GV agrees to $300,000 in sales tax rebates for new food hall

Chef Troy Guard of the TAG Restaurant Group told the GV city council about plans for the new Grange food hall. Clorox wipes were there to observe good cleaning techniques for witnesses. Photo by Freda Miklin

BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER

At its regular meeting on June 15, the Greenwood Village City Council agreed to rebate the incremental sales tax generated by a new food hall being developed at 6575 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, the former home of C.B.& Potts restaurant. Construction is planned to begin in August and opening is set for February or March 2021. The location is within the city’s Arapahoe Entertainment District (AED). Business or property owners who spend money to redevelop there are eligible to receive a rebate of all incremental sales tax GV collects in the first year from a new business at the location and reducing percentages of incremental sales tax for the next four years. The planned food hall, which will be known as “The Grange,” expects to produce $485,955 more in city sales tax over its first five years in operation than would have been generated by C.B. & Potts. Using the formula approved by GV in its AED program, that would result in GV giving $301,949 of that incremental sales tax to the property owner. The purpose of the rebate program is to reimburse the property owner for new exterior finishes to the building and site, including public improvements. Kevin Hawkins of Hawkins Development, who is the manager of HD Arapahoe, LLC presented the case for the rebate agreement to the city council. He said, “We think you’re very forward-thinking, creating this district to re-invigorate this location…All of the multi-family and the office and Fiddler’s Green, we really think we can become a major destination inside your city.” Describing the operation, he said, “I think we’re going to have 10 or 11 food stalls. We’re going to have a full bar, and we’re going to still have the brewing operation there.” Hawkins introduced Troy Guard of the TAG Restaurant Group as a partner in this restaurant and in the real estate. The discussion among the city council about murals, a new exterior patio, bicycle racks, and the relocation of handicapped parking spaces on the property elicited differences of opinion between council members about which costs for what types of improvements are eligible for reimbursement with sales tax dollars, indicating a need to further clarify what may be included. Council Member Anne Ingebretsen introduced herself to Hawkins as “part of the group that established the AED concept.” Soon after, she said, “The improvements that we decide on for these tax rebates are the discretion of this council. The committee was very specific that it was going to be up to us to decide whether there was value to anything that a developer brought forward to us.” When Troy Guard testified, he said about murals, “I know we’re not downtown, we’re up in Denver Tech Center, I think we’ll be one of the first food halls to open up here, which will be super exciting. I think it would be amazing inside of this space if we could get local artists to come in and do murals and do graffiti or do anything like that, because the building in the back, we want it to pop, we want people to drive by and be like, “Whoa! What is that?....It could go with a theme… like a chalk festival.” He pointed out that young people could use social media to post pictures that say, “Where am I? I’m in Denver Tech Center. I’m in this killer new area, the (Arapahoe Entertainment) District…All my restaurants are graffitied or tagged up or artsy and people just love that stuff.” Ingebretsen said, “We do want this to be unique and we do want it to catch people’s eyes but we’re out here in the burbs…and by the way, you’re not in the Denver Tech Center, you’re in Greenwood Village, so get used to that.” Fmiklin.villager@gmail.com

These are renderings of the Grange food hall planned for the Arapahoe Entertainment District.