Bar is denied license for a beer garden

Customers of a sports bar near 180th and Pacific Streets won't be imbibing outdoors in the near future.

The Douglas County Board unanimously denied the Drafthouse's request Tuesday to expand its liquor license to include an outdoor beer garden.

Mark Kroeger, the bar's owner, said he was disappointed that the expansion of his license for a 1,044-square-foot outdoor beer garden was denied.

"The beer garden was to be part of our original liquor license but was overlooked," Kroeger said. "Now we have no place for smokers when the city's smoke-free ordinance goes into effect."

Capt. Tom Wheeler of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said law officers have been called to the Drafthouse nine times in the past year.

Since it opened in April 2005, the Drafthouse has received one citation for an open container of alcohol after 1 a.m. That resulted in a five-day suspension in December, but the bar paid a fine to avoid being closed.

"I've never had more calls and e-mails than about this place," said County Board member Mary Ann Borgeson, who represents the area where the bar is located. [ read full article ]

On the grounds New gardens, old buildings will greet 2006 Fair visitors

Some of what's new on the grounds of the Colorado State Fair is nearly a century old.

There are new demonstration garden beds behind the Gallery of Fine Arts, which Fairgoers can see on visits to this year's Fair, Aug. 25-Sept. 4. The beds are near the Arroyo Avenue gate.

There's a plan to plant new trees, some of which will replace ones inadvertently killed during storm- and sanitary-sewer renovation at the Fair.

And there's the move to get the Fairgrounds listed on the state register of historic places and have a large portion of it declared a historic district.

Preliminary work on the historic designation already has been done, and Joe Dean, facilities services director for the Fair, hopes the designation will come in early 2007 n in time to apply for grants made by the Colorado Historical Society's State Historical Fund in April. A historic register listing is necessary in order for a project to receive "brick and mortar" dollars, and Dean said, "There's quite a bit of work to be done out here."

Many of the Fairgrounds' flower gardens are contracted out to a local firm, Sunshine Plantscaping, and have been for years, but the large planters behind the Gallery of Fine Arts have been planted in perennials and annuals in a joint project between the Fair and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension.

Colorado Master Gardeners and 4-H members have filled the demonstration garden beds with columbines, echinacea, cotoneaster, salvia, grasses, cinquefoil, yarrow, lavender and other plants. The beds were constructed last year under supervision of the Fair's maintenance staff, which also helped excavate and amend the soil, brought water to the site and installed irrigation hoses. [ read full article ]

Retail 'village' rises in Winter Garden

Hardin Construction Co. is under way with the first work on the Winter Garden Village retail center. The 585,000-square-foot center is targeted for completion late next year.

The site development includes rerouting County Road 535 and two connector roads.

Hardin has previously worked with the developer, The Sembler Co., doing the Centro Ybor retail complex in Tampa. Hardin, founded in 1946, has offices in Orlando, Atlanta and Tampa.

Going up

Construction costs continue to be a moving target. A few months ago, Camden Property Trust, a Houston-based real estate investment trust, estimated the cost of the 261-unit Camden Orange Court apartments in downtown Orlando at $36 million. In the trust's second-quarter report, the cost now is estimated at $49 million. Site work is under way. The complex will go on the site of the long-gone Orange Court Motor Lodge on Orange Avenue just south of Colonial Drive. [ read full article ]