ENGLEWOOD —Going on looks alone, the store and other businesses in Englewood’s Broadbell shopping center have already raised the profile of one of the city’s most economically integral intersections.
Anchored by the specialty grocer that opened its doors in June of last year, Broadbell is located on the west side of Broadway just north of Belleview Avenue, a crossroads some consider Englewood’s southern gateway.
The newness of the center’s tan buildings stand out in an area largely known for its used car dealerships and accented on the southwest side by an aging Kmart with a pock-marked parking lot and faded paint.
“I think it’s great. They’re cleaning up the buildings and updating them,” said Per Karlqvist, an optician and owner of . “We can tell people, ‘We’re near the Sprouts.’ ”
Karlqvist’s business has been in the Brookridge shopping center, behind the McDonald’s on the southeast corner of Belleview and Broadway, for 30 years. He said his staff frequently visit the restaurants in the Broadbell development, which include a Five Guys Burger And Fries and a Jersey Mike’s Subs, and he thinks the redevelopment in what was formerly the Larry H. Miller Nissan dealership has benefitted his business.
“It’s good for us,” he said. “More traffic.”
City officials say sales tax returns confirm the shopping center has been the success story they were hoping for when developers announced they were finally bringing a project centered on a long-coveted specialty grocery store to town.
“We are very satisfied with the sales tax receipts from the development,” Deputy City Manager Michael Flaherty said. “It is beyond our expectations.”
State law prohibits cities from sharing specific businesses’ sales tax figures. But Flaherty’s estimation of how soon the shopping center might generate enough sales tax so that the city will no longer be required to refund it under the guidelines of a development incentive package provides a solid clue:
“We anticipate it being paid off in the second year,” he said.
Englewood already refunded Broadbell’s builders an estimated $68,000 in use taxes on building materials. The city also agreed to refund the 3.5 percent sales tax it collects on the property for up to three years or until the collection total reaches $182,000, Flaherty said. After reviewing the first full year’s numbers, things look promising.
Broadbell isn’t the only recent redevelopment project that has sprung up on South Broadway in Englewood. Last summer, the Groove Toyota auto dealership completed a and expansion to its building at 5460 S. Broadway with aims to provide speedier service and a better customer experience.
City Councilman Rick Gillit, whose includes the Grove Toyota and the Broadway and Belleview intersection, lauded the move as a means to revitalize the area. He sees Sprouts and the rest of the Broadbell center as hugely important to continued improvement of the city’s commercial and retail space along South Broadway.
“It’s key to what we want to do over there,” Gillit said. “I’m hoping the Sprouts brings in some excitement about what Englewood could be.”
The councilman said he has heard nothing but positive feedback about the development since it opened, and he often runs into his neighbors in Sprout’s aisles.
He said his main hope now is that the property owner on the southwest corner of Broadway and Belleview will see what is going on to the north and begin to explore redevelopment options of their own for the Kmart site.
Repeated attempts to contact Kmart management and the property owners were unsuccessful.
“Kmart has been dying over there for years,” Gillit said. “There is enough property over there to do something fantastic. It’s a city entryway. We’re hoping the southwest corner picks it up.”
Joe Rubino: 303-954-2953, jrubino@denverpost.com or twitter.com/RubinoJC
