A Natural Grocers is coming to Central Park.
The Lakewood-based organic grocer is set to open near the former Punch Bowl Social location, which permanently closed due to the pandemic.
The store will sit near the old air traffic control tower on a 2-acre site at the northwest corner of Central Park and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards.
"The location is ideal given that Natural Grocers will be situated in the center of the overall Central Park master-planned community," said Mark McPherson, founder of Equity Ventures Commercial Development, which is working on the project. "(The store) is providing for a regional, neighborhood location."
The new store is part of the Control Tower project, which is one of three new mixed-use developments in Central Park being planned by Equity Ventures, Wall Development Group and Evergreen Devco.
McPherson said several other tenants are negotiating for spaces on the remaining parcel.
Construction will begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, and Natural Grocers should open in the summer of 2022, he said.
"There has been interest for many years from the Central Park neighborhood for a health grocer option, and this opportunity fit well for Natural Grocers," McPherson said.
Central Park has a population of around 33,000 people but according to city data last updated in May 2021, there's only about six full-service grocery stores in the neighborhood.
Full-service grocery stores, according to the city, are defined as large retailers that sell healthy produce, for example King Soopers, Sprouts and Walmart.
The majority of the stores are in lower Central Park, such as the King Soopers on Quebec Street, which borders North Park Hill, and the Target on Northfield Boulevard.
Northern Central Park, boarding Montbello, is empty of full-service grocery stores, according to the data, and the void continues through Montbello until you hit the Walmart in the Gateway Village plaza on Chambers Road.
How do you all feel about the opening of a Natural Grocer in this area? Does your neighborhood need a full-service grocery store? Let us know at [email protected]
