Larimer Square Transformation Has Some Wondering About The Historic District’s Future

On Larimer Square, one of Denver’s most storied blocks, there’s a renter reshuffle underway, with longtime tenants moving out and leaving those who remain split on their expectations for the future of the square under the relatively new ownership of Asana Partners.

Over the past few months, local retailers like Victoriana Antique & Fine Jewelry and restaurants like Green Russell have packed up and left Larimer Square in search of opportunities elsewhere. Even chains like Ted’s Montana Grill have shuttered their operations on the block.

While these developments may be concerning in other contexts, some business owners on Larimer Square say the area is headed in the right direction as it seeks to move away from being a single-use retail district to a more experiential place. However, some critics say the square needs to do a better job of preserving Denver’s history as it redevelops.

“The tenant mix is obviously turning over there, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Ed McMahon, the Charles E. Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy at the Urban Land Institute, told Bisnow in an interview. “You can’t have a successful downtown anymore with just retail options. You have to have office spaces, entertainment, government uses, the whole shebang.”

Larimer Square is one of the most important commercial avenues in Denver. The square, which strides 14th and 15th streets in downtown, dates back to Denver’s founding in the early 1860s and was named after William Larimer, one of Denver’s earliest settlers. 

It is also home to some of Denver’s oldest commercial buildings, some of which date back to the 1870s, and features a mix of gothic, Italianate, renaissance and classical architecture. The tenant mix of Larimer Square is just as diverse with restaurants, retailers and office tenants occupying the square. The block was closed to vehicle traffic during the pandemic and has remained that way ever since, cementing it as a pedestrian-friendly pocket of downtown.

The block was almost redeveloped in the 1950s since it had become one of the seedier parts of town. But the bulldozers never came after developer Dana Crawford and her husband, John Crawford, put together a group of investors to purchase Larimer Square in 1963 and save it. Crawford then got to work revitalizing some of the old brick buildings and attracting new tenants to Larimer Square. Crawford eventually sold the block to Hahn Co. in 1986 for around $14.5M, although there remained about $60M worth of renovations still to complete, 5280 Magazine reported. 

Previous owners of Larimer Square like Jeff Hermanson, who bought Larimer Square from Hahn in 1993, have submitted plans to revitalize the block by attaching modern apartment buildings and offices to the back of buildings. But Larimer Square’s historic designation prevented many of these changes from occurring without city approval. 

Then in December 2020, Hermanson sold Larimer Square to Asana Partners, a real estate investment firm headquartered in North Carolina, for about $92M. The move sundered Larimer Square’s tenant base with some expecting Asana to dump money into revitalization efforts while others thought their new landlord would push them out, according to 5280. 

Amy Aldridge, a partner at commercial real estate firm Tributary Real Estate, has leased an office on Larimer Square since 2015. She told Bisnow her company is currently negotiating a new lease for their space that will last between five and seven years. Aldridge said she wants to stay on the square after meeting with Asana and learning more about the landlord’s plans to rehab many of the historic buildings on the square.

“My understanding is that they’re trying to create a synergy between office and retail tenants on Larimer Square,” Aldridge said. “The Asana representative was asking me things like ‘As an office tenant, what kind of retail would you like to see here?’ and I was really glad to be asked that question.” 

At the same time, Aldridge said a lot of the tenant turnover she’s seen on the block came from retailers and other business owners who decided to retire. That was the case when an espresso bar called The Market closed in early 2020. 

However, she said it seemed like other businesses were pushed out in order for Asana to make much-needed upgrades to Larimer Square. For example, employees of Green Russell told Denverite in October 2020 that Asana was going to reimagine their speakeasy-style bar located under Larimer Square into a boiler and maintenance room that will support future businesses.  

Dana Crawford, who now lives in Trinidad, Colorado, told Bisnow in an email that the tenant shuffling on Larimer Square illustrates that the block is “not being promoted as it usually is” and that Asana has high expectations for the businesses that call Larimer Square home. She added that she is concerned that big-box retailers may eventually move to the block as local retailers struggle to survive. 

“It seems apparent from the very large national tenants that Larimer Square is not moving in the original direction, which was knowing the importance of a city’s history,” Crawford said. 

Other retail districts in Denver like the 16th Street Mall have seen similar things happen. For example, the TJ Maxx and McDonald’s locations on the mall have permanently closed while the block undergoes renovations. Even local businesses like Teas With Tae that took part in the Downtown Denver Partnership’s “PopUp Denver” program, which helps local retailers find and afford retail space, are having a hard time staying open because of issues with crime and foot traffic, Westword reported.

The issues on the 16th Street Mall allude to the overall weakness of Denver’s retail market right now. Direct vacancy has increased by 1.4% year-over-year to 6.1% in Q1 2023 compared to 4.7% in Q1 2022, according to CBRE.

These struggles are indicative of the sluggish recovery that the retail and hospitality industries continue to face after the pandemic. For example, Denver’s hospitality industry added 4,400 jobs in April 2023, which pushed the industry’s total employment about 1.8% above its January 2020 levels. For comparison, employment in Denver’s business services industry is now 11% above its pre-pandemic levels, according to an analysis from the Common Sense Institute.

A representative for Asana told Bisnow in an emailed statement that the company is still working through the design and approval process to “restore and preserve Larimer Square for the long-term.” Part of that strategy is to secure lease renewals for multiple tenants on the square and spending millions on renovations to attract new local businesses. The spokesperson added that Asana will be announcing “multiple new retailers and restaurants later this year.”  

“Our primary goal remains to preserve and enhance Larimer Square’s unique vibrancy long into the future,” the statement reads in part. 

To Beth Gruitch, who is a partner at Crafted Concepts, a hospitality company that owns Mediterranean restaurant Rioja on Larimer Square, it is no secret that Larimer Square needs a face-lift. After being on the square for more than 19 years, Gruitch knows there are infrastructure problems with almost all of the buildings, she said. But finishing that work can be a tricky Catch-22 given that Asana needs some tenants to move out to get the work started but every tenant that leaves seems to raise alarm bells that Larimer’s future is going downhill. 

Gruitch added that Crafted Concepts has considered moving Rioja out of Larimer Square in the past. The company had to relocate another restaurant in their portfolio, Bistro Vendome, one of Denver’s best-known French restaurants, to the Park Hill neighborhood in 2022 because of renovations to its building. However, no other location has made as much sense as Larimer Square, Gruitch said, because it offers a chance to be a part of Denver’s history and is in an easily accessible part of town that attracts a lot of foot traffic. 

“Change is never easy,” Gruitch told Bisnow in an interview. “But it’s kind of exciting as well because there’s a history and a story behind Larimer Square. So we’re excited to be here for the next chapter, and hopefully several more after that.”