Spinelli’s Market will soon be serving salads, Italian sandwiches and take-n-bake meals to staff, patients, students and neighbors at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.
The Italian market and deli is opening its third location this May in a standalone 3,800-square-foot building at 12955 E. Montview Ave. in Aurora next door to The Benson Hotel & Faculty Club.
Spinelli’s is co-owned by restaurant industry veterans John Moutzouris, who bought the original Park Hill location at 4621 E. 23rd Ave., from owners Jerry and Mary Ellen Spinelli in 2014, along with Jake Riederer, former owner of Open Sandwiches, and his wife, Cecelia Jones.
The owners were approached by Apartment Income REIT Corp. (AIR Communities) to open a Spinelli’s within the real estate investment trust’s new $87 million development in the center of the Anschutz Medical and Fitzsimons Innovation Campuses after a previous grocer tenant fell through. AIR Communities is finishing up 253 new homes in the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, near the 21 Fitzsimons Apartment Homes, a 600-unit community that AIR Communities acquired in 2014. Jones said 90 percent of the units are occupied.
“They wanted to still bring the grocer amenity they promised to the community,” Jones said. “We are lucky enough to have this brand new facility that they built, and we get to walk leisurely into it, which is great because Congress Park was not a leisurely stroll.”
The trio recently took over the former 12th Avenue Market & Deli space and opened a second deli location dubbed Congress Park Market in November.
The new Aurora shop will sell its popular sandwiches, like Jerry’s Classic Italian; the California Classic; the turkey gouda and cranberry; the Caprese; and the muffuletta, in addition to produce, pantry staples, beer and wine and ready-to-heat entrees. Since it’s located next to a hotel, there will also be toiletry items and retail products from local vendors.
“We’ve always said we believe our model can bring food to food deserts,” Riederer said. “The Anschutz campus has a group of people who are underserved that have to get in their car in order to find fresh vegetables at an affordable, walkable place.”
Spinelli’s will also cater lunches and events at the nearby hotel and medical campuses. “Panera Bread does crazy catering for the medical campus, and we think we can offer something new for the campus with our boxed lunch program that we already have at Spinelli’s in Park Hill for the last 30 years,” Jones said.
Spinelli’s will be joining new retailers: Milieu Fermentation, a craft brewery specializing in small-batch, artisanal beers; full-service hair salon Sable and Siren Hair Co.; and WOW Scrubs, a shop for medical scrubs and accessories. They’ll open alongside existing businesses: Cedar Creek Pub, Lost Coffee and CVS Specialty.
