Syrup served its last breakfast at 300 Josephine St. on Sunday, August 16. The owners told the Denver Post their lease was ending and they had decided not to renew it. Syrup's four other locations are staying open, so the brand isn't going anywhere. What Cherry Creek lost was its own breakfast room. As of early October, no local outlet has reported a new tenant for the space.
Two weeks after the closing, developer Matt Joblon of BMC Investments described the gap to the Denver Post: "There's really not that many breakfast spots in Cherry Creek, especially with Syrup closed." He had a reason to bring it up, since he was announcing a breakfast tenant for his own building. That tenant and the two others on the way are all moving into the ground floors of new buildings on Fillmore and Milwaukee. The two with the most detail announced so far each put a walk-up coffee bar or window at the front. Mornings here are moving away from the long sit-down breakfast toward something you can walk up to.
The Corner That Turned Over
The space at 300 Josephine has changed hands before. The Denver Post's closing story notes that the downstairs space used to be the Egg Shell, and it credits the late founder Tim Doherty with opening the original Syrup. Westword included the closing in its September 1 list of August restaurant closures across the city.
That leaves a short list of established places for a weekday breakfast in Cherry Creek North this fall:
- Urban Egg, 3033 E. 1st Ave. Open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and until 2:30 p.m. on weekends, per the location page it updated October 1.
- Local Jones, 249 Columbine St. The Cherry Creek North district directory lists hours starting at 7:30 a.m. daily.
- Town Pump Provisions, 2810 E. 3rd Ave. The district lists it under both breakfast and coffee shops, and it describes itself as an all-day eatery.
- The Pasty Republic, 2615 E. 3rd Ave. Its directory profile calls its pasties a quick breakfast option.
Of the four, Urban Egg is the only one built mainly around a sit-down breakfast. The rest are cafes, counters, or grab-and-go stops. The places coming next follow that same pattern.
Three New Ground Floors on Fillmore and Milwaukee
The pipeline sits on Fillmore and Milwaukee Streets, in buildings that are either new or close to finished.
The Henry at 201 Fillmore St. has the firmest date, December 16. That would be the 13th location for Fox Restaurant Concepts' "greatest neighborhood restaurant" and the brand's first in Colorado. Mile High CRE reports that a walk-up coffee bar will anchor the morning, serving daily breakfast with laminated French pastries baked in-house and coffee and matcha drinks. Brunch is weekends only, and the posted hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. So on weekdays, breakfast at The Henry will come from the counter. The dining room is 5,860 square feet, with another 1,113 square feet of patio. Westword confirmed the December 16 date on September 18. We haven't found any later report changing it.
Two Hands is coming to 221 N. Milwaukee St., on the ground floor of BMC's The Oasis apartment building. Founder and CEO Henry Roberts told BusinessDen it will open "this spring." Since he said that in late August, spring 2027 is the realistic reading. Roberts said the Australian cafe will keep the same core menu as its Tennyson Street location in Berkeley, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner and a brunch it's known for. The biggest difference will be an outside-facing coffee window that opens onto the building's small courtyard. Roberts said the only other Two Hands with a window is in Austin. Inside, he described a slightly more polished room than his other locations: 3,400 square feet with a fireplace, plus a 900-square-foot patio. He signed a 10-year lease.
The Tennyson numbers help explain why the company is expanding into Cherry Creek. Roberts said that location did $2 million in revenue last year and is on track for $4 million this year. Margins rose from about 10% in its first year to 20%, after it worked out a staffing schedule that fits Denver's minimum wage. A cafe that doubled its sales in a year is expanding into a neighborhood whose developers say has too few breakfast options.
PopUp Bagels has leased space in the same building, which BMC lists at 299 Milwaukee St. The building was still being finished in mid-September. It will be one of the Connecticut chain's first two Colorado shops, alongside a Boulder location in the Moxy Hotel, which BMC also developed. Founder Adam Goldberg started baking during the pandemic, and the company now has 51 stores. The company is known for asking customers to skip the usual approach. Instead of slicing a bagel and spreading cream cheese, customers tear it into pieces and dip them in spreads. No opening date has been announced.
Here's the realistic order of arrival:
- December 16, 2026. The Henry's coffee bar and dining room open at 201 Fillmore.
- Spring, most likely 2027. Two Hands and its courtyard coffee window open in The Oasis.
- No date yet. PopUp Bagels opens in The Oasis.
- 2027. Hank's Neighborhood Bar, Fox's first spin-off bar, opens next to The Henry. Mile High CRE says details will come early in the year.
Until December 16, the four places listed above are the whole breakfast scene.
The Clayton Kept Both of Its Summer Pop-Ups
The Clayton Hotel & Members Club at 233 Clayton St. is the other big change since summer, and it shows where Cherry Creek is gaining restaurants while the morning options thin out.
The hotel tried two temporary restaurants this summer. Chef Johnny Curiel's Tequilería Alteño took over the ground-floor room that had been Mar Bella Wine Bar, opening in early July. On the roof, Id Est Hospitality opened SHEEP on July 8. It's a $95 four-course, open-fire tasting menu designed by Kelly Whitaker and Taylor Stark of The Wolf's Tailor. It was also the first time the Clayton opened its 54-seat rooftop restaurant to the public.
Both have outlived their end dates. SHEEP was supposed to close today, October 4. On September 24, Id Est said it would stay open through the end of the year, now dinner only and $125 per person. On October 2, Fonda Fina Hospitality and the Clayton said Tequilería Alteño would replace Mar Bella permanently. Curiel's statement:
"After a really rewarding summer, it feels right to permanently change Mar Bella Wine Bar into Tequilería Alteño. Thank you for all the support and understanding! More to come soon."
The summer menu included flautas bañadas with roasted chicken and salsa verde, a halibut taco, and a pork shank chamorro for sharing. During the pop-up, the bar poured more than 80 Mexican spirits, and the masa came through Curiel's partnership with the Masa Seed Foundation southeast of Boulder and was nixtamalized in-house. No details of the permanent menu or a date for the official switch have been announced.
Both stories come down to a lease. Syrup chose not to renew its lease at the end of the term. The Clayton tested two concepts for a summer and kept both. Since July, Cherry Creek has gained two dinner restaurants run by chefs with national reputations, and it lost its main breakfast restaurant.
Shops Lining Up Behind the Restaurants
New shops are lining up on the same blocks. Thuma has filed to open its first Colorado furniture showroom at 257 N. Fillmore St., most recently a Polestar showroom. No opening date has been announced. Inside Cherry Creek Shopping Center, Pottery Barn plans to take over Arhaus's current space, and Arhaus plans to move to 299 Milwaukee St. in early 2027. That's the same Oasis address BMC gave for PopUp Bagels, so a morning coffee on Milwaukee could soon come with a furniture showroom next door.
Two Fall Dates Before the Henry Opens
Two events fall between now and The Henry's opening. On Saturday, October 24, Little Man Ice Cream is hosting the Cherry Creek North Costume Treat Parade from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It starts at 2810 E. 3rd Ave., the same address the district lists for Town Pump Provisions, with trick-or-treating along 3rd Avenue. The seventh annual Cherry Creek Holiday Market returns to Fillmore Plaza, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, from November 19 through December 24. The market will be running on Fillmore when The Henry opens a block away at 201 Fillmore on December 16.
Want to know what opens on Fillmore and Milwaukee before the rest of the neighborhood hears about it? Kelli Barton follows every Cherry Creek opening, closing, and lease. Receive Exclusive Listings in Your Inbox, and get the neighborhood's changes along with them.
