Deli's story is a slice of strife

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 2, 2007 at midnight

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Steve Naples has kept his Heidi's Brooklyn Deli open in Northglenn despite what he calls a "disaster zone" of construction the past three years.

He was appreciative when his landlord, the Northglenn Urban Renewal Authority, said in January that his monthly rent would be cut from $3,612.50 to $1,500.

That appreciation didn't last. The authority has since told Naples his business soon will be evicted.

Heidi's and a gas station are the last open businesses in a roughly 17-acre site at Interstate 25 and 120th Avenue. Northglenn hopes to turn the site into an upscale retail development that would draw from other northern Denver suburbs.

Naples said he hasn't received an official eviction notice, but he was told last week that he needed to be out of the store by early April (he opened the store in 1999). In January, he was told his lease could run through the end of October.

The abrupt closing means about 15 employees will be out of work. Despite the construction, dust and lack of parking during the past few years, the restaurant was still doing about $45,000 a month in gross sales, he said.

"I'm very upset by this," Naples said. "It is very unprofessional. The city has been begging me to stay for the past three years. I've passed up a lot of opportunities to move to better locations along 120th, but I decided to stay to help them out."

He said it's possible he could move back if the property is developed. But "now I'm gun-shy about the whole thing," he said.

Naples said he's told city officials he might be interested in putting together a group to develop the land.

"It's really curious to me that after I showed an interest in possibly stepping in as a developer, they started talking eviction," Naples said.

"We did switch horses pretty quickly on him," said Pat Breitenstein, the acting director of the authority.

He said Naples' description of events is "not entirely accurate, but not altogether inaccurate, either." He declined to elaborate.

The Rocky Mountain News obtained a letter Breitenstein sent to Naples dated Jan. 19 that told him his rent would be cut to $1,500 a month, "continuing at the reduced rate until Oct. 31, 2007."

But Breitenstein said construction is so pervasive around the Heidi's that "the situation has become untenable. If you drive up there and look at it, you can see its time has come."

He said that Naples is on a month-to-month lease for the Heidi's, "although he may dispute that." Breitenstein said the authority offered to cut the rent to compensate him for the financial hardship of operating the restaurant in a construction zone.

City Councilman James Miller said he has instructed the city manager to come up with a solution that is acceptable to Naples and the city.

Previously, the city had rejected agreements with Opus Northwest and developer Bruce Goldberg to redevelop the site. The city also saw plans for a state-of-the-art movie theater there fall through.

The authority now is talking with Zing Development Strategies, headed by Anne Rosen, and Prime West, headed by Stephen Clarke, about developing the site. The city would be the master developer, and Zing and Prime West would build it to Northglenn's specifications, Clarke said Monday.

Clarke said he knows nothing about the issue with Heidi's.

"They are a tenant of the city. Anne Rosen and I are not involved at all," he said.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207

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