Trader Joe’s wants to open a store in Denver’s Platt Park neighborhood that would look different from its others in the region.
The grocery chain has applied for a retail liquor license for a planned store at the northwest corner of Pearl Street and Louisiana Avenue, according to a notice posted at the site.
The site at 567 E. Louisiana Ave. is home to a shuttered 7-Eleven. But Trader Joe’s does not plan to occupy that building — or a standalone structure at all, as its other Denver stores are.
Instead, the grocer plans to take retail space on the ground floor of a five-story apartment building slated to be developed by Denver-based Kentro Group, which has yet to break ground.
Kentro, which is led by the Balafas brothers, developed the Trader Joe’s building at 750 N. Colorado Blvd. in Denver.
Kentro’s planned project would span 1.29 acres on the east side of the street, from the vacant 7-Eleven nearly to Buchtel Boulevard. The most recent plans, submitted to Denver in April, show 170 apartments on the upper floors.
On the ground floor, plans show a 13,500-square-foot retail unit, which is around the size of a typical Trader Joe’s. The floor would also have additional commercial and amenity space.
The project would incorporate 300 parking spaces, per the plans. Some would be tucked behind the ground-floor commercial space, with the rest underground.
Kentro already owns the site. Reached by BusinessDen Thursday, co-founder Jimmy Balafas declined to comment on Trader Joe’s, but provided a tentative timeline for the overall project.
“We’re hopeful to break ground in 2026,” Balafas said.
Trader Joe’s didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kentro has significant experience in the grocery sphere. The firm is currently building a King Soopers along Colorado Boulevard. It will replace the existing King Soopers a mile away at 825 S. Colorado Blvd. That site will then be sold to Kentro, which said this week that it would seek to rezone the property.
Trader Joe’s, meanwhile, is in expansion mode in the region. The chain recently opened a store in Westminster and also plans to open in The Shops at Northfield in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood.
