The Five Points Space Once Slated for Fixins Is for Lease

At a big media event in June 2023 attended by then-mayor Michael Hancock and other movers and shakers, former NBA player Kevin Johnson announced plans to put a Fixins Soul Kitchen in Five Points. The restaurant group, which he and wife Michelle founded in Sacramento in 2019, would honor the historic Black neighborhood's jazz roots in design and decor.

But today, the only augmentation to the empty space is a "For Lease" sign where the restaurant was supposed to be.

Fixins had a target opening of summer 2024 at 2600 Welton Street, inside the mixed-use Hooper Building that debuted four years ago, right down the block from the old Rossonian Hotel.  Although the Johnsons decline to comment on what happened with that location, they still hope to open somewhere in Denver, according to Erik Rhee, Fixins' vice president of Real Estate and Development, who notes that the neighborhood's history of Black music and commercial businesses is still a strong fit for the restaurant concept.

Fixins has four locations, in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Detroit and Tulsa, each in either an entertainment district or historically Black business district, like Tulsa's Black Wall Street. The Detroit location opened after Denver's Fixins was announced; Rhee says Detroit's was easier to complete because it was slated for a former restaurant that just needed to be updated, whereas the Welton Street location would have been a new buildout.

At one point, there was a "We're Hiring" sign and a table laid out with information about Fixins in that Five Points location, but there's been no visible change to the structure since that original announcement, and the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses has received no permit requests for the space's buildout. And then this spring, a "For Lease" sign popped up in the windows.
Fixins was to have a full bar, as well as a menu full of entrees like chicken and waffles, oxtails, and shrimp and grits served with diner-selected "fixins" such as collard greens, mac and cheese, red beans and more; many of the recipes were inspired by Johnson's grandmother, according to Rhee.

Fixins' opening announcement came just a few months after Welton Street Cafe, a beloved neighborhood soul food spot, closed its Welton Street location after more than 35 years in the neighborhood. At the time, the Dickerson family, which owns Welton Street Cafe, was in the midst of fundraising and working toward reopening their eatery at a new spot up the street at 2883 Welton — which they did in November 2024, complete with a full bar for the first time.

The two restaurants didn't see themselves as competition, though. As Fathima Dickerson said at the time, “You cannot duplicate Welton Street Cafe — that's something we know."