East Colfax businesses honored as BRT construction strains shops

On Monday, June 15, Denver City Council honored some of Colfax Avenue’s oldest local businesses. But outside the proclamation, several business owners say the ongoing Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project is making it harder for customers to reach them.

“They’ve taken away all of our street parking,” said Karin Mosier, part-owner of Ed Moore Florist. “So it’s more difficult for our customers to come in and pick up their orders or just walk in.”

Mosier’s concerns reflect a broader tension along Colfax as the city undergoes an intensive project to install a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line along the corridor. City officials and business advocates say the BRT project will improve transit access and pedestrian safety, but they acknowledge construction disruptions, removal of customer parking and noise levels during the project.

“It’s an achievement worthy of recognition and celebration, especially in a time where Colfax is evolving,” said Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer. “The Bus Rapid Transit project is underway, and although the death of Colfax has been much overstated, there have been challenges to our businesses.”

This is not the first time that BRT has caused problems for local businesses. In February 2025, Bucket List Community News reported that several local businesses along Colfax were shutting down amid construction that proved to be a “logistical hell.” Last June, business owners started to take matters into their own hands, promoting each other’s businesses and creating interactive maps where users could navigate around the ongoing construction. 

Those concerns were not the focus of the June 15 City Council meeting. Instead, council members used the meeting to formally honor several longtime Colfax businesses, praising their resilience as the corridor enters what officials described as a “new era of transformation and opportunity.”

The city recognized 13 local businesses, including All Time Clock Repair, City Floral, Denver True Value, Ed Moore Florist, Emick’s Auto Service, La Vista Motel, Mayfair Cleaners, Mozart’s Denver, Myxed Up Creations Denver, Park Hill Family Dental, R&R Lounge, Suburban Toppers, and Winning Coiffures, and said each would receive a sealed copy of the proclamation.

“For decades, these businesses have been more than storefronts,” Sawyer stated at the meeting. “They are gathering places, neighborhood anchors, trusted institutions and places where our community creates community.” 

Bucket List contacted Council Members Sawyer’s and Darrell Watson’s offices several times to learn why they spearheaded this effort, what the acknowledgement meant to them and whether any additional tangible assistance was on the way for businesses affected by the ongoing BRT project. Both offices did not respond. 

Hilarie Portell, executive director of the Colfax Mayfair Business Improvement District, attended the June 15 meeting and sees the BRT project as a game-changing effort to improve safety, traffic flow, and pedestrian infrastructure, ultimately transforming Colfax from a “gritty” thoroughfare to a multimodal main street. 

“We’re in the worst of it right now. The most impactful phase of construction is really between now and December,” she said. “It’s in the end going to be positive. It’s just getting through it right now, day by day.”

Portell said the city has distributed nearly $2 million in grants to assist businesses impacted by the project.

“I do give a lot of credit to the city and the construction team,” she said. “Most businesses are getting grants of either $7,500 or $15,000, depending on the impacts to their revenue.”

Chad Walker, owner of the longstanding Colfax shop All Time Clock Repair, said he was told he didn’t qualify for a grant. 

“I was told it’s for retail only, repair businesses don’t qualify,” he said. “I did look over the income qualifications for the program, and, to this point, my business has not been impacted in a way that would qualify anyway.” 

Walker said he appreciated the council’s acknowledgment.

“It’s nice to be recognized. My dad opened this shop back in 1974,” Walker said. “We’ve been here a lot longer than the majority of the businesses in this area.”

However, he also noted that he anticipates that the construction along Colfax will continue to impact his business.

“They sent out someone to assess the building to check for … any damage to the building during construction,” he said. “So that would lead me to believe that there’s probably going to be a lot more noise and vibration going on, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Mosier was also grateful for the city’s acknowledgement of Ed Moore Florist, which has been open for 78 years. However, she still worries about the long-term effects of the lack of parking along the corridor. She said the city has no plans to restore the parking in front of her store.

“It would be really helpful if they were able to do a metered parking or something to make it fair for all of the businesses in the area,” Mosier said. 

According to Portell, the BRT construction team has attempted to minimize disruptions to business parking lots. She stated that the crews are “making every effort to make as much on-street parking available as possible.”

Councilwoman Sawyer noted at the June 15 meeting that surviving as a small business has become increasingly difficult, particularly along Colfax.

“It’s an achievement worthy of recognition and celebration, especially in a time where Colfax is evolving,” Sawyer said. “The Bus Rapid Transit project is underway, and although the death of Colfax has been much overstated, there have been challenges to our businesses.”

The project has generated multiple years of debate among residents and business owners over the loss of parking and vehicle lanes, construction impacts and questions about whether dedicated bus lanes will improve mobility enough to justify the disruption. Construction, testing and commissioning of the BRT along Colfax are scheduled throughout 2027, according to the government webpage about the project. 

“Thank you all, the businesses along Colfax corridor, for fighting through the changes that we are going through now with BRT, staying strong and then supporting the community ongoing,” said Councilman Darrell Watson in the meeting.

For business owners like Mosier and Walker, the recognition was appreciated, but the harder question remains whether customers can still get to the door.