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Annie's Cafe may join hotel

Developer invites eatery to anchor the ground floor

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 18, 2007 at 12:05 a.m.

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Artist's rendering of a six-story extended-stay hotel planned by developer Charlie Biederman at Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue, the site of Annie's Cafe.

Photo by Charlie Biederman And Steve Roitman

Artist's rendering of a six-story extended-stay hotel planned by developer Charlie Biederman at Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue, the site of Annie's Cafe.

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Developer Charlie Biederman plans to incorporate the beloved Annie's Cafe restaurant into a hotel he intends to build at Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue.

"We are offering them the opportunity to be on the ground floor," said Biederman, who plans a six-story, 160-room extended-stay hotel on the site, which has been home to Annie's Cafe for the past 27 years.

Biederman said he will offer the owners of the cafe "as good a deal as possible," to anchor the ground floor of the hotel.

"They're almost an icon, an institution," Biederman said.

"We really want them to stay."

"We are going to stay," said Dianne Williams, an owner of Annie's Cafe.

She said the restaurant has been renting the property from Friedman Investments, a family trust, since 1979.

She said that her lease with Friedman runs through 2010, but that she will be negotiating with Biederman as soon as he gets the rezoning for the site, which also includes several other neighboring properties.

The new restaurant will be slightly bigger, with 95 to 105 seats, and probably will have outdoor patio seating, she said.

Williams said Annie's probably will be closed for about a year, after Biederman razes the 1939 building that houses the restaurant and several other tenants.

"We're looking at other locations for an interim restaurant until the hotel opens," Williams said.

"Hopefully, it will be close by."

She also said she is considering opening a smaller restaurant at Fitzsimons in Aurora.

The University of Colorado Denver's health science center, about a block from her restaurant along Colorado Boulevard, is moving to the Anschutz Medical Campus at Fitzsimons.

Much of the Denver campus already has moved to Aurora.

"There is some space in the new University (of Colorado) Hospital, so there is a possible concept that might work there," she said.

"But we're not some huge corporation that can afford not to make money for five years," Williams added.

"And whatever happens, we are still going to be the old Annie's. We have around 28 employees, and 15 of them have been with us anywhere from 18 to 27 years.

"So we're totally family. And I'm not ready to retire."

Shea Homes plans to redevelop the medical campus after the move is completed.

Biederman said he is talking with Shea about developing a hotel, perhaps in a joint venture, on that site.

"It would be a different concept," Biederman said.

"This will be an extended-stay hotel, and that probably would be more of a hotel for transient guests."

He said the extended-stay hotel will cater to the nearby National Jewish and Rose medical centers.

The extended-stay hotel on the Annie's Cafe site, which Biederman will develop with partner Steve Roitman, will either be a "Marriott or a Hyatt extended- stay product," Biederman said.

Construction likely would start next summer, and it would open in the summer of 2009, he said.

Roitman also is Biederman's partner on other hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton scheduled to open Jan. 11 in downtown Denver.

They also are planning a $40 million hotel complex across from Fitzsimons in Aurora and a hotel by a light-rail station in Greenwood Village.

Biederman also led a team that developed the J.W. Marriott in Cherry Creek North.

or 303-954-5207

Annie's Cafe

* Plans call for the 27-year-old restaurant to anchor the ground floor of a six-story hotel at South Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue.

* The cafe would seat 95 to 105 and include an outdoor patio.

* There would be 28 employees, 15 of whom have been with Annie's between 18 and 27 years.

* The cafe would be closed for about a year during construction.

Comments

  • December 18, 2007

    1:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    italiaboy9 writes:

    Wow! I live basically a block away from here! Although the design is "meh", what a huge difference this building will make for the pedestrian. Right now the sidewalks are terrible and narrow and the existing apartment buildings are scary. I hope Annie's finds a place to relocate for now, since I LOVE that place!!