Developer plans 18- story apartment building with retail space on former Turin Bicycles site
A San Francisco- based apartment developer has proposed an 18- story building that would replace the former home of Turin Bicycles, which was Denver’s oldest bike shop prior to its recent closure.
Carmel Partners — which is currently building projects in Rino, and recently purchased a site at the edge of Lohi — submitted a concept plan to the city proposing the project on 0.71 acres at the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and Lincoln Street.
The proposed structure would replace the one- story 700 Grant St. building where Turin operated through April 2, as well as a one- story building at 726 Lincoln St. that is home to City Bakery Cafe. The remainder of the site is used for parking. The project would not require a rezoning.
A local Carmel executive did not respond to a request for comment. The project would have 304 units and 358 parking spaces, according to the plans drawn up by Davis Partnership Architects. There would be about 4,300 square feet of ground- floor retail space.
Alan Fine founded Turin in 1971, and moved it to its final location in 1991, having bought the single- story building the previous year. In January 2020, Fine sold the business’ real estate for $ 2.6 million to Denverbased St. Charles Town Co.
At the time, Fine told Businessden that he expected to sell the business itself that spring to two longtime managers, Mike Stejskal and Dave Wileden. Fine said he sold the real estate separately from the business because Stejskal and Wileden didn’t have the resources to buy both. The bike shop signed a two- year lease with St. Charles Town Co. president Charlie Woolley, which the parties said could potentially be extended.
The submittal of a development proposal for the site isn’t particularly surprising. When Turin announced its closure in early March, the business wrote on Facebook that “Alan has looked forward to retirement for some time now and the pressure of development is closing in.”
Speaking to Businessden, Woolley declined to comment on the development proposal. Developers like Carmel regularly submit proposals for sites they do not currently own but are under contract to buy.
Woolley did say, however, that he attempted to find a way for Turin to continue to operate.
“We spent money on an architect, trying to right- size the bike shop, trying to figure out how we could optimize all the retail space in the basement and first floor,” he said.