Coffee break at the Beauvallon

Life is lonely in the Beauvallon, where every restaurant and eatery has closed up shop -- except for Aviano Coffee at 955 Lincoln Street. Nine75 is gone, Mr. Coco's is gone, Aqua is gone. (Brandon's, which closed at the end of June, has a sign up advertising its reopening on...

By Patricia Calhoun

August 12, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Life is lonely in the Beauvallon, where every restaurant and eatery has closed up shop -- except for Aviano Coffee at 955 Lincoln Street. Nine75 is gone, Mr. Coco's is gone, Aqua is gone. (Brandon's, which closed at the end of June, has a sign up advertising its reopening on August 14.) And now Aviano and the few remaining retailers on the first floor of the beleaguered Beauvallon are about to be obscured by towers of steel and scaffolding while the building undergoes two years of repairs to the faulty stucco exterior.

But as we report in this week's Westword, the court-appointed receiver who is managing the commercial portion of the Beauvallon has an interesting theory for how the repair work will help lure in more business. "Construction should be positive, says receiver Eric Grothe. "The restaurants, coffee shops, things like that should do better during that period."

And why? All those hard hat-wearing workers will mean "more activity, more people down here," Grothe continues.

Doug Naiman, who opened Aviano back in 2006, remains unconvinced by this novel argument. "When this scaffolding goes up over my business, what's it going to look like to people walking by, driving by?" asks Naiman. "It's going to look like a place that's closed, or difficult to get to. My business is based on convenience. If I can't provide that, I'm done."

Time for a coffee break.

KEEP WESTWORD FREE... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.

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.

Contact: Patricia Calhoun

Follow:

Facebook: patricia.calhoun.927