Avanti Food & Beverage is set to open early in June. (Photo by Colleen O’Connor.)
As the craze for food halls spreads across the country, the much-anticipated opening of Avanti Food & Beverage on LoHi — Denver’s first food hall — is scheduled for the first week of June.
On Friday, construction was going full force at the corner of Pecos and W. 32nd Ave, with traffic being diverted to give more space, and one of the co-owners, Rob Hahn, talked with a construction worker about the latest details.
Hahn got the idea for this food hall when traveling in with his wife, and they visited the legendary San Miguel marketplace with more than 30 stalls that promote Spanish gastronomy.
“I thought, wouldn’t something like this be great?” said Hahn.
Back home, he got to work creating the food hall, conveniently located next to his home in LoHi, where he’s lived since 1995.
With Avanti partners Patrick O’Neill and Brad Arguello, he took over the building that housed Avanti Printing & Graphics, which has a stunning view of Denver’s downtown skyline, perfect for patio dining.
Vintage mural found on side of building. (Photo by Colleen O’Connor.)
There will be seven restaurants inside, some located in shipping containers. It’s like an incubator for new restaurants, an inexpensive way for established chefs and startups to test out different concepts – tenants can rent space for a year or two, and the kitchens are already in place so they won’t need to spend money setting up that space. Jon Robbins of will be opening Souk Shawarma, a Lebanese place, and others include a concept from the popular food truck Quiero Arepas.
The exterior facing 32nd Avenue is mostly dark wood in the style of shou sugi ban, a Japanese technique of torching wood to make it beautiful and long-lasting. There’s a section of original brick, and on the other side, after old cement was removed, they discovered a vintage mural painted on the brick that reads “Dotson’s Variety Store,” advertising hardware, groceries, and furniture, along with the antique Pepsi Cola logo.
Preserving that mural is still on the long list of things to do, but Hahn is optimistic about opening in the first days of June.
Avanti Food & Beverage, 3200 Pecos Street.
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