This should be good news for Belmar restaurants, as hungry office workers look to escape from their cubicles at lunch. It should also solve one of the problems Gap and Banana Republic had with this particular location, which was its lack of visibility to auto traffic-- I can personally recall being asked on several occasions for directions to Belmar's Gap, and having people express surprise that Belmar had a Banana Republic. Presumably that lack of visibility won't be a problem for a corporate headquarters that doesn't need retail traffic.
Corporate headquarters does not mean there will be a Qdoba location there. Which would be a waste of prime Belmar location on limited-use application - office space. It's a coup for Lakewood tax base, poaching HQ from Wheat Ridge, but I am not sure how much it adds to Belmar.
ReplyDeleteVoland, thanks for the clarification. Yes, the hungry office workers to whom I was referring are Qdoba office workers. Presumably they will eat at our local Belmar restaurants (Baker St., Wasabi, etc.) when they're not brown-bagging it. I absolutely agree that a corporate headquarters on the first floor looking out over the Belmar plaza is a limited use application, but I do think that it's an improvement over the space sitting vacant. I am curious about how many people will be working out of the Qdoba HQ-- if it's just a few, they won't have much impact versus the amount of storefront the HQ takes up. But if it's a good number, then perhaps we'll see a better overall economic impact?
ReplyDeleteGiven the current wave of expansion - with the new apartments, senior living apartments, townhomes, the proposed office building on Teller and Virginia, Hyatt - it appears that existing Belmar amenities will be not be able to meet the new demand. If you are a Belmar resident, like I am, what good is having those restaurants within walking distance if I can't get into any of them?
ReplyDeleteSo yes, new office tenants are good for businesses, good for Continuum, good for city of Lakewood. But what does it do to quality of life for Belmar residents, those who picked this location for a set of reasons that are now becoming invalidated?
Belmar needs new amenities to match the large increase in day and night-time population. And paradoxically, selling out those townhomes and leasing those apartments will be more difficult if the amenities don't match the demand when prospective residents check out the neighborhood.
I love the blog! Just wanted to let you know I saw that a UPS Store is opening in Lakewood City Commons. It's on the east side of the King Soopers parking lot between The Egg and I and Timbuk Toys. Not a huge thing, but it seems like more and more businesses are wanting to be in Downtown Lakewood.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I saw that sign just this morning-- a UPS store is very exciting, as the nearest one right now is at Alameda and Union. I'm always driving up there to send things back to Zappos or Amazon. Now I can ride my bike or walk!
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