Old South Pearl Is Growing From the Louisiana End

Most of what's changing on Old South Pearl this year is happening at the Louisiana Avenue end. A James Beard-nominated bakery opened there in May. A Trader Joe's has a liquor license for the northwest corner. The Hanson's Grill building is gone, and the lot it sat on has a three-story plan with a name. One block of the street's next chapter is open right now. The rest is still on paper.

That gap explains a lot of the confusion around the block right now, starting with last week's grocery headline.

The 2027 Trader Joe's headline was about Central Park

On Oct. 26, the Denver Post reported that Trader Joe's plans to open another Denver store in 2027. That store is at 8564 E. Northfield Blvd. in Central Park, near the Avenues at Northfield, and it doesn't have an official opening date yet.

The Platt Park store shows up further down the same story. As of Monday, the Kentro Group apartment building that would hold it still showed as "under review" on Denver's Community Planning and Development map. The article also says Trader Joe's has applied for and received a liquor license at 567 E. Louisiana Ave., based on Colorado Department of Revenue records.

So Platt Park has a licensed grocer and a building still in review. It doesn't have a 2027 date.

What's planned for the old 7-Eleven corner

The original August 2025 Denver Post story explains why this location differs from the other Denver stores. Trader Joe's won't move into the closed 7-Eleven at 567 E. Louisiana or build a standalone store. It plans to lease ground-floor space in a five-story apartment building.

Here's what the plans Kentro filed in April 2025 showed, according to that story:

• A 1.29-acre site running from the old 7-Eleven nearly to Buchtel Boulevard
• 170 apartments on the upper floors
• A 13,500-square-foot ground-floor retail space, about the size of a typical Trader Joe's
• 300 parking spaces, some behind the commercial space and the rest underground

The developer has a history with the chain. Kentro, led by the Balafas brothers, developed the Trader Joe's building at 750 N. Colorado Blvd. Denverite reported that most of the block was rezoned in 2023 to allow buildings up to five stories, and noted that the filed plans weren't final.

The timeline is the part to watch. In 2025, co-founder Jimmy Balafas gave a tentative goal for the whole project: "We're hopeful to break ground in 2026." With November underway, the city's map still lists the project as under review. No groundbreaking has been reported, and no opening date for the Platt Park store has been announced.

The Hanson's lot got bigger plans

The Trader Joe's site is one corner of the intersection. Another corner matters just as much for how the street will feel. At 1301 S. Pearl St., where Hanson's Grill stood, local investor Doug McKinnon bought the 0.29-acre corner through an entity tied to McKinnon & Associates for $2.9 million and has since taken down the old building, BusinessDen reported.

The project is now called "Top of Pearl." In June, Hoodline summed up Denver Business Journal reporting that the site area had grown by almost 8,000 square feet. The concept drawings show a compact three-story building with:

• a corner restaurant at Pearl and Louisiana
• retail along Pearl
• roughly a dozen apartments stepping down along Louisiana
• offices on the upper floors and underground parking
• wider sidewalks and new landscaping

OZ Architecture is the design lead. As of that June report, the project was in concept review with the city. McKinnon has described the design as preliminary, with the tenant mix and streetscape still to be worked out. No tenant or construction start has been announced since.

Until recently, these two corners held a 7-Eleven and Hanson's Grill. Both now have plans built around ground-floor retail and dining right at the sidewalk.

Reunion Bread already moved the morning line north

One piece of the north end is already open. Reunion Bread left its spot in the Source Hotel market hall in RiNo for 1240 S. Pearl St. That address is north of the Louisiana intersection, so the bakery sits above both development corners.

The Denver Post reported in February that it could open as soon as the end of March. It opened on Saturday, May 2. The Denver Gazette reported a line outside before the doors opened, with baked goods sold out by 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday. Owner Ismael de Sousa told the paper, "We did it."

The bakery also shows how long these projects take. Reunion is one tenant moving into one space, and it still opened about five weeks after its earliest target. Every other project in this post involves new construction.

The one big change in the middle of the block

The north end isn't the only place where something is planned. At 1550 S. Pearl St., Denver natives Kevin Rifkin and Greg Bechler of Outwest Investments submitted a proposal in July for a new two-story building, BusinessDen reported. The ground floor would hold a 2,500-square-foot restaurant and a 4,300-square-foot parking garage, with four or five offices upstairs.

The building it would replace dates from 1963. Outwest bought it in May for $1.6 million from a group of physical therapists who worked there. Rifkin said they looked at reusing it but found it in rough shape.

Across the street, 1551 S. Pearl St. is home to Kizaki and Margot. Both got one star when the 2026 Michelin Guide Colorado honorees were announced on Sept. 14, 5280 reported. So the new restaurant would open facing two starred dining rooms. Rifkin has said the tenant isn't finalized, but he also told BusinessDen:

"We think there are some other ways we can activate the street besides dinner and the farmers market on Sunday."

He also called the tenant "very big news for south Denver." No name has been made public since the July report.

Where each project stands

Of these four, only the bakery is open. The two north-end corners together would add about 180 apartments, a full-size grocery store and new restaurant space at the north entrance to the strip.

What's on the block before the season closes

The South Pearl Street Farmers Market runs its last Sunday of 2026 on Nov. 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1500 S. Pearl St., on the 1400 and 1500 blocks between Iowa and Arkansas. Final Friday's 2026 art walk season ended Oct. 30 on the 1400 through 1600 blocks. The South Pearl Street Association hasn't posted dates for Winterfest 2026. Its homepage still shows a "See you next year!" panel from last December.

The Platt Park People's Association holds its quarterly general neighborhood meetings at Cameron Church, 1600 S. Pearl St. If you want to check the Kentro project yourself before the next headline, Denver's Community Planning and Development map is the record the Denver Post used for its Oct. 26 status.

If you own near Pearl and Louisiana and want to know how a grocery store, roughly 180 new apartments and a rebuilt corner could affect your home's value as these projects move ahead, The Stairway Team watches these filings block by block and can walk you through it. Start with a free home valuation.