Business owners on Colfax worried about years of construction

DENVER — The Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project (BRT) is underway along East Colfax Avenue. Once complete, the project aims to reduce travel time and provide more reliable access to shops and restaurants. However, small businesses along the route aren’t sure they’ll last until its scheduled completion in 2027.

Jimmy “Zez” Shores is the owner of Sincerely Tattoo on East Colfax. He’s also one of the founding members of the East Colfax Community Collective. He shared that he, alongside other business owners, began the group in response to concerns they saw with the BRT project.

“We went to some of the meetings five or six years ago and we saw that the plan that had been made 20 years ago didn’t include any subsidies for small businesses to stay in place,” Shores said. “We started trying to figure that out, and that’s why we started the East Colfax Community Collective because we knew there wasn’t going to be a safety net for these small businesses.”

Shores shared that a safety net is sorely needed. When speaking of his own business, he’s seen dramatic changes since construction first started.

“It’s cut our business in half,” Shores said. “People aren’t using Colfax corridors much anymore. They know there’s construction here. They know you’re going to get dwindled down to one lane, going both ways. It’s going to take an hour to get through. It’s almost impossible to cover all my bills every month, and I’ve maxed out all my cards, and I’m not the only one seeing it.”

The city is offering $1.8 million in grants to help affected businesses. However, applications won’t open until early next year. Shores is uncertain if his business and others in the area can survive in the interim.

“Once you sign up, it always takes weeks or months to get these grants,” Shores said. “So, it may be released in January. When are you going to get it by? May? Again, that’s a whole year from when we started this whole debacle, and by then more businesses are going to be out of business. More people will have suffered.”

Although scared for the future of his business, Shores said he doesn’t think the project is bad. He explained that he’s excited to see the new transit system and the benefit that will provide to the area. However, he also wants to know that his shop will still be around when it’s complete.

“The product’s going to be great, but great for who? A whole new community on Colfax?” Shores asked. “That’s not the people that built it. Who’s it going to be great for? Not the people that live here, that work here, that have businesses here…we might not survive.”

Along with grants from the city, the Upper Colfax Community Foundation is working to raise funds through Colorado Gives Day. It has a goal of raising $50,000 to share as micro-grants.

Shores hopes more immediate assistance can help keep struggling businesses afloat.

“I could use a hug from the mayor or something or [have] the governor come through and let us know we’re going to be ok,” Shores said. “Because I don’t see it and neither do my people in the community collective. That’s something that, it’s as scary as when we had the pandemic.”