A Sprouts Farmers Market is on track to open in Green Valley Ranch later this year, bringing another option to the far northeast Denver neighborhood that has long been light on grocers.
Developer Evergreen Devco announced Friday that it expects construction to begin in March on the 23,300-square-foot store at the intersection of East 56th Avenue and Tower Road.
The store, from the Arizona-based grocery chain specializing in fresh produce and organic and natural foods, will anchor a shopping center that is expected to eventually host eight buildings. The plans include a multi-storefront “shops” project that is expected to get underway in April, according to Evergreen.
The developer closed on the roughly 8.5-acre plot of land in December after finishing work on an adjacent 324-unit apartment project last year. The retailer is designed to complement that and serve the broader far northeast Denver area, said Tyler Carlson, Evergreen’s managing principal based in Denver.
“The Green Valley Ranch-Gateway area is one of the fastest-growing parts of the whole metro area. Not only is there a lot of residential growth, there is also a lot of commercial and employment growth,” Carlson said, citing the proliferation of distribution warehouses near Denver International Airport and Panasonic’s smart city project. “This is just part of that part of the city growing up.”
Carlson credited Denver City Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore for being a strong advocate for more grocery options in her district and for supporting the developer’s bid to ink Sprouts to a lease.
Green Valley Ranch welcomed a Natural Grocers store in May, adding another grocery option beyond the neighborhood’s King Soopers off of Tower and Green Valley Ranch Boulevard.
A Costco store is also slated to join the mix on the west side of Peña Boulevard. Even farther west in adjoining Montbello, the nonprofit Montbello Organizing Committee is planning to bring in a grocer as part of the mixed-use FreshLo Hub project that will also provide more affordable housing in the area.
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Carlson said Evergreen, which previously built the Sprouts store on East Colfax Avenue in Denver, has been working to get its shopping center project off the ground in Green Valley Ranch for years. Rather than viewing the other brands as competition, he sees them as part of a healthy ecosystem.
“Sprouts will offer stuff that you can’t find at the other grocers,” he said. “So it’s nice for people who have lived out in the area for many, many years to have more options.”
The Sprouts building is expected to be completed in October with the store hopefully opening in time for the holidays, Carlson said.
Evergreen has deals in place to build an Ent Credit Unit, Dazbog Coffee and a day care center as part of the shopping center. Additional tenants will be announced as the city approves plans, Carlson said.
