Walk, bike to Ale House at Amato's

Breckenridge Brewery's Ale House at Amato's is fenced in, as the 22-week construction schedule is about to kick in for the largest restaurant in LoHi.

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When Breckenridge Brewery opens its “Ale House at Amato’s” in about six months, the owner hopes to reward patrons for not driving to what will be the largest restaurant in LoHi. The new restaurant may also sport “hitching posts” for dogs.

The city waived requirements for any parking under the old zoning for the restaurant being built in the landmark Amato of Denver lawn furniture and fountain store building at 16th and Central streets in Lower Highland.

However, the brewery has struck an agreement with an office building a half block away on 16th Street to lease 60 spaces after 6 p.m. on weekdays and during the entire weekend, Ed Cerkovnik, the owner of the brewery chain told InsideRealEstateNews today.

And last week, at a sometimes contentious gathering of dozens of residents, the powerful Highland United Neighbors Inc., or HUNI, agreed to support the restaurant if the owners agreed to sign a Good Neighbor Agreement that will require some parking requirement attached to the GNA. The new zoning for the property would have required 15 spaces.

Despite those efforts, Cerkovnik is encouraging patrons of the restaurant, which will likely have 375 to 400 seats, to leave the car at home.

Bike/stroller barn

“We are looking at a whole lot of options,” Cerkovnik said. “We think a lot of our diners will be coming from the LoHi neighborhood that surrounds us, as well as from the Central Platte Valley, across from the16th Street pedestrian bridge. So for a lot of our customers, it will be within easy walking or biking distance. We would like to have some kind of promotion that rewards and encourages people to walk or take a bike.”

One idea is to construct a “bike/stroller” barn, where customers can securely park their non-motorized vehicle. There also is a B-Cycle station a block away at Lola, he said.

“We have also spent some time looking at a kind of LoHi-exclusive pedicab ( a bicycle-powered rickshaw),” he said. “We really want to reward our neighbors who are able to walk or bike. We want to be a good neighbor and sensitive to our neighbors and not increase traffic and congestion.”

Dogs are people, too

He said he noticed that a lot of people in the neighborhood walk dog, so he wants Amato’s to be kind to canines.

“There are an amazing number of people in LoHi and the Central Platte Valley area walking dogs,” he said. “We are thinking of creating some kind of hitching post with water for dogs.”

Cerkovnik started negotiating with the Amato family, about a year ago, and knew from the get-go that parking would be the No. 1 issue he would face.

“Obviously, the concern, a big concern, for the neighborhood was going to be parking,” he said. “On-street parking is at a premium and we threw our due diligence at the parking issue.”

He said he already has invested $2.4 million into the project, which includes $2.1 million for the Amato site, with the remaining $300,000 to buy some residences behind the site that was owned by the Amato site.

Not only will the Amato name be incorporated into the business, but the garden-like outdoor area will be scattered with statutes and fountains from Amato, which will re-locate a block away, Cerkovnik said.

“We’re going to have roof-top deck and a ground-floor patio area,” he said. “You will have spectacular views of the skyline from both places. We opened our first Ale House in Grand Junction a while ago, and we’ve spent years looking for another one downtown. We were lucky to get this. It’s one thing to tell people it is at 16th and Central, and they kind of give you this blank look.”

But when you tell them it is going on the Amato site, their faces brighten, as the high-profile site sinks in.

“Everyone knows where Amato is,” Cerkovnik said. “It truly is a landmark.”