Littleton residents may soon have a second Costco.
The membership-based wholesaler is proposing a 159,000-square-foot store on a portion of the Lumen Technologies office campus at 700 and 900 W. Mineral Ave.
Grant Nelson, owner of Englewood-based development firm Republic Investment Group (RIG), said he’s under contract to purchase the 63-acre lot from Louisiana-based telecommunications firm Lumen, which changed its name from CenturyLink in 2020.
He hopes to close in the fall.
“It’s a great site and a really great community,” Nelson said. “Any infill site of that size is a very interesting piece of property in the Denver metro area.”
Nelson plans to demolish Lumen’s office complex and use about 45.5 acres for retail development. Costco would take 18.5 acres on the northwestern portion of the site. Another 28 acres next to that are still up for grabs and being marketed by the brokerage SullivanHayes.
“We have a lot of different retailers we’re talking to and presenting the site to,” Nelson said. “But we don’t have anyone locked and loaded yet.”
Nelson said he’s set to sell the remaining 17.5 acres at the south of the site to Texas-based multifamily developer Embrey Partners, which plans to build a 380-unit apartment building. He declined to disclose financial terms of the deals.
According to plans submitted to Littleton this month, the Costco warehouse would include a pharmacy, tire shop, food court and 857-space parking lot, as well as a 32-pump gas station. Plans state Costco will hire up to 300 employees for the new location.
The plans are under review by city staff. A Costco spokesperson declined to comment.
Nelson said once Costco and Embrey’s plans are approved by the southern suburb, he’ll get to work demolishing the vacant 680,000-square-foot Lumen office building. He said demo and preparing the site for construction would take about six to nine months.
The Littleton property isn’t the only huge office complex that Lumen is looking to unload. Last year, the firm listed for sale its 45-acre office complex in Broomfield, which includes 769,000 square feet across four buildings.
Nelson started RIG in 2010 and said he’s developed a handful of Costcos, including one in Timnath, just outside Fort Collins. He estimated he’s completed 4 million square feet of retail development along the Front Range over the last 30 years.
“It’s fun to create places where people go shop and spend time,” the Colorado native said.
Costco has 16 locations in Colorado, many of which are in the Denver metro area, per the retailer’s website. The Lumen site would be the second in Littleton.
This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.
