The lowdown - King Soopers and Lafayette Marketplace. A McGuckin Garden Center?
The latest news
I have some tidbits to share about King Soopers, Lafayette Florist, and the potential development at 287 and Arapahoe.
I attended the city council retreat as did Vicky Uhland. We both took notes which I used to write this piece. The information I am sharing came from our Economic Development Director Brigid Keating during her presentation to the council titled Revenue Considerations. After publication, she asked for a few changes to the comments she made during the retreat. I have added them to the text of this piece in italics.
KING SOOPERS
King Soopers will be opening a new store at Nine Mile Corner in Erie and closing the Lafayette location.
In December 2023 I reported on the rumor mill and King Soopers along with some other business updates. Here’s the latest non rumor news.
In case you were wondering Kroger owns the building and the gas station, not the entire retail area.
They are looking at the site as a long-term investment and don’t want to sell but to find a good, reliable tenant to occupy the building for decades. This limits what businesses might go into that location.
They want to rebrand the gas station.
T.J. Maxx and a health and fitness club have been mentioned as potential tenants. Note I say mentioned, this is not a done deal, but they have an offer. I don’t know what business made the offer. But if it’s from one of those two, T.J.Maxx would be better for the city than another health and fitness club. Retail brings us sales taxes.
From Director Keating: T.J. Maxx and a health and fitness club have been mentioned as the type of potential tenants who may be interested in the space.
They are not interested in a public/private partnership which would be a way the city could have some influence over what happens with the site. However, our Economic Development Director Brigid Keating speaks with the company representatives weekly.
The new Erie store is planned to open in the fall and the Lafayette store will close at that time.
LAFAYETTE FLORIST
You might have noticed the building is now vacant. Lafayette Florist has moved to Erie, in the Safeway shopping center on 287.
McGuckin Hardware was interested in the location for a garden center. During the inspection, about one million dollars in deferred maintenance was discovered. This stopped them from moving forward. Economic Development Director Keating also serves as Executive Director of the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority (LURA) and is working to determine if there is a way to salvage the sale. The Lafayette Florist building is within the urban renewal district and LURA has funds to assist businesses in this area. Will it happen? No idea. It would be a great get for Lafayette though.
A NEXT DAY UPDATE!
There is a comment on the Lafayette Florist Facebook page that says the first contract fell through, they have a new contract and hope it will stay a garden center but they don’t know yet.
LAFAYETTE FLEA MARKET
Now under new ownership and called The Lafayette Flea. If you haven’t been there lately you will be surprised by the changes.
To the south of the building is an empty lot, there’s talk that the owners want to “do something” on that property. I know nothing else.
Fun fact: That building was the Lowe Alpine factory before it became a flea market. (And before that a bowling alley) That’s where I got my training to become an industrial sewing machine operator and entered the world of factory sewing, before launching my own business. The training area was in that little room at the back of the building. Once I graduated to the sewing floor I was in the southern room not far from the door. Ahh, a walk down memory lane every time I go in.
KENSINGTON - TEBO PROPERTY - LAFAYETTE MARKETPLACE
This is the undeveloped property at the southwest corner of 287 and Arapahoe. I have been reporting on this for a while, starting on Nextdoor. When I began writing about it on Substack I combined a whole collection of background information and called it Everything you ever wanted to know about the proposed development at 287 and Arapahoe. If you don’t know much about the property this is the place to look. However, the plans for the property keep changing so ignore them!
Here’s the latest update.
The developers, Kensington, have not gone away. They have now partnered with Stephen Tebo, a well-known name in Boulder County, and the long-time owner of the property. Tebo had planned to develop the property himself but changed his mind after our new comprehensive plan was approved. Looks like he is back in the game.
From Director Keating: They are now looking to partner with Stephen Tebo as a joint-venture, a well-known name in Boulder County, and the long-time owner of the property; but this isn’t finalized yet.
No formal application has been submitted.
City staff sees an opportunity to add a sales tax-generating anchor to the site, perhaps a grocery store. Here’s a screenshot of a slide presented to the city council during their February 2024 retreat.
The primary concerns about the King Soopers move for me are the sales tax loss, of course, but also the loss of accessible fresh groceries for some of the population. A couple of questions about that:
1) Is the tax sharing agreement for Nine Mile indefinite, or is there an expiration when Lafayette may not get any tax revenue from there?
2) Has there been any talk from the city about trying to attract specifically grocery stores? I know that Kroger is trying to keep us from at leasing using that building as a source of fresh food (that's what happens when you have giant monopolies especially w/ the merger), but I'm hoping there could be another site not as far. If you don't have a car and live in Old Town or the retirement community, then walking to Sprouts or across the hwy to Walmart is not so easy.
This is another comment from a relative community newbie. How can the nine-mine property (South East Corner of Arapaho and 287 be in Erie and the Tebo property (South West Corner of Arapaho and 287 not be in the same jurisdiction. I guess despite Colorado being rectangular, Colorado towns are not rectangular. Do they need another grocery store there? There would be Safeway/Krogers/??? although I suppose if the merger goes through Safeway would not survive