A vacant restaurant space at Northglenn Marketplace that once housed a Korean barbecue and sushi spot is about to become the newest outpost of Bubba’s 33, the sports-themed chain from the creator of Texas Roadhouse. The 6,962-square-foot restaurant at 311 W. 104th Ave. is set to open Monday, December 7, right next to the existing Texas Roadhouse at the shopping center.
A Long-Vacant Storefront Gets New Life
The opening, first detailed by The Denver Post, fills a storefront that sat empty since its previous tenant closed. Texas Roadhouse is bringing its sister chain Bubba’s 33 to the Northglenn site, a move that puts the two restaurants side by side at the sprawling retail center along Interstate 25. The Bubba’s 33 location will mark the fourth in Colorado, joining existing restaurants in Aurora, Colorado Springs and at the Shops at Northfield in Denver, according to the same report.
Northglenn’s economic development director, Allison Moeding, said the new restaurant will generate additional sales tax revenue and broaden the area’s dining options by mixing a national chain alongside locally owned eateries. She also said she’s more optimistic about the marketplace’s trajectory than at any point in her nearly four years working for the city, a sentiment tied to the shopping center recording 5.4 million visits over the past year, per her account. Northglenn Mayor Meredith Leighty said the city is excited about the changes underway at the shopping center, adding that Northglenn Marketplace has come a long way since its days as the Northglenn Mall.
What’s on the Menu and Who’s Hiring
Bubba’s 33 serves American-focused fare including pizza, wings, burgers and beer, and the chain plans to hire about 200 full- and part-time employees for the Northglenn location, including cooks, pizza makers, meat cutters, hosts, servers, bartenders, dishwashers and server assistants. A company representative said in an email statement that Colorado is an exciting market for the chain and that it’s thrilled to expand with a Northglenn restaurant. The chain’s Colorado Springs location is reportedly its busiest in the country, the company said, a sign of the brand’s traction in the state even as it continues expanding here.
Bubba’s 33 was created by Kent Taylor, the founder of Texas Roadhouse, and opened its first location in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2013. The chain now operates more than 60 locations across 18 states. A separate Bubba’s 33 under construction at the Shops at Northfield, inside a former Red Lobster space at 8268 East Northfield Blvd., had no announced opening date as of a report from What Now Denver, which noted construction work there had begun according to a post from VMC Facilities LLC. At that time, the chain operated more than 50 locations nationwide, including its Aurora and Colorado Springs outposts.
A Shopping Center Rebuilding Its Occupancy
Northglenn Marketplace spans 55 acres and includes more than 650,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and service space, according to the city. The property has been under renovation since Hutensky Capital Partners purchased it for $48 million in 2017, according to Adams County records, and entered into a redevelopment agreement with the Northglenn Urban Renewal Authority in January 2018 that committed an additional $27 million toward stabilizing the center, per a city of Northglenn press release…