One of Arvada’s most anticipated new eateries is open for business.
The Arvada Beer Garden welcomed guests this week, offering an indoor-outdoor space where adults can eat and drink while their kids enjoy an outdoor plaza with dozens of trees and hundreds of shrubs and flowers.
“We opened on Monday and holy smoke, at 4:30 [p.m.], there were probably 100 people in line at the bar, and that line stayed that way for the next two or three hours, “ said Joe Vostrejs, a principal with City Street Investors, which built the beer garden with substantial support from the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority. “It was just really busy.”
The beer garden is at the west end of Ralston Central Park, at 9258 W. 58th Place, where it will be an anchor of a major new public-private development.
“What we’ve created here is a park with a really good concession stand that serves food and drink,” Vostrejs said.
CSI also owns another new building next door, which it plans to lease to a retailer, eatery or other business.
Millions in public support
Arvada Urban Renewal Authority, or AURA, spent $3 million to buy and demolish the gas station that once occupied the site. AURA then sold it to City Street Investors for only $270,000. AURA also contributed $1.6 million to build the beer garden’s outdoor area. CSI spent another $4 million on the project.
The property is meant to be welcoming to the public, but it ultimately is owned by CSI.
“They do need to be patrons, although I would tell you that’s pretty loosely enforced,” Vostrejs said. “The area is liquor licensed, so we’re legally obligated to sort of control it, but it’s so low-key and so accessible that it feels very much like a public space and to the extent that we can we run it like it’s a public space.”
City Street Investors also opened the Lowry Beer Garden and similar joints in Edgewater and Green Valley Ranch. AURA officials said supporting the project would draw visitors and investment to an area of town that was struggling.
“The private sector is not interested in coming into these older sections of town,” said former AURA director Maureen Phair in an earlier interview. “We are the public in a public-private partnership, and we have to lure the private there to say hey, ‘Do you see the vision, do you see how good the bones are?’”
There was no competitive process to select CSI as the restaurateur for the space.
The funding for AURA’s investment in the area comes from taxes generated by a Target, a Walmart and other developments in the area. A similar strategy helped to revitalize Olde Town Arvada, with tax funding coming from stores like Costco, Home Depot and Lowe’s to the south.
Excitement and criticism
News of the restaurant’s opening has generated both excitement and criticism.
“[M]illionaire developers are using taxpayer money from teachers, nurses, restaurant workers, retail workers, truck drivers, to build privately owned beer gardens,” wrote Jason Bailey, a former restaurateur and Denverite reader. “Corporate welfare is a major factor of our growing financial divide.”
Bailey compared it to the “stadium model,” with taxpayers subsidizing private facilities instead of making businesses work within their constraints.
The developers said it would be impossible to make a project like this work without government support. And he argued that the new restaurant would generate continuing tax revenues and a new amenity on what had been a gas station site.
“The beer gardens, they’re very expensive to develop — and part of what makes them expensive is that you need a lot of land. To get the right vibe and make it work, you need to have thousands of square feet,” Vostrejs said in an earlier interview with Denverite.
What’s on tap?
Reviews for the new restaurant have been positive, with commenters praising the food and scenery. The restaurant has 18 beers on tap
Most burgers run for $11.50; fries are $5; bowls are $13 to $15; salads are $13 to $19; and wings are $15. Other offerings include a Mediterranean spread, shrimp and more. Draft beers run $6.50 to $8 a pour, and the restaurant offers cocktails. The kids’ menu is $8.
Happy hour is 3-5 p.m. on weekdays, with select $5 drinks.
The restaurant also appends an 18 percent service fee, which is meant to replace tipping.
The beer garden will border Ralston Commons, with 195 planned apartments and 27 townhomes. Further west, the Caroline at Ralston has replaced a former Kmart site with 328 apartments, an acre park and another 10,000 feet of commercial space. (About 16 of the Caroline apartments will be designated affordable.)
To the south, Ralston Gardens includes 102 designated affordable units. It’s next to the Garrison Paseo, with a pathway and planting beds winding up a sloped parcel.
CSI hasn’t signed a renter for its neighboring building. Vostrejs said a bike shop would be ideal, but noted that independent bike shops are struggling. Other options might include a breakfast place or a gift and garden store.
“We’ll take our time,” he said.
