Kevin Rifkin and Greg Bechler are putting their own spin on Pearl Street, Platt Park’s main retail drag.
“We saw a need for something different from what’s currently on the street,” Rifkin said.
The two Denver natives run local development firm Outwest Investments, and submitted a proposal Monday for a new two-story building at 1550 S. Pearl St.
The ground floor will hold a 2,500-square foot restaurant and 4,300-square-foot parking garage. The second level will host four or five offices.
Rifkin said the restaurant tenant has yet to be finalized but will be “very big news for south Denver.”
“We think there are some other ways we can activate the street besides dinner and the farmers market on Sunday,” he added.
The new building will replace an existing one, constructed in 1963. In May, Outwest purchased the property for $1.6 million from a group of physical therapists that operated there.
Rifkin said he considered an adaptive reuse of the property but found it was in pretty rough shape.
“It probably would have been more expensive than building something new,” he said.
Rifkin tapped local architect Taylor Hawley, who recently started his own shop, Ovolo, to draw up the plans.
One of the new offices will be used by Outwest Investments, which currently operates with its four employees on Evans Avenue just off Interstate 25. The remaining tenants will be family offices that have worked with the firm to raise money for its other projects.
Rifkin said the firms are leaving Cherry Creek. They can still enjoy being adjacent to the neighborhood and getting its walkable feel without paying the premium, he noted.
“When they want to go to Sushi Den at night they can park there and tell all their friends to park at their office,” he said, referencing the well-known eatery just a half-block to the north.
The total project cost is between $6 million and $7 million, Rifkin said.
Outwest specializes in building apartments and retail in the high country. Though the projects are almost always privately funded, they are often built to serve those making between 80% to 100% of the area median income who want a nicer living space to call their own in an expensive housing market. Outwest has projects from Silverthorne to Granby.
Sometimes, the duo partner with employers who will lease out units and sublet them to workers.
“That has always worked well because that will deleverage our risk,” Rifkin said.
Outwest was launched seven years ago, after the pair collaborated on a project in New York City. Rifkin was with a private equity firm and Bechler was the broker. The two have known each other since playing on rival high school lacrosse teams, and both graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Rifkin, 33, is a skier, and Bechler, 34, is a snowboarder. One of their first projects together included building housing along with a bar with golf simulators and a coffee shop in Fraser, just north of Winter Park Resort.
