The Pearl Street Grill will close Jan. 1, ending a nearly three-decade run for the neighborhood landmark.
“It is a great location, but we felt like we weren’t getting the highest and best use,” said Ed Cerkovnik, president of B W Holdings LLC, the joint venture between the Breckenridge and Wynkoop breweries that owns the restaurant.
Sales at the grill had declined the past three years, and the concept behind the neighborhood hangout, launched in December 1983, was getting worn, he said.
The company is considering two options for the space at 1477 S. Pearl St., he said.
One was reopening in April or May under a different and fresher concept that would still appeal to a neighborhood crowd.
Cerkovnik declined to disclose details of the second option, other than to say it would be an “exciting” development for the neighborhood.
The company is trying to find places for the 35 employees at Pearl Street Grill at its other restaurants until it reopens the location, Cerkovnik said.
Among the longtime customers sad to see the place close is Eric Anderson, a Pearl Street resident and Denver public relations executive.
“We have enjoyed it for 21 years now. It was always a comfortable place,” he said.
Anderson called the restaurant’s demise symptomatic of businesses in the district, which got its start as a trolley stop, going upscale.
“They hadn’t quite decided whether they wanted to be a neighborhood pub or something with higher aspirations,” he said.
Mark Gill, president of the South Pearl Street Merchants Association, said the Pearl Street Grill was a pioneer in the retail district’s revival in the early 1980s.
“They led the way,” he said. “They are a landmark.”
Pearl Street Grill will hold a farewell bash for its longtime customers on New Year’s Eve, Cerkovnik said.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or
