#Frisco, Colorado.
Summit Daily News Link
A new Starbucks will open in Frisco in November, as part of a 2.3-acre development off of Summit Boulevard with a Natural Grocers and space for another business. A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed that the store at 980 10 Mile Drive will open during the month, with the Starbucks just across the street, at 710 Summit Boulevard, relocating to the new store.
Natural Grocers would not announce an opening date, though construction is well underway. Frisco town manager Bill Efting said the town already approved a building permit for Natural Grocers, but a foundation permit is still in order before construction is complete.
The Natural Grocers will feature a community area with a demo kitchen for cooking lessons and events. The drive-thru Starbucks, meanwhile, will free up parking space and keep customers moving.
“The tenant mix is extremely important,” said developer Brian Levitt, president of Nava Real Estate Development. “We want tenants that are interesting, do good business, and complement the tenants in the center and across the street.”
Levitt said that the traffic flows for the two businesses balance each other, with more than 85 percent of sales at Starbucks taking place before 10:30 a.m., while grocery stores tend to peak at 5 p.m. In addition, the two businesses draw a different customer base than the Safeway and Walmart across the street, though Levitt noted that several Whole Foods Markets and Natural Grocers have popped up across from each other in Colorado.
“I don’t know if they compete or complement each other,” Levitt said. “The retailers don’t tell me their secret sauce, but I assume there’s some magic to that.”
Levitt added that he worked on an agreement between Starbucks and Natural Grocers, to ensure there was not too much overlap in coffee and tea sales between the two tenants. Once they signed the agreement, explaining how they were going to put forth certain products, they could move forward with development.
“You just have to figure out how to get them to play nice,” Levitt said. “Now the new person has to complement Starbucks and Natural Grocers.”
He added that there would be space for one large tenant or several smaller tenants in a third building planned for the lot. Levitt noted that he thought a sit-down restaurant might be a good addition to the mix, and a broker was showing the space to several new concepts coming to Colorado.
A PERFECT STORM
While the property sandwiched between 10 Mile Road and Summit Boulevard was approved for development in 1981, it lay vacant until plans to develop the site were approved by the Frisco Planning Commission in March of 2015.
Levitt bought the property after the former owner of the land obtained an access permit from the Colorado Department of Transportation. Shortly after, a Valero Gas Station pulled plans to develop in the lot.
“It was the perfect storm of events that occurred,” Levitt said, noting that the site’s highway exposure, co-tenants, and the busy tourist market were a few key factors.
He added that he hoped the site’s careful design and architecture would mirror the quality of the tenants. Levitt looked at photos of old mining buildings to match Frisco’s historic aesthetic.
“We’re trying to weave it all together. It’s a small center — very user friendly,” Levitt said. “There are so many components you can get right. We’re trying to address as many as we possibly can.”
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
