The Conoco gas station sits right at the entrance to LoHi along Speer Boulevard. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Preet Bajwa wants to gauge the city’s reaction to a remodel of his LoHi gas station.
“I really don’t overthink too much. I just have an idea, we went with it, and then we just go with the flow. It’s gonna cost a lot of money — for sure,” he said.
Bajwa, who owns eight gas stations in Colorado and Wyoming, submitted redevelopment plans to Denver last month for his existing Conoco location on Zuni Street at Speer Boulevard, just off Interstate 25.
“The real goal is to refresh the retail building and make it bigger — new pumps and stuff, you know, refresh the lot,” he said.
But the plans go further than that. They envision a total reworking of the 2727 Zuni St. site. Pumps would move from the corner near the street to the rear of the lot, with a 5-story apartment and retail building in their place.
A preliminary rendering of the proposed building. (Public records)
It would be a big change from the existing 2,500-square-foot convenience store.
“There’s so many apartments coming over there, and we wanted to just remodel the store. And we thought we can go up. So why not?” Bajwa said.
The ground floor would continue to be retail, in a similar fashion to what’s there now. Above it would go to a restaurant or cafe. Both floors are a smidge over 3,000 square feet. Rounding out the pointy and triangular-shaped building would be 28 apartments.
Bajwa himself, however, is skeptical that this will be the final result. His architect, local shop KCA, suggested adding the residential component.
“Let’s submit to the city and see if it’s doable,” Bajwa recalls them saying.
The businessman has also tapped Steven Ferris, founder of local consultancy firm The Real Estate Garage, to help with the plans.
Bajwa purchased the Zuni Street location in July 2015 for $1.6 million, according to public records.
The Conoco gas station sits right at the entrance to LoHi along Speer Boulevard. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Preet Bajwa wants to gauge the city’s reaction to a remodel of his LoHi gas station.
“I really don’t overthink too much. I just have an idea, we went with it, and then we just go with the flow. It’s gonna cost a lot of money — for sure,” he said.
Bajwa, who owns eight gas stations in Colorado and Wyoming, submitted redevelopment plans to Denver last month for his existing Conoco location on Zuni Street at Speer Boulevard, just off Interstate 25.
“The real goal is to refresh the retail building and make it bigger — new pumps and stuff, you know, refresh the lot,” he said.
But the plans go further than that. They envision a total reworking of the 2727 Zuni St. site. Pumps would move from the corner near the street to the rear of the lot, with a 5-story apartment and retail building in their place.
A preliminary rendering of the proposed building. (Public records)
It would be a big change from the existing 2,500-square-foot convenience store.
“There’s so many apartments coming over there, and we wanted to just remodel the store. And we thought we can go up. So why not?” Bajwa said.
The ground floor would continue to be retail, in a similar fashion to what’s there now. Above it would go to a restaurant or cafe. Both floors are a smidge over 3,000 square feet. Rounding out the pointy and triangular-shaped building would be 28 apartments.
Bajwa himself, however, is skeptical that this will be the final result. His architect, local shop KCA, suggested adding the residential component.
“Let’s submit to the city and see if it’s doable,” Bajwa recalls them saying.
The businessman has also tapped Steven Ferris, founder of local consultancy firm The Real Estate Garage, to help with the plans.
Bajwa purchased the Zuni Street location in July 2015 for $1.6 million, according to public records.
