Common Grounds Closes Downtown Location

McCormick's Fish House & Bar at 17th and Wazee Streets served New Year's Eve dinner downtown and then called it quits. But the thirty-year-old seafood restaurant attached to the Oxford Hotel wasn't the only establishment on the corner to go dark at the end of the year. Across the street,...

By Westword Staff

January 3, 2017

Common Grounds ran out of steam downtown. Mark Antonation

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McCormick's Fish House & Bar at 17th and Wazee Streets served New Year's Eve dinner and then called it quits. But the thirty-year-old seafood restaurant attached to the Oxford Hotel wasn't the only establishment on the corner to go dark at the end of the year. Across the street, Common Grounds poured its last cup at the end of last week and then locked the doors for good.

Fortunately for fans of the Denver original, which got its start in West Highland in 1992, there's still a Common Grounds at 2139 West 44th Avenue in Sunnyside. The first Common Grounds operated at 3484 West 32nd Avenue until 2013, when founders Mary and Lisa Rogers moved to Sunnyside because of increased rents in Highlands Square; that space is now a Pizzeria Locale. The downtown branch first opened at 1601 17th Street (now home to Mangiamo Pronto) but moved across the street in 2009.

Through all the moves and closings, Common Grounds has maintained its independent, neighborhood vibe, adding coffee roasting in 2002 — well ahead of the current micro-roaster trend.

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