Morrison’s main street may be perched on the precipice of major change.
At least five large Bear Creek Avenue properties or businesses are currently listed for sale, and two other currently shuttered buildings are planned for major renovations. Those potential changes are in addition to construction of the Red Hotel, which is just beginning, and required the demolition of two older buildings.
All of this is underway in a town that’s seen minimal commercial development for six decades.
The properties include not only Dave Killingsworth’s Holiday Bar and the adjoining properties, but the parcel just west of Killingsworth’s that had housed Morrison Liquor, a retail parcel at 120 Bear Creek Avenue home to The Moxi Poppy and formerly Meadowsweet Gifts & Wellness, the building that houses Sundance Sensations, and the Morrison Inn restaurant.
Additionally, while the owners of the former Morrison post office and Morrison Carworks aren’t selling, they have plans to remodel those main street properties into new businesses.
“It’s like the whole town’s for sale,” said commercial broker John Becker, whose Fuller Real Estate company has listed three of the properties. “It’s all based on the recent sale of the Red Hotel site. That’s what most properties are using as a sales comp.”
Exciting time for Morrison
Two lots formerly home to Blend and Morrison Glass sold for $1.15 million to the Red Hotel Fund in August 2024. That equates to nearly $180 a square foot in land value, which Becker said other property owners are using as a guideline in setting their prices.
“It’s a very exciting time for Morrison,” said architect Chad Wallace, a partner in the Red Hotel Fund and COO of hotel builder Root Architecture.
The hotel underwent a period of 15 months of scrutiny, contentious public debate and a significant redesign to gain the town’s approval.
That process revealed inconsistencies in the town’s code. After the hotel’s approval, the board and its attorney revised the codes to further guard historic areas and “protect the scale and character of existing development from the encroachment of incompatible uses.”
It also dissolved its planning commission, something trustees said would streamline the approval process.
“With the planning commission out of the way, and I feel like some more progressive people on the board, I’m excited about what could be coming,” Wallace said.
He believes the flurry of sales activity is “probably tied to the fact that something actually got done, less than what we paid for the property.”
“Ultimately, had the town of Morrison not approved a progressive project (the hotel), I don’t believe property values would be where they are today,” Wallace said. “I think the more development that happens in Morrison, the better it is for everybody.”
While the listed properties may sell, not all the uses would necessarily change, or change quickly. Sundance Sensations is leased through February 2027, and The Moxi Poppy through June 2026. Meadowsweet Gifts & Wellness recently closed, and owner Talia Franz said she is moving the business to Golden later this year, leaving a vacant space on the town’s east end.
Does not have to be seasonal
While Red Rocks brings people to town during concert season, the town is quiet during the winter.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Wallace said, noting that neighboring Golden is busy year-round. “What Morrison needs are better offerings so people are coming all year round.”
Wallace said the continued build-out of adjacent Red Rocks Ranch, at C470 and Morrison Road, and the town’s development of 16 mixed-use acres on the former Bandimere Speedway property, will bring more traffic and prospective customers to the area.
“There are exciting times ahead for all of us,” he said.
Becker agrees.
“As they build a boutique hotel in town, that’ll get people to stay and spend the night and do things in Morrison after the show,” he said. “I think some of the uses might change, but if they can keep the small-town charm and have people there in the evenings, I think that’ll be a very good influence on it.”
The town’s response
Town Trustee Paul Sutton said the number of for-sale commercial properties “is surprising.”
“Let’s face it, it’s guaranteed income,” said Sutton, who has criticized some of the town’s restaurants for food he describes as poor quality. “You get so much traffic from Red Rocks. A lot of people in town would be happy to eat in the restaurants if they were affordable and provided decent food.
“We need to have a regenerative society. The turnover of those properties is not necessarily bad; it could be awesome. The Morrison inn might get a Casa Bonita makeover.”
Town Manager Mallory Nassau, in an emailed response, offered a similar view.
“It is an interesting time for the town, and there is potential for a great deal of change for downtown Morrison,” she wrote. “There is no doubt that the departure of downtown businesses will be impactful, as many of the businesses have become a part of Morrison’s identity.
“That being said, recognize that change is inevitable. We will embrace new businesses and opportunities for Morrison, while balancing ‘keeping Morrison, Morrison.'”
An irksome business partner
Property owners gave different reasons for their decisions to sell. None mention the Red Hotel specifically, but some cite declining revenue linked to a town reputation they see as tarnished by parking and historic speed citations. At least two said it’s time to retire, and others point to the town government as an irksome business partner.
“Sales have dropped off pretty considerably the last couple years,” said Morrison Inn owner Butch Luedtke, who’s run the business for 31 years. “Most businesses here feel it’s a real fight against the town. There’s a general feeling that they’d just as soon not have the businesses.”
Morrison’s speed camera, which automatically issued speeding tickets for six months in 2024, was vandalized and removed from the town shortly before the board voted to disband its police department. The town still contracts with Interstate Parking for its paid parking program, which some have criticized for issuing an abundance of parking violations.
“Once you create damage, it takes a considerable amount of time to reverse it,” Luedtke said. “Some of those people that had a bad feeling about coming into town, who knows when they’re going to come back.”
But Luedtke has other reasons for listing the business.
“Some of the business owners in town, including myself, are getting older,” he said. “I’ll be 70. It’s tough running up and down the stairs 100 times a day.
“All of our costs have risen considerably over the last few years. It’s harder to make a dollar now than it used to be.”
Luedtke said he’s gotten “a number of offers” for the inn, but has declined them so far.
“I would certainly give it consideration, but I’m just concentrating on the summer,” he said, adding that despite all the obstacles, he loves Morrison. “It’s just the greatest town. People just rant and rave about how wonderful it is. We don’t realize how fortunate we are to be here.”
Tony Rigatoni’s and Rooftop Tavern owner Reza Ardelahi, a 36-year Morrison business owner, said he is also considering selling.
“I am actively looking at putting our place up for sale because you cannot live in a community that does not understand the give and take of a civic relationship,” he said. “They take our money, but ignore the parking problem and do not do any street scaping or anything other than increasing the water and sewer bill. This board is the worst I have seen in 35 years in terms of reciprocity.
“They do not care about us. They do not care about the downtown at all.”
Ardelahi and Killingsworth are among several business owners who have repeatedly asked the board for changes to parking regulations and additional parking. While the board has discussed solutions, it has not yet voted on any of them.
“They have completely stopped talking about it,” he said. “This indecision is so unprofessional. That’s how you burn out goodwill.”
New blood welcome
Ardelahi welcomed the owners of a new upscale Italian restaurant, La Rocca Rossa, that will soon open in the former Café Prague site.
“The community needs to embrace talent, new ideas, forward movement,” he said. “But this total silence, absolute ignoring … it’s resignation by exhaustion. If their ultimate goal was to drive us all out, to turn this into a sleepy Ken-Caryl-behind-the-hogback community, they are more than halfway there.”
Bear Creek Development President Jeff Bradley, whose company owns the former Morrison Carworks and former post office (more recently home to Red Rocks Cyclery), said he has plans to develop and reopen both buildings.
He’d like to upgrade but preserve most of the historic Carworks buildings, and make it a retail shop with paid public parking. He expects to submit those plans to the town in a couple of months.
Bradley envisions the former post office as a grab-and-go sandwich shop.
“We’ve offered it to someone for that use,” he said. “We don’t know if they’re going to take it.”
He, too, says working with the town “has been challenging.”
In late 2024, Morrison settled a nearly year-long lawsuit with Bear Creek Development surrounding the redevelopment of the former Morrison post office. The settlement allowed Bear Creek to move forward with changes to the building after fulfilling several requirements, including paying a tap fee and address any asbestos issues.
Time is the issue at hand
All that aside, Bradley sees the changes coming to Morrison as inevitable.
“The tenants are getting old,” he said. “The owners are getting old. The buildings are getting old. It’s just going to change. Are we going make it look special or like every other street corner in America? That’s the issue at hand.”
Selling and redevelopment is likely on the minds of other Morrison business owners, too. Before she was elected to the board, Morrison Mercantile owner Krista Nash said the Red Hotel’s approval would likely trigger a change in her neighboring business.
“The natural overflow of these decisions is a change that’s going to make the town very, very different,” she said. “I’ll probably tear down the store and build something else.”
Nash did not return calls requesting comment.
Killingsworth, who led the sales flurry with the listing of his block of properties, said the sale of the Red Hotel property played a major role in that decision. But it isn’t the only reason. Killingsworth has been the loudest and most persistent voice among the town’s business owners, repeatedly speaking about the lack of parking at town board meetings.
He says the board’s focus is anywhere but on its current businesses, with much of it turning to the development of the 16 acres of vacant property at C470 and Morrison Road.
“They don’t care about the downtown business base,” he said. “They are a water and sewer company with a tiny HOA attached to it, and soon to be landlords.”