Three New Food Halls Are Coming to Westminster

You might think of them as Schrödinger’s snack spots: In the Denver metro area, the food hall trend seems to be either fading fast or flourishing — at the same time. Denver’s first “food hall,” the Yum Yum Tree, actually showed up way back in 1968. The operation on South Colorado Boulevard was far from fancy, and it was just called a food court.

In the modern food hall era, The Source came on the scene in 2013. It was quickly joined by a number of multi-restaurant spots, such as Avanti F&B, Denver Central Market, Stanley Marketplace, Denver Milk Market and more. Popular? Yes.

But a number of other halls have struggled, changed ownership or folded completely, like RiNo’s once-red-hot Zeppelin Station, Troy Guard’s Grange Hall in Greenwood Village (which briefly became Cherry Creek Food Hall; the building is currently for sale) and Broadway Market, which remains vacant after shuttering in 2020. But even as some are shuttering, Westminster is going all in on food halls, with three multi-concept offerings set to debut over the next year.

District Pour & Provisions
3053 West 104th Avenue, Westminster
Projected opening: Spring

Construction and permitting mean that opening dates are always a gamble, but the first to debut in Westminster will most likely be District Pour & Provisions, an expansive space that previously operated as Legacy Point Neighborhood Restaurant & Bar and then as a suburban outpost of LoDo’s Bar & Grill (the original downtown is now Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row). The team behind District Pour & Provisions is no stranger to food halls.

Chef Jesusio Silva is a staple of the Front Range food scene, wielding his sushi knife and crafting ramen bowls at places like McGregor Square’s Tora Ramen and the Golden Mill. Silva’s business partner, Jim Wright, directed operations for the Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group for almost ten years, oversaw opening operations for the Larimer Group’s Union Station, and is behind the PourMyBeer self-pour system found at Stanley Marketplace, the Golden Mill and the Market at Malcolm Yards in Minneapolis.

Wright can’t wait to welcome guests to the District and is especially excited about the 5,700-square-foot rooftop where the sushi bar will be. “We’re at the highest point in the area, and the whole rooftop deck looks west,” he says. “So we have an unobstructed view from Mt. Blue Sky almost to Wyoming.” In addition to Silva’s well-regarded sushi, the 155,000-square-foot District will offer gelato and made-to-order ice cream sandwiches, a casual menu with burgers and sandwiches, and a Detroit-style pizza concept serving panino, a hard-to-find Neapolitan sandwich that’s been a favorite of Wright’s since his boyhood in Colorado Springs.

“It’s kind of hard to describe,” he notes. “It’s sort of a pizza burrito thing, you have to try it to see. It’s a thin pizza crust cooked flat. You top it with all the toppings without the sauce. It’s baked flat, and then you roll it as soon as it comes out of the oven, cut it in half, and serve it with some marinara for dipping on the side. There was a place we went to by my high school, and I’ve wanted to do this concept somewhere since then.”

Red Lotus Den
5815 West 89th Avenue, Westminster
Projected opening: August

Restaurateur Henry Lee has found success with the Korean fried chicken chain Bonchon, owning all of its franchise outlets in Colorado. Now he’s partnering with Minneapolis-based developer Sherman Associates to operate Red Lotus Den, which will be located on the ground floor of the Aspire Apartments in Westminster’s Central Square. The two-level, multi-concept “next-generation eatery” and entertainment outlet will offer seven restaurants, including pizza, pasta, nigiri, ramen and more. The second level will be nightlife-focused, with party rooms and 5-D karaoke. “It’s the newest technology from China,” says Lee. “And it’s really futuristic and very immersive.”

Lee adds that service will set Red Lotus Den apart from other food halls. “I’m operating all of the concepts, instead of a bunch of different chefs. It’s almost like one big restaurant where you sit down, place your order. We’ll have people running the food, so you’re never really getting up to get food.”

The Berg
5202 West 73rd Avenue, Westminster
Projected opening: Spring 2027

Last summer, Denver-based developers Matthew Lawrence and John Crays announced the name of the food hall and entertainment/community center they’ve been working to develop at the former Schoenberg Farms site for several years. At the time, the plan was for the project to debut by this summer, but construction has yet to begin, pushing the timeline into 2027.

The Berg will transform the property, which includes a dairy barn built in 1911, into a space with family-friendly indoor and outdoor dining spaces, a curated lineup of local restaurants and vendors, live music, seasonal markets and cultural events. The owners also plan to restore and integrate some of the farm’s structures and artifacts into the design, and to include storytelling and signage that honor the farm’s century-old history.