Italian café Marcella’s to open in Lower Highland
Denver’s Lower Highland is not getting a Rusty Bucket after all.
Ohio-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants announced this week that it will open its Italian cafe concept Marcella’s on the ground floor of Centric LoHi, a 302-unit apartment complex at 18th and Central set to open to residents this winter.
Developers last year had announced plans for a Rusty Bucket Restaurant & Tavern, a casual American concept owned by a sister company of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, in the same space. Colorado’s first Rusty Bucket opened in Westminster’s Orchard Town Center this summer.
Southern Land Company confirmed the switch Tuesday, saying the Ohio-based restaurant company decided its Italian concept would be “a better fit.” The restaurant, Cameron Mitchell’s first Marcella’s in Colorado and third nationwide, will open in summer 2017.
“Expanding our Marcella’s concept is something we’ve aspired to do for a long time,” Cameron Mitchell president and COO David Miller said in a statement. “We waited until we found a location that would complement the concept and provide guests with a unique dining experience they didn’t have nearby.”
The first Marcella’s opened in Columbus, Ohio’s Short North Arts District in 2007.
Menu items include woodfired pizzas, pasta, lasagna alla Bolognese, chicken marsala, braised veal meatballs and a selection of 50 Italian wines served by the bottle or quartino.
The LoHi restaurant will be 5,250 square feet, seating about 200 inside and on the patio. The building’s other announced retail tenant is The Bindery, a sit-down restaurant, artisan market, cafe and bakery from local chef Linda Hampsten.
Built on the site of the former Mile High United Way offices, the apartment complex is currently preleasing, with plans to start move-ins this winter, according to a Southern Land spokeswoman.
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which operates 26 restaurants under 13 banners nationwide, also owns Ocean Prime in Denver’s Larimer Square.