A blighted stretch of East Colfax Avenue is set to become a retail development anchored by Sunflower Farmers Market.
The project will be built on the site of the long-vacant Rosen-Novak and Elway car dealerships near Colorado Boulevard.
A $3 million Sunflower store will occupy the north side of Colfax between Monroe and Garfield streets.
The adjacent block between Garfield and Jackson streets, now used as a parking lot for National Jewish Health, will house restaurants and shops, under plans unveiled by the landowner — the Rosen family of Denver — and retail developer Evergreen Development.
Sunflower Farmers Market carries a reputation for operating homey, no-frills stores with an emphasis on fresh meats and produce. Some shoppers view it as a more-affordable version of Whole Foods.
Sunflower had been searching for an east Denver location for more than four years. At the request of north Park Hill neighborhood activists, the grocer said in 2009 that it would explore sites in that area because it has no nearby grocery stores. One Park Hill location it considered was East 34th Avenue at Albion Street.
But Sunflower chairman Bennett Bertoli said the Rosen-Novak site is preferable because of traffic counts, neighborhood density and the gradual redevelopment of other sections of East Colfax.
“Who knows if we would have done this six or eight years ago,” he said. “But Colfax has improved so much. We think it’s an excellent site that will appeal to a very wide spectrum of (customer) incomes.”
Bertoli said Sunflower has no plans to open another store in Park Hill or surrounding areas.
Earlier this year, Marczyk Fine Foods opened a second Denver store on Colfax about a mile east of the Sunflower site.
Sunflower, with corporate offices in Phoenix and Boulder, operates 35 stores in seven Western states. It has 12 outlets in Colorado.
The Colfax store will be 26,000 square feet, a little more than one- third the size of a typical King Soopers or Safeway.
Construction is scheduled to begin early next year, with opening by the end of 2012.
“Everyone’s excited about having a grocer here,” said Tyler Carlson, vice president of Evergreen Development. “It’s no secret that there aren’t a lot of grocery options in this area of Colfax.”
Sunflower’s growth rate of six to eight stores a year suggests it has found a niche with consumers, said grocery analyst Jeff Wells of Supermarket News.
“Sunflower is just bare-bones shopping,” he said. “They put the products on the pallets, and they price them low.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
