Wake-Up Call: Building for the future

City officials and other Denver dignitaries will be on hand this morning when the Four Seasons project tops off with the placement of "The Mast," a 75-foot capper to the 45-story hotel-and-residential development on 14th Street. There was a little less hoopla last Friday, when city officials cut a ribbon...

By Patricia Calhoun

September 17, 2009

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City officials and other Denver dignitaries will be on hand this morning when the Four Seasons project tops off with the placement of "The Mast," a 75-foot capper to the 45-story hotel-and-residential development on 14th Street.

There was a little less hoopla last Friday, when city officials cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening of the EZE Mop Shopping District -- but this project is just as groundbreaking in its own way. With the encouragement of the city, Stephanie Shearer, who's run small shops in town for years, finally bought her own building. And what a building it is: the former EZE Mop at 1223-1227 East 17th Avenue.

After months of hard labor -- much of it from Shearer, her husband and her mother -- EZE Mop is now a sparkling clean mini-shopping mall that houses Soul Haus Menswear, Babylon Floral and a new women's store, Peppermint. And Shearer, who has the backing of the Denver Office of Economic Development in both a loan and business support, isn't done yet. She has hopes of putting a coffeehouse and community gathering place in the Victorian house that came with the property.

But for now, it's enough that EZE Mop is open for business. Let's hope it cleans up.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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