Brighton Boulevard is getting a lot of attention these days, and rightfully so. The historically gritty industrial street is rapidly transforming into a thriving mixed-use corridor, and the street itself will be receiving a major upgrade. While many of the new developments along Brighton and elsewhere in River North are mostly residential or office in use, a major new industrial mixed-use project is currently under construction in the district: Great Divide Brewing Company’s new $38 million campus at 35th and Brighton. Here’s a Google Earth aerial image to get you oriented:
Phase 1, which broke ground last fall and will feature a warehouse, packaging facility, and a small tap-room called Barrel Bar, is expected to be completed this summer. Phase 2 will begin in late 2015 or early 2016 and will include a new brewing facility and a large tap-room and beer garden. Here is a rendering of the Phase 1 building and a site plan showing both phases, courtesy of Great Divide and their project architect, Coburn Partners.
Phase 1 is coming along quickly as you can see from these photos Ryan took recently:
Great Divide’s new facility builds upon RiNo’s industrial heritage while contributing to the amazing revitalization taking place all throughout the area. Cheers, Great Divide!
Any idea when they are supposed to begin work on Brighton Blvd?
There’s a nice little write-up on the sister site, Denver Urbanism, right at the top of the page. Gives a little insight on how far along the city is in their planning.
Hey Ken,
Is that cycle track that is shown in the rendering and indicated in the site plan an indication of what is to to actually be implemented on Brighton Boulevard? Or is it just the architect’s and designer’s wishful thinking? I really hope what they’ve shown here is what ends up happening because the streetscape design is beautiful and the grade-separated cycle track with trees and plantings in between the road and bike lane is functionally ideal for this stretch of roadway. Here’s to hoping!
The brewery looks great as well and I’m excited to see it bring in plenty of new people to the RiNo area! Its semi-industrial look fits in perfectly on Brighton Boulevard! Congrats Great Divide!
Also, the site plan seems to indicate a back entrance/exit for the parking lot. Does that mean that Delgany Street will be extended southwest from 35th Street? If so, it would really help the pedestrian access to the new tap room and beer garden, not to mention improve the experience and view for those enjoying a beer in the new brewery. Also extending Delgany Street along the back of Great Divide would restore that section of the street grid and help future developments in that area of RiNo.
There is planning for a park fronting the South Platte currently referred to a River North Park. The plan would be to close Arkins court between 35 and 32nd-333rd and reroute traffic to an extended Delgany St. So the beer garden would have a nice view of the park and river. There is also a plan to build a pedestrian/bike bridge across the river to the Taxi development. Given that, while the new brewery will be a great addition and further catalyze redevelopment of the area, I am a bit disappointed that a development similar in intensity to what was suggested in the ‘South Platte Corridor Study’ will not get built here. Perhaps on some other sites that will surround the new park will see that level of development: more verticality, less horizontality.
I hope it connects well with the Platte river trail over there!
Any ideas when their current taproom will close for good? Sounds like they’ll be running both through the completion of Phase 1?
Are they for sure going to close the current location?
Nope. They’re keeping it open as a tap room and to do smaller batches.