Our future food-and-cowork space will be at 305 6th Avenue in the former location of Rory’s on Main. After much lawyering about, we have finally secured the necessary long-term tenancy and renovation agreements and are very excited to be moving ahead.

This project will revitalize a commercial heritage building right on the main street in New Denver. The building is 125 years old and was originally a mercantile store, specializing in rugs, linens, flooring and similar home trimmings. It has been many things in the intervening years, including a brief stint as The Village Hearth restaurant. A fire forced the closure of that restaurant but the bones of the building remained in good shape, ripe for renovations. We will occupy the ground floor and make use of the outdoor space behind the building for gardening and gatherings.

We have engaged some Slocan Valley visionaries in the field of design: Keith Dewey of Zigloo Studio on the overall design of the space, and kitchen design consultants Rob Hay and Sally Titasay from Winlaw to help get the most functionality out of the commercial kitchen layout and equipment. Keith has drawn up a gorgeous preliminary design concept. We expect to be putting the construction contract out to tender locally by the end of June.

We are excited to be at the stage of imagining ourselves inside our new purpose-designed space. Which way will the video projector face? How big will the walk-in freezer be? How will we hang the plants by the windows?

If all goes well the project will be a reality within the year.