The latest company to tackle a long-debated entertainment district in Glendale plans to anchor it with an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Denver-based Central Street Capital, the family office founded by healthcare entrepreneur Rob Salazar, is preparing the development of the Glendale Entertainment District on 10 acres bordering Cherry Street and Virginia Avenue.
Salazar and his son Isiah said they will run the Alamo themselves after signing a franchise agreement, and there are other potential renters that Central Street is negotiating leases with.
“This one (Alamo) is sure to happen,” said Isiah Salazar. “It will be one of our anchors.”
The Salazars are just the latest developers to tackle the project that Glendale has been talking about for years, and which was once to be called Glendale 180. Previous companies planning it were Wulfe & Co. of Houston and Dallas Lincoln Property Co.
A Persian carpet store sued Glendale in 2015 for trying to get the land it sits on over a significant domain. The site of the shop no longer belongs to the planned district.
Later that year, the city canceled an election that would have approved $ 200 million in bonds to fund the complex, according to the Denver Post.
Glendale City Council approved development agreements with Central Street for the district in late May. The company has developed primarily in the LoHi and Globeville neighborhoods of Denver.
“We are not looking for external investors for our projects,” said Rob Salazar. “When we make a deal, it’s just us or family or family-related entities, and we’re not the typical sponsor or promoter of a real estate deal.”
Central Street initially reached out to LiveNation to anchor the project with a concert venue, but those talks failed and sparked the Alamo Drafthouse deal instead, the Salazars said.
Courtesy Central Street Capital
The design plans are still being drawn up by the city’s planning committee.
In addition to the theater, various retail and catering tenants are to be included in the first phase of the project. It’s set to lay the foundation this fall, with a goal of opening by 2023 or 2024, Salazar said. A second project phase could include a hotel, among other things.
The district will be in a specially demarcated area where people can take alcoholic beverages anywhere in the district but must keep them either in the store of origin or in the district itself, and alcohol can be served until 4am
The Salazars said they were ready to build the buildings with or without the majority of the leases.
“The main thing is to get the horizontal work done … any infrastructure improvements,” said Rob. “As soon as we have reached what is called a considerable level of construction … as soon as we have spent X money on the project, we have the right to buy this land.”
The Salazars also said there is an empty office building on the northern edge of the property that they plan to demolish.
Rob added that once they achieved that right, the price of the land would be only $ 1.
“This is a great incentive for us to drive this development forward, because the land is obviously very valuable,” he said.
According to Glendale City Manager Linda Cassady, a subway district was created years ago that allows entrepreneurs to work with the city to issue tax-exempt bonds to pay for infrastructure and other public facilities.
“This will be our new downtown,” said Cassady. “The city has really waited a long time to make sure this was the right type of project. We really want to bring this back to what Glendale once was which was a very entertainment area. ”
Central Street has submitted draft plans for the entertainment district to be submitted to the City Planning Commission on September 14th.
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