BRIGHTON —The city of Brighton is looking forward to beginning a redevelopment of the aging Bromley Plaza Shopping Center this year following the closure of a Kmart store that has been in decline for years.
“This area presents a good opportunity from a redevelopment standpoint to look at some of the challenges that this area has,” said Michael Martinez, director of the Brighton Economic Development Corporation. “That corner of Bromley and 85 is actually the busiest intersection that we have in Brighton. It sees roughly 20,000 cars per day.”
The Bromley Plaza Shopping Center at U.S. 85 and Bromley Lane was built in 1980 and is roughly 169,000 square feet. The anchor Kmart store is about 91,000 square feet. In 36 years, the shopping center has gone through only one remodel, and that was in the 1990s.
In addition to the Kmart leaving, a Mi Pueblo Market closed a little more than a year ago. That space is being split. This spring, Harbor Freight Tools will open in 16,000 square feet of that former grocer, leaving 13,276 square feet available to lease.
“We do have active prospects looking to locate within the former Kmart site now,” Martinez said. “We are looking at what we can do as a city to improve this development overall and increase its marketability through things like exterior improvements.”
He said a prospective tenant would ideally be able to negotiate a cost split of those redevelopment projects.
“The opportunity is really ripe at this point for a retailer to come in and take advantage of some of the things going on in the area,” Martinez said. “Another grocer would do well, but I do think there are other types of specialty retailers that would do well there. We’re in communication with many different options.”
, which ended Jan. 30, according to the company’s quarterly earnings report. The Bromley location is one of dozens closing nationwide this year. Several more in Colorado have closed or will close, including one in Fort Collins at the end of May.
“The Kmart store in Brighton will close to the public in mid-April,” said Howard Riefs, spokesman for the Sears Holdings company. “Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model.”
The Brighton store opened in the plaza in 1991 and has 45 employees.
Business owners in the aging shopping center are looking forward to the city’s plans to upgrade and modernize the area, including building upgrades on the strip center, and a possible resurfacing of the parking lot.
Bryant Gordon has owned the Atlas Car Wash & Detail in the Bromley Plaza since 2013.
“We really haven’t felt any negative effects of the Kmart closing, other than a few of our customers mentioning how they will have less to do when they drop off their cars for cleaning,” Gordon said. “It would be great if we could get a big box store in here like a Costco, Lowes, Best Buy or something like that … I guess our only concern would be the place sitting empty for any length of time.”
But Martinez said that despite the Sears Holding Company having a lease that does not expire until the end of the year, the corporation has been cooperative with the city’s plans to move on before then.
“Our managing broker is aggressively working to get someone else in that space, so if there is a tenant who wants to move in quickly, the lease should not be an issue,” Martinez said. “Retailers want to move quick in the Brighton market. This area is a hot commodity right now.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or @Mmitchelldp
