The western suburbs are getting a trifecta of restaurants.
Chef Troy Guard’s breakfast spot HashTAG is expected to open within the next year in the Clear Creek Crossing development in Wheat Ridge, along with a Prost Brewing biergarten and a new concept by The Radiator Café and Bar founder Ciaran O’Brien.
That’s according to Denver-based Evergreen Devco, which is developing the project by the Interstate 70-Highway 58 interchange.
“I live around the corner, and we need that in the area. I think we’re starving for this out in Applewood,” O’Brien said, referring to the neighborhood to the south.
O’Brien, who also owns The Patio at Sloan’s in Sunnyside, said his spot — dubbed Agora at Applewood — will be a revamp of a food hall.
It will feature six separate dining experiences within the 10,000-square-foot building, including an Irish pub with a golf simulator, an Italian market featuring a deli and pizza and a higher-end cocktail bar with small plates. Agora, which means “gathering space” in Greek, will also have a more family-friendly pub, along with a rooftop bar and a place that serves ice cream and juice.
O’Brien’s restaurant and real estate group, Osta Holdings, will operate all the concepts.
“It’s a communal space where you can walk from one concept to another with your drink,” O’Brien said. “But each has its own feel, its own vibe. There’s not a main bar you order from like your traditional food hall would be. Each venue has their own bar, own menu, own decor and own furniture.”
Guard’s HashTAG will be the chef’s fourth brunch spot. The third is slated to open downtown next month.
And Prost’s brewpub will be the fifth location for Colorado’s third-largest brewery.
Clear Creek Crossing is already home to two apartment buildings, a Life Time gym, a Hampton Inn and Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital, which all opened last year. Bonfire Burritos, local chicken chain Birdcall, a preschool and another hotel are set to open at Clear Creek in the coming year as well.
Derek Lis, a senior development manager for Evergreen, said there will be green space in the middle of the three buildings that HashTAG, Agora and Prost will occupy. The buildings will form a horseshoe shape and have a scenic view of the nearby pond and the mountains.
“We’ll have a stage for live music, big fire pits and it’ll be open container,” Boyd Hoback, Prost’s director of biergartens, said of the green space. “And being on I-70, we think we can capture a lot of the mountain traffic, the ski traffic.”
While Prost and O’Brien are buying their buildings, HashTAG is leasing its space. Lis said there’s another unit next to HashTAG that Evergreen will likely lease to another restaurant operator.
Hoback said Prost will pay between $5 million and 6 million to build out its 6,800-square-foot space. It will have 40 beers on tap and serve fare including pretzels, German sausages and schnitzel.
Prost, founded in 2012, opened a 60,000-square-foot production facility in Northglenn last year, where it will still make most of its German lagers. Hoback said the new Wheat Ridge spot will have a small brewing system on display, but it will be used for classes and home brewing.
The beermaker also has a biergarten in Northglenn along with Highlands Ranch and Denver’s LoHi. Prost also has a taproom in Fort Collins serviced by food trucks.
“We want people hanging out for a couple hours. We’re not focused on turning tables,” he said. “We want kids running wild and families hanging out.”
This story originally published on BusinessDen.
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