They had known for two years that the landlord had sold the building to Renewal Wheat Ridge, but the 65 vendors with rented booths inside the Stage Stop Antique Mall in Wheat Ridge are having a hard time accepting that they have to leave by Sept. 30.
“We’re all heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken,” said one longtime vendor who declined to give her name. “We can’t find another building to move in to, so we’re all out.”
Renewal Wheat Ridge (formerly the Wheat Ridge Urban Renewal Authority) identified the area on the southeast corner of West 44th Avenue and Wads worth Boulevard as blighted, and entered into a private purchase of $3.4 million for the land and the three buildings.
The deal included an agreement to give Stage Stop tenants 90 days’ notice before Wheat Ridge shuttered the place.
Now that that day is looming, Stage Stop manager Susan Cordova said the atmosphere is one of bitterness mixed with sadness.
“There was a lot of disgruntlement after they told the vendors they had a 90-day notice,” Cordova said. “I had people totally (ticked) at me. I started bawling, and it was hard.”
But Cordova harbors no blame or ill feelings for the city nor for Jefferson County commissioners who have made an $8.50-per-square-foot offer for 116,000 square feet of land where the county would build a government hub and become the area’s anchor tenant.
If the Wheat Ridge City Council approves the sale, Jefferson County would likely build a public health clinic, consolidate the Arvada and Lakewood motor vehicle offices and possibly add a library.
The Stage Stop has occupied the property for more than 25 years, with vendors renting booths selling antiques. In its heyday, roughly 100 vendors occupied the place.
“Customers are bummed,” said Cordova, who is also a vendor who will be job-hunting at age 50 after 24 years in business. “People are coming in crying.”
Raising the roof.
Brian Biggs, owner of Denver’s Biggs Roofing, is going big to help out Bob Fredericks, the winner of a contest for a free roof.
Fredericks, a senior citizen on a fixed income, was nominated for the roofing job by neighbors who knew he was in need after one contractor did a shoddy repair job that left a leaky lid.
His insurance company refused to cover a second repair, so Fredericks scraped together enough savings to hire another contractor who took the homeowner’s money up front, then left him high — and not so dry.
When Biggs went in to assess the situation, he found wet drywall filled with mold, ruined carpet, a holey screen door, broken microwave and a kitchen that needed a new tile floor.
Biggs is covering the costs of all the repairs (including a $12,000 roof), but could still use a new clothes dryer to replace Frederick’s broken one. If you can help, e-mail Brandi Matthews at sugarplumskin@gmail.com.
Eavesdropping
on one woman to another after her husband called her cellphone and asked her to pick up some mayonnaise at Clark’s Market in Aspen: “I don’t know what a mayonnaise is.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
