Denver Central Market is moving into its second decade.
The well-known RiNo food hall opened in 2016, and owner Ken Wolf told BusinessDen he’s about to sign a 10-year lease extension.
“Itap going to be as vibrant for the next 10 years as it was for the last 10 years,” he said.
Wolf renovated the marketap building at 2669 Larimer St. and, in 2018, sold the structure and a host of others nearby for more than $50 million to Edens, a national retail real estate firm.
He then clashed with his new landlord, suing Edens in 2021 and posting signs that year and again in 2023 telling the firm to stay out of Denver Central Market.
But now, according to Wolf, the two sides get along.
“We actually have a good relationship now,” he said. An Edens spokeswoman called the relationship “positive.”
Compared with other area food halls, the 12-stall, 11-vendor Denver Central Market — Izzio Bakery has occupied two stalls from the start — saw little turnover over its first decade.
Lunchboxx replaced SK Provisions in 2021. Call Your Mother, the bagel chain, backfilled Culture Meat and Cheese in 2024. And a butcher shop changed ownership.
But a handful of changes are coming now, as vendor leases expire. Three longtime tenants are no longer part of the market.
“The nine that I wanted to keep signed a 10-year extension,” Wolf said, referring to the stall count.
Bakery taking over ice cream counter
Izzio, which sells bread and pastries, is taking over the space where High Point Creamery used to operate.
“We’re not quite ready to talk about our plans there,” owner Etai Bar-on told BusinessDen. “Itap going to be something very unique.”
High Point had hoped to renew its lease, although owner Erika Thomas acknowledged that she planned to immediately sublease the space to another local ice cream shop.
But the business’s lease didn’t include a renewal option, leaving the decision up to Wolf.
“I thought they were a difficult tenant,” he said.
High Point has five other locations in Denver and Fort Collins.
“I was only a difficult tenant in that I cared about cleanliness, safety, the budget and proper reconciliation,” she said.
Denver Central Market tenants pay base rent and their share of building expenses, as is common in commercial leases. Wolf said they also pay “market expenses” — the cost of dishwashers, the general manager and the like.
Expenses are estimated at the start of the year and reconciled at the end when actual expenses are known. Tenants might get a credit or a bill.
“Those expenses are passed down to whatever their proportionate share of the market is,” Wolf said. “There’s no profit center for me.”
Thomas said bills for those expenses were often a year late, making it difficult to run a business. She said she served as something of a spokeswoman for other vendors with similar concerns.
Wolf acknowledged that expense reconciliation was very late one year, but said he didn’t like that Thomas argued she shouldn’t have to pay the expenses as a result.
“I’m just grateful to be in a happier space,” Thomas said of leaving the market.
“It was my second-highest-grossing store but definitely not the second-most profitable, and most of that came from the operating expenses.”
Izzio owner Bar-on, meanwhile, said that Denver Central Market has “been a very good location for us.” In 2016 when it moved in, the business was largely wholesale. Today, he said, that side of things is “largely nonexistent” as marketgoers snap up baked goods.
“Ten years is a long time,” he said. “The business has really changed over time.”
Butcher shop sued before closure
Also out at the market is Butchers at RiNo, which offered cuts of various meats along with prepared food items such as barbecue.
“I had evicted him. He was six months behind on his rent,” Wolf said.
The business was owned by Brent Ratliff, who purchased it in 2024 after working for the previous owner that operated as The Local Butcher.
Ratliff told BusinessDen that he didn’t realize at the time of the purchase that he had to pay for things other than base rent.
“I wasn’t made aware of anything on top,” he said.
Wolf disputes that, saying he met with Ratliff before the purchase.
Ratliff said that the business wasn’t profitable and that Wolf vetoed certain items he wanted to sell.
“I couldn’t sell banana pudding with my barbecue,” he said.
Wolf said that some vendors have “exclusives” — items that only they can sell. Green Seed is the only one that can sell salads primarily made with greens, he said. Pizza and pasta can be sold only at Vero, and so on.
“When I opened, I didn’t want everyone selling hamburgers,” he said.
Wolf said the banana pudding violated an exclusive and the vendor with that exclusive complained, but Ratliff was still allowed to sell banana pudding.
Ratliff said he’s still dealing with the lawsuit.
“I haven’t retained an attorney yet,” Ratliff said. “I’ve been going broke trying to keep this business afloat.”
Wolf said Butchers at RiNo’s former stall is available for lease. He’d like to bring in a deli that focuses on “very good sandwiches and sausages,” with a small section of meats and cheeses available to take home.
Wolf taking over ‘very profitable’ bar
The final change at Denver Central Market concerns the bar, which had been known as Curio.
Wolf said it will reopen this week as Bar 77, a reference to the first album from the rock band Talking Heads.
“They were going in a different direction, so rather than extending their lease I purchased their assets,” he said of the previous ownership.
Wolf’s partner in the venture is Celina Tio, a James Beard Award-winning chef in Kansas City, Missouri, who has appeared on several Food Network shows. The pair are already partners in The Belfry Collective restaurant and Gerard’s Pool Hall in Kansas City.
The bar will be the fourth stall that Wolf will own a stake in, through various entities. He already owns stakes in Tammen’s Fish Market, Temper Chocolates & Confections and the Italian spot Vero.
Curio owner Stephen Julia said the bar was “very profitable” during his 10-year run, doing revenue above $1 million a year annually on just drinks.
But he said it makes sense for Wolf to take over the bar, since his interests will be “aligned” with the overall market. Discounts at the bar might help drive business to the vendors, he said.
“He’ll be able to rejuvenate the place by taking on the bar,” Julia said.
Julia said he doesn’t know whether Wolf would have been willing to renew his lease, because he didn’t want to. He’s moving to Spain in August. He’ll continue to own some local businesses, including an Ace Hardware in City Park West and a bar in Edgewater Public Market.
“It kind of felt like good timing for everyone,” he said of exiting Denver Central Market.
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