Sprouts Farmers Market is considering opening a store at the former Blue Moon property in RiNo, but the developer who owns it needs help financing the project.
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On Wednesday, the board of the RiNo Business Improvement District, which works to support and promote businesses in the neighborhood, debated whether to grant developer Bernard Hurley $500,000 to bring the project closer to the finish line.
“We all agree that there has to be food here. I think we all agree that we have a site that’s halfway done,” board member John Beldock said.
RiNo, a former warehouse district that has been redeveloped over the past two decades, lacks a traditional grocery store. It only has a Natural Grocers, which sells produce but otherwise focuses on specialty products.
Blue Moon closed its brewpub at 3750 Chestnut Place in March 2025. The 36,000-square-foot building has been empty since.
Hurley has raised $10.8 million of the $15 million project cost, the board was told. The RiNo General Improvement District, an infrastructure-focused organization that covers a smaller area, has also been asked whether it would contribute cash.
Hurley, who didn’t attend the BID meeting, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Arizona-based Sprouts also didn’t respond to BusinessDen.
Beldock, who owns motorcycle dealership Erico Motorsports, was the strongest proponent of giving Hurley the cash.
“I’m frankly surprised at the ask,” he said. “I think it should be much more.”
No vote was taken at the Wednesday afternoon meeting, and no board members said they oppose becoming involved in the project. But several raised questions about the process and the means of funding.
Spencer Fronk, who owns the Number 38 bar, suggested that the district might want to have Hurley submit a formal application and allow other developers to do so too.
“I also want to be cautious of granting money to a developer and what kind of precedent that sets,” he said.
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“I don’t think that we think about this as granting money to an individual developer,” Beldock said. “I think we have to think about this as granting money to the wider community.”
Other board members questioned how the spending could affect the BID’s other priorities, which are funded by property taxes. They also asked whether the money had to come in the form of a grant rather than a loan or an equity stake, which could yield a financial return.
Several also noted that, even if the BID and GID contribute, Hurley needs to raise more money.
“We’re not going to solve this solely today,” said Thomas Picarsic, an executive with real estate firm Edens.
Edens has said for years it intends to bring a grocery store to the block it owns across from Denver Central Market, at the other end of RiNo. But no timeline or tenant has been announced.
Beldock argued that the Sprouts would benefit everyone in the neighborhood, and not just those who shopped there.
“It paves the way for every other developer in this district to be able to rent apartments,” he said.
The city’s economic development department has given the project $250,000. Beldock asked whether the city could get more involved, although he said Denver seems focused on the Central Business District.
“Has city council been made aware of the fact that we’re on the cusp of bringing food to a decades-only food desert? And that we have everything ready to go, but we need to bridge this gap to make that happen?”
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