A new turn for Glendale 180

Troubled development—known for alcohol to-go cups—finally signs a deal

BY PETER JONES
NEWS EDITOR

Glendale 180—the aptly-named plan to turn the city back to its nightlife heyday—has taken a step in the right direction after years of squabbling that seemed to be spiraling Glendale into a 360 instead.

In February, the Glendale City Council approved an agreement with Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company to develop the planned $175 million, 9.5-acre entertainment, nightclub and dining complex, which is to be located off Colorado Boulevard along the banks of Cherry Creek.

As part of the deal, ownership of the city-owned 150,000-square-foot property would eventually be transferred to the Texas developer, Mayor Mike Dunafon explained.

“Until the vision of the city is met, which Lincoln is firmly on board with, the city will maintain the special districts and then at some time in the future the land will revert to the developer,” Dunafon said. “The tax revenue comes in, and that essentially pays for that. I don’t think the government should be involved in competing with businesses in the city.”

The city would remain responsible for maintenance and infrastructure in any case.

Glendale 180 has hit its share of speedbumps on its turns to about-face the city’s image. Officials waged a years-long battle with Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs, a longtime area retailer that refused to be incorporated into the development—often in outspoken protest—with the city finally declining to exercise its powers of eminent domain.

In 2016, a lawsuit filed by the owner of Staybridge Suites was dismissed after the neighboring hotel chain accused the city of “fixing” the election that created Glendale 180’s enabling Downtown Development Authority.

A previous developer pulled out of the deal in the face of such infighting.

According to Dunafon, the collective effect of the bad press is what has slowed the city’s signature project, which many have hoped would signal a return to Glendale’s 1980s glory years when singles flocked to the landlocked south suburb.

Lately, he says, the city has been more associated with bad blood than a good time.

“Imagine you’re a developer and you’re going into an environment where you’re on your fourth or fifth lawsuit from a landowner and they’re making scurrilous claims in the press that you’re trying to steal your property—why would you want to get involved with that?” the mayor said.

Even so, the original vision for Glendale 180 survives, Dunafon insists, and remains in line with what the mayor describes as a libertarian-leaning city—one in which the colorfully outspoken mayor’s wife owns both the nearby Shotgun Willie’s strip club and the Smokin’ Gun, its accompanying marijuana retailer.

Once Glendale 180 is finished, the development is expected to boast a hotel, more than 25 restaurants and bars and take advantage of Colorado’s “common consumption” law, allowing customers to take alcoholic beverages in to-go cups along interior streets within the district and into other businesses, which could remain open until 4 a.m.

Dunafon says Glendale 180’s business model incorporates built-in “responsibility.”

“It would have a centralized ID-checking system, so if there’s a knucklehead in the district and he gets asked to leave by one of the establishments, he’s not going to go into another one because his name will pop up on a screen. Our goal is to make a wonderfully safe environment,” the mayor said.

Although to-go cups could be taken onto Glendale 180’s “new urban” streets and into its other bars, the mayor says there would be strict enforcement on what happens next.

“You can walk into Bar B, but Bar B can’t refill that cup,” he said. “Why? Because we want to find out if somebody’s overserved, who did it. You can get another cup from Bar B and walk to Bar C, but they can’t refill the Bar B cup.”

By day, Glendale 180 would be a family-friendly environment, the mayor adds.

Dunafon expects the financial agreements with Lincoln to be finalized by June with groundbreaking on Glendale 180 likely by early next year.

He says the city has already received letters of intent on about 45 percent of planned available space. Dunafon says some of the as-yet unannounced proposed tenants have experience in New Orleans, which famously boasts its own common-consumption system.

“It’s a go,” the mayor said of Glendale 180’s latest turn. “It’s not going to go backwards from here.”