Residents in a portion of central Denver have a new King Soopers.
The division of Cincinnati-based Kroger closed its store at 825 S. Colorado Blvd. in Denver’s Belcaro neighborhood at the end of the day on Tuesday. The store had operated for more than 50 years.
King Soopers debuts a new $37 million store at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave. in the Virginia Village neighborhood on Wednesday. Itap about a mile south of the Belcaro store.
The new store was developed by Denver-based Kentro Group, which broke ground on it in early 2025. The site was formerly the headquarters of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Kentro is poised to purchase the Belcaro site that King Soopers has vacated. The development firm already agreed, after pushback from neighbors, not to seek to rezone it.
The site is 7 acres. San Antonio, Texas-based Embrey wants to build a 4-story, 347-unit apartment complex on 5 of those acres, replacing the strip mall where King Soopers operated, according to plans submitted to Denver.
Dardano’s, a shoe store, is eyeing an adjacent 1.3-acre lot, where a vacant liquor store building sits. Last month, an architecture firm representing the company said it was considering demolishing the existing building and building a 15,000-square-foot one.
Dardano’s has two stores, in Denver and in Broomfield. Its Denver store is a mile south at 1550 S. Colorado Blvd. An executive didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“Everyone’s working to get it done, but there’s still uncertainty,” Kentro co-founder Jimmy Balafas said of the development deals.
