Where does a Belcaro grocery run go now? Since June 3, 2026, the answer has been 4201 E. Arkansas Ave., about a mile south of the store that sat at Colorado Boulevard and Exposition for more than 50 years. That move is the most visible change on the neighborhood's east edge. It is also the first of several.
In the four months since, the Belcaro Shopping Center site has picked up a buyer and an apartment proposal. The parcel next door has a retail proposal, and the church lot down the block has a car wash proposal. A mile west on South University Boulevard, the Bonnie Brae strip is going through its own changes at a much slower pace. The difference comes down to how big the pieces of land are.
The grocery run moved a mile south
King Soopers closed its store at 825 S. Colorado Blvd. at the end of the day on Tuesday, June 2, and opened the replacement the next morning, BusinessDen reported. The new store stands in Virginia Village on land that used to be the Colorado Department of Transportation's headquarters. Denverite put it at 103,000 square feet and a $37.1 million project. The Denver Post rounded the cost to $37 million and noted that Kentro Group developed it.
The new store does more than the old one did. 9News listed fresh sushi, a Murray's Cheese counter, a Starbucks, a drive-up pharmacy and grocery pickup. The company's store page also lists a fuel center. Denverite pointed out that the store could also fill the gap left when the Safeway in Cory-Merrill closed in 2025. That makes the Arkansas Avenue store the main full-size grocery for a stretch of south-central Denver that used to have two.
Three parcels, three proposals
The old grocery footprint is only the largest of the Colorado Boulevard sites now in play. Here is where each one stood at its most recent reported update.
| Address | Land | What's there now | What's proposed | Status at last report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 825 S. Colorado Blvd. | About 5 of the center's 7 acres | Vacant former King Soopers | Four-story, 347-unit apartment building by Embrey and Kentro Group | Site plan marked "resubmittal required" as of Aug. 4, 2026 |
| 865 S. Colorado Blvd. | 1.35 acres | Vacant liquor store building | 18,034-square-foot Dardano's shoe store | City awaiting a formal site plan application as of Aug. 4, 2026 |
| 999 S. Colorado Blvd. | About 1 acre | Church built in 1953 | Quick Quack Car Wash | Proposed, per an Oct. 6, 2026 report |
The Denver Post's August report quoted a King Soopers spokesperson saying the company had found a buyer for the vacant store and was working through the details. The buyer was not named. The apartment plan would include studio through three-bedroom units, and the Post reported that 35 of them would be leased at 60% of Area Median Income under the city's affordable housing requirements. Casey Klein, Embrey's vice president of development, told the Post, "We remain fully committed to the project."
The Dardano's plan would replace an 8,884-square-foot liquor store with a single-story building that adds a mezzanine, with 57 parking spaces and frontage along East Ohio Avenue. The car wash at 999 S. Colorado would put vehicle entry and exit on Tennessee Avenue, add a second exit onto Harrison Street, and include 23 vacuums, according to the Post's October story. The Post also reported that nearby residents had drafted a letter to the city raising traffic concerns on those side streets. None of the three proposals has final approval.
Why the boulevard moves in big pieces
Each of these parcels is large enough that one sale changes what the corner is used for. Denverite noted in May that the RadioShack and Mike's Camera signs on the surrounding storefronts had faded over years of vacancy. Once the grocery left, nothing at the center was keeping it a shopping destination.
The size of the site also explains how big the first proposal was. In August 2025, Kentro Group dropped a plan for three towers, one of them 12 stories, with about 700 homes, after neighbors raised concerns, Denver7 reported. The plan now under review is four stories and roughly half that unit count. On a lot that size, each round of revision shifts hundreds of homes, and the work takes years.
The smaller boulevard lots move faster, and the change at each one is just as complete. The Post reported that the church at 999 S. Colorado is the only commercial property in the immediate area that runs all the way back to Harrison Street. That depth is what makes a drive-through layout possible there. The Dardano's plan works the same way, with one building coming down and a single-tenant store going up in its place.
University Boulevard changes one storefront at a time
The Bonnie Brae strip on the 700 block of South University works on a different scale. The buildings are small, the businesses sit side by side, and losing one does not change what the block is for.
The best example is the most dramatic loss. The Bonnie Brae Tavern building at 740 S. University Blvd. was coming down by June 10, 2025, BusinessDen reported. The replacement, akin Bonnie Brae, is listed on Alpine Investments' project page as a three-story, 46-unit building with delivery set for the first quarter of 2027. A February 2026 construction update said the building had gone vertical and would include street-level retail along University. No tenant for that space has been announced. Even so, the block keeps a storefront at the sidewalk where the tavern stood.
The other notable change on the strip is moving slowly by choice. The Wilson family has run the Bonnie Brae Conoco on South University Boulevard since 1942, and owner Ken Wilson started working there part time at age 12. CBS Colorado reported that a for-sale sign went up in February. Denver7 reported the station was officially listed in April and was still operating. Wilson told CBS Colorado the family is in no hurry:
"We're just looking now. We're not in a rush. It's not like we're going to sell and be done this year. We're going to get a price we want to get, and if it takes us years to do that's okay."
The 700 block, as it runs this fall
The businesses that anchor the Bonnie Brae strip are still open, with hours posted for the season.
- Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, 799 S. University Blvd.: fall hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, according to the shop's site.
- Campus Lounge, 701 S. University Blvd.: Denver-owned and operated since 1976, with bar and kitchen hours on its site.
- ink! Coffee, 709 S. University Blvd.: open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends.
- We Knead Donut, 723 S. University Blvd.: open 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
- Ni Tuyo, 730 S. University Blvd.: posts lunch and happy hour details on its site.
- Bonnie Brae Liquor, 785 S. University Blvd.: listed in the Bonnie Brae Neighborhood Association's merchant directory as open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The ice cream shop's fall hours give a sense of how the block runs. It is open until 10:30 on weekend nights in October, a few doors from a sports bar that has been in business for half a century and a coffee shop that opens at 6. The tavern site sits across the street, under construction, with storefront space planned at sidewalk level.
Dates to watch through spring
The Colorado Boulevard proposals will move through the city's review process over the coming months. University Boulevard has one firm date ahead.
- Embrey's resubmittal for 825 S. Colorado Blvd. The city's Community Planning and Development department was waiting on a revised site plan as of the Post's Aug. 4 report.
- Dardano's formal application for 865 S. Colorado Blvd. The proposal had cleared concept review, and the city was waiting on the formal filing.
- City review of the Quick Quack proposal at 999 S. Colorado Blvd. A certificate allowing demolition of the 1953 church building was granted earlier this year.
- akin Bonnie Brae's delivery in the first quarter of 2027, when the retail space at 740 S. University will be ready for a tenant.
If you own on either edge of Belcaro and want to know how these parcel changes could affect your own property, The Galansky Group follows Colorado Boulevard and University Boulevard block by block. Request a Concierge Consultation, and we'll go through the filings and timelines that apply to your street.
