When Lisa Raville and her team at the Harm Reduction Action Center showed up to Golden Triangle's City Cafe on Wednesday morning and learned the restaurant is being forced to close to make way for 18 stories of housing, they "were all tearing up."
Another small business on the block would soon be gone.
"We are so sad," said Raville in an email. "The family that owns it is so lovely and wonderful."
Cities change. Buildings and lots are put to new use. But seeing small restaurants and shops forced to go out of business is cause for customers, employees and owners to mourn.
City Cafe taped the announcement to the door a few weeks back: The restaurant near 8th Ave. and Lincoln St. will be closing on January 5.
The news is a disappointment to regular customers who frequent the shop for sandwiches, award-winning meatloaf and Saturday Brazillian feasts.
Customers consider City Cafe a warm spot that dishes up reliable comfort food and Pablo's coffee. During the World Cup, fans of Brazil congregated at the cafe to watch the game, as regulars came in and out for breakfast and lunch or to pick up a home-baked loaf of bread.
"People can come in, eat, have fun, enjoy the food, enjoy the atmosphere," owner and Chef Jenival Santos told Denverite. "I know it's not like a five-star place, but I tell you, it's very comfortable to come in."
Such unpretentious businesses are increasingly rare in the Golden Triangle, a neighborhood with sky-high commercial rent.
"Unfortunately, many places here, you know, are being sold for development," Santos said. "And the Cafe is part of this land. They bought the whole block, between 7th and 8th. So they're going to put up a building here and then build up apartments and retail. So it's about time for me to go."
The proposed project for the block is ambitious.
Earlier this year, a developer submitted concept plans to the city for an 18-story apartment building with more than 350 residential units and ground-floor retail.
The company, Trailbreak Partners, finalized its purchase of the building for a little over $12 million in mid-December and plans to break ground in late 2023, as Mile High CRE reported.
The project should be complete by 2026.
Nostalgia for small businesses trounced by development is natural, but there's more to the story.
Denver has a housing shortage that has driven prices up in recent years, according to many developers, real estate trade organizations and homelessness nonprofits.
More homes need to be built to satisfy the growing population and drive costs back down. The city is particularly short when it comes to attainable housing units for working people.
These 18 stories won't likely meet that need for more workforce housing. The development application process started before the city's Expanding Housing Affordability rules, which push developers to do more to solve the housing crisis, kicked into gear in July. The project will be permitted under the old rules that do not require the developer to create as many income-restricted units.
Either way, new builds can help lower prices, according to housing groups like YIMBY Denver. They argue more supply helps meet demand. Even the creation of luxury units could help slow the rapid rise in Denver rents and home prices by decreasing competition for homes.
All this puts businesses in one-story buildings on underused blocks at heightened risk of being forced to close.
City Cafe's neighbor Turin Bicycles shuttered its doors in March, noting in a farewell announcement that "the pressure of development is closing in."
The longtime owner of the 50-some-year-old business, Alan Fine, had sold the building a few years ago and started renting. During the first years of the pandemic, he decided to retire, and died several months later. As the business closed, the managers of Turin considered reopening -- but doing so seemed daunting.
There are no mandates that developers support the businesses they displace -- as much as Santos and Turin's owners wished was the case. And while these new developments will bring retail, it's unlikely businesses like Turin and City Cafe will return.
In some cases, particularly after COVID-19, new developments have struggled to attract groundfloor retail. Small business owners wonder: Wouldn't it be better for developers to find a way to keep the old tenants on the block after new buildings rise?
Santos is bittersweet about losing his spot, where he has dished up food since 2018.
He's sad to say goodbye to longtime customers, many of whom have become friends. He's going to miss their smiles, he told Denverite. But he's also eager for a short vacation before launching another restaurant. He's eager to try a new menu, including signature Brazilian items, and focus entirely on breakfast.
He has owned City Cafe since 2018, when he purchased it from friends who were running City Bakery out of the building. And for years, business was good.
"I did what I do the best, which is make food and try to get the business going, which I did for a long time," he said.
Then the pandemic hit, and his staff of ten was cut down to a few family members. Through it all, Santos kept City Cafe going, selling baked goods and doing delivery. Since then, business has slowed down.
He's looking for a new building for his breakfast spot. He'd like to move into the new development when it opens, but he's uncertain whether that will be possible. So he's on the market for a new space.
"I don't know exactly the location yet," Santos said. "I'll be looking for it, and then I have a few friends looking for me too."
Update: We clarified the language regarding the YIMBY perspective on supply and demand.
