming a 24/7 community.  Tenants will begin moving in at the end of August.  Further posts will follow with project completion and their grand opening.

Downtown Denver has a new sculpture!  Cowboy Pajamas was installed yesterday in a space in between the Hotel Monaco and the Residence Inn - 1725 Champa Street - which is managed by Sage Hospitality.  Created by sculptor Sean O’Meallie, the piece is 20 feet tall and weighs over 3 tons.  I had gotten a lead on the piece about a month ago and have been taking photos and monitoring the progress since. 

On my second visit the base had been installed and then yesterday it was completed.  The work was commissioned by veteran developer Evan Makovsky and has taken two years to complete.  Cowboy Pajamas was based off of a previous piece and it is a happy coincidence that the Residence Inn has hosted their Pajama Party fundraiser benefiting Denver’s Road Home for the past three years.  Mayor John Hickenlooper had this to say about the piece:

“Cowboy Pajamas is a perfect choice of art for the Residence Inn - home to legendary annual pajama parties that have raised community awareness and more than $300,000 benefiting the City’s efforts to end homelessness.  The sculpture will forever remind us of the enduring commitment of Walter Isenberg, Evan Makovsky and Sage Hospitality to provide every person in Denver with the opportunity to live life off the streets.”

I found out at yesterday that the artist usually works in wood on a much smaller scale and that this fiberglass piece was a first for him.  Sean O’Meallie himself connected all of the elements of the sculpture together - it was very fun to watch it be assembled.  I like the colors and modern feel of the piece - the gold star is a nice touch.  I was also impressed to learn that no public money was used to fund this work - the land and all funding came from the private sector.  Along with “I See What You Mean”, “All Together Now” and the dancing figures at the DCPA, Downtown has another high quality public piece of art for everyone to enjoy.  Congratulations!

For the first time in my life I just saw a presidential candidate.  My company’s boardroom is on the second level above the 16th St. Mall and as I walked back from our lunch room there was a commotion down by Maggiano’s.  I watched from the window and as I was watching presidential hopeful John McCain and his wife walked down the Mall towards the Hard Rock Cafe.  He stopped to shake hands at the Hard Rock and then his wife Cindy McCain came around their vehicle and got in.  They sped away with at least 10 other cars in their motorcade comprised of police vehicles, Suburbans and vans.  Of course I did not have a camera or think to take a picture with my Blackberry!  I guess this is good practice for when the DNC is in full force in August!  According to the Rocky, John McCain had just spoke at the DCPA. 

It’s official.  The Denver Pavilions has a new owner.  Both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Business Journal are reporting that the shopping center was sold to Gart Properties LLC and its partner ING Clarion Partners LLC for $94.5 million.  I previously posted in January when the Pavilions was put on the market.

A lot of great details were provided that help give a sense for what is in store for these two blocks along the 16th St. mall.  Most interesting to me is that the new owners plan to install escalators that come right up to the Mall in an attempt to get more foot traffic going through the center of the project.  Also interesting will be the planned addition of large video screens that will advertise Pavilions tenants.  The $25 million renovation will begin early in 2009 with no completion date disclosed.

What was discussed in some detail was the planned tenant mix at the Pavilions.  I liked that Mark Sidell, President of Gart Properties addressed it somewhat in both articles:

“We need to add more food to the mix…it’s likely that we would end up with a signature, chef-driven concept.”

“We’re moving to make it more of a destination for fashion, lifestyle, and dining, rather than nightclubs….There are more eyeballs and footfalls going past the Pavilions on a daily basis than anyplace else in downtown….Our job is to give people shopping and dining choices that they will not find in ‘any mall USA’ that you can find in the suburbs.”

I am sure we will learn more as deals are completed - maybe a Kevin Taylor concept?  I am very curious to find out what the plans are for 25,000 SF that will be vacated when (it is highly speculated) Virgin Records leaves the center in November.  Also still vacant is the 25,000 SF on the second and third floor where the former nightclubs were and the 8,000 SF space on the third floor next to Jazz at Jack’s which is leftover from the former Antoine du Chez salon space.

I have said it before - change is good.  The Pavilions needs a fresh perspective and I confident that better times are in store for this emerging retail destination in Downtown Denver.