Inside Real Estate News I Mayfair Center renovation on tap

Our listing at Mayfair Center featured in Inside Real Estate News, Colorado’s Real Estate News Source!

Highlights:

• Key retail center in Mayfair being redeveloped
• Chair Five Equities owns Mayfair Center at 14th and Krameria
• One new tenant already is on board

A Denver developer plans to invest $2.25 million to restore a key retail center in the heart of Mayfair to its former glory.

Chair Five Equities LLC plans to start physical improvement of the Mayfair Center at East 14th Avenue and Krameria Street in December.

In the past, the center’s tenants have included the Bagel Deli, Baskin Robbins, the Hair Bender and Milt’s Fine Meats.

In recent years, however, the 11,700 square-foot center had been ignored and fallen into disrepair. Chair Five Equities purchased the property in late 2012.

“There are many reasons why this purchase and redevelopment make sense,” said Jamie Harris, managing member of Chair Five Equities. “The more we looked at the community and the property, the more our improvement plans grew.”

He said it quickly became apparent that it would take a larger investment that was initially planned and it was needed “sooner rather than later,” to “benefit the neighborhood and add to the property’s success.”

Mayfair is becoming increasingly trendy and a derelict building won’t provide the draw for tenants that want to be in the neighborhood, he said. Mayfair is one of the hottest housing markets in Denver at this time, according to CoHomefinder.com. The median for sale price of a home is $350,000 and with some homes priced just under $1 million.

“The Mayfair neighborhood is on the rise and we can’t attract the kind of tenants the neighborhood wants with the property in its current condition,” Harris said. “The bones of the center are in good shape, it’s just tired and needs a lot of help.”

The center is being designed as a place where people can come to eat, shop, and have a conversation with their neighbors.

The center is being designed as a place where people can come to eat, shop, and have a conversation with their neighbors.

Some of the improvements include:

• he installation of a large pedestrian sidewalk with patios that will replace the dated smaller walkways in front of the shops;
• Benches and bike racks will be integrated into the design to enhance the shopping experience;
• A new two-foot high illuminated design band will follow the 1960’s era roofline;
• All of the individual tenant signage will be located on a new sign framework that will provide greater visibility for all of the businesses.
• The entire parking lot will be replaced and re-striped in December.

The project will create an estimated 40 jobs upon completion.

“This is a catalyst project for the Mayfair Town Center area,” said Hilarie Portell, executive director of the Fax Partnership. “It’s aligned with the community vision, eliminating blight and strengthening connections with surrounding neighborhoods. We look forward to organizing events there and attracting more new investment.”

The property is being leased by Jeff Germain of the Crosby Real Estate Group. The center can accommodate tenants from 605 square feet to 1,816 square feet.

Germain already has landed the first tenant, the Garlic Knot.

Read more: Inside Real Estate News I Mayfair Center renovation on tap
Re-posted by: Crosbie Real Estate Group

The Denver Post I Glendale’s big-name restaurant cluster adds to urban renaissance

Read about our CitySet listing in Glendale featured in The Denver Post!

Jax Fish House ribbon cutting and celebration of their new location at CitySet. June, 2013

The metro Denver enclave of Glendale is known for many things — pro-business orientation, nightclubs and strip bars, endless traffic jams on Colorado Boulevard. But Glendale is undergoing a renaissance, and nowhere is it more apparent than in restaurants.

The city has never held a reputation as an innovative eating destination. Chili’s and Applebee’s draw patrons but not rave reviews. Yet now, diners have another choice beyond the better-known foodie destinations of LoDo and Cherry Creek.

Ground zero for the restaurant awakening is CitySet, a retail center tucked away behind the Hilton Garden Inn at Cherry Creek Drive South and South Colorado Boulevard.

In June, the popular Jax Fish House opened its fourth Colorado location at CitySet. By early next year, another high-profile operator, The Kitchen, will open its casual The Kitchen Next Door concept at CitySet.

Adding variety in menu offerings and price points are Udi’s, Big Smoke Burger, World of Beer, Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria and Native Foods Cafe.

Glendale officials see CitySet as an anchor for the proposed Riverwalk entertainment district that will run along a half-mile stretch of Cherry Creek waterfront. Glendale already has earned praise and international publicity for the nearby $22.5 million rugby complex at Infinity Park.

“What the city has done to revitalize its core is nothing short of amazing,” said Kimbal Musk, co-owner of The Kitchen. “That whole area is going to become a great destination.”

Musk said he had been looking for a good east-Denver location for two years, with much of the search focused on Cherry Creek North.

“But frankly, this was just a better setting,” he said.

Jax Fish House owner Dave Query said he and restaurant partner Jamie Fader had been looking throughout metro Denver for a new location when they became familiar with CitySet after meeting with developer Navin Dimond of Arapahoe County-based Stonebridge Cos.

“The only thing I knew about Glendale and this location was that it’s right down the street from (strip club) Shotgun Willie’s,” Query said.

But in meeting with Glendale officials to discuss and plan the new restaurant, Query said he became enamored of the city’s enthusiasm for bringing in new businesses.

“At the liquor-license hearing, they give you a foot rub and hot muffins when you walk out,” Query joked.

Query initially called the new restaurant Jax Cherry Creek, believing that name would add cachet and a geographic cue, but it’s now Jax Glendale.

“We weren’t giving Glendale a fair shake,” he said. “So we bit the bullet and jumped in with the Glendale name.”

Restaurant analyst David Kincheloe of Golden-based National Restaurant Consultants said CitySet provides a critical mass of restaurants to help draw patrons to a location without high visibility. He noted that most of the new restaurants can’t be seen from Colorado Boulevard.

“Most people would consider that to be Class B real estate,” he said. “But by having a restaurant cluster, you create a destination. People come, and then they decide which restaurant they’re going to.”

Read more: The Denver Post I Glendale’s big-name restaurant cluster adds to urban renaissance
Re-posted by: Crosbie Real Estate Group