
Plans are moving forward on a project that may see the building of a food hall in one of the oldest residential sections of Denver.
The Lincoln Park neighborhood was first settled in the 1850s. A large proportion of its homes are more than a century old in a part of the city also populated with lower income apartment complexes.
The neighborhood is challenged by a poverty rate of nearly 38%, a number significantly higher than the national rate at 11.1%.
Parts of Lincoln Park have been generally referenced as food deserts, a designation defined by the Department of Agriculture as being any geographic enclave that lacks access to fruits and vegetables. Such neighborhoods instead are often populated with convenience stores offering snack foods.
Now the Denver-based company Thrive Development is proposing to transform two one-story brick warehouses located at 1701 W. 13th Avenue into a combination of a food hall and co-working space.
The structures are located near the Metropolitan State University of Denver campus, just to the south of the school’s athletic fields complex.
“As the surrounding area undergoes gradual revitalization, we view this project as a key contributor to those efforts,” a statement sent to the Denver Business Journal from Thrive Development said in explaining the impetus behind the project.
Altogether, the two buildings that Thrive wants to redevelop make up around 21,500 square feet and were built in the late 1950s.
Plans are calling for the creation of space for four interior food vendors, and an outside courtyard BBQ vendor. The project may also include a beer garden and entertainment space between the two structures.
Two Denver architectural firms, Heltshe Design and Meridian 105, have signed on as the designers for the unique project. Part of the engineering team is made up of the Katz Company, of Hotchkiss, which is taking on the kitchen design.
If all goes as expected work on the new food hall could launch next year, with a general completion date in 2027.
November 18, 2024
By Garry Boulard
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash