Don't sell downtown short.

• Author: Houlehan, Donald A.
• Position: Readers respond - Letter to the Editor

I enjoyed Jeff Rundles' "A Parade of Lead Balloons" column in the April ColoradoBiz. As a commercial real estate lawyer who has officed in downtown Denver since the 1960s, perhaps I might make a worthwhile observation or two as to unfilled business opportunities in our core business district.

There are not many replacements for the everyday lunch (and breakfast) places that used to be heavily patronized downtown. There are virtually no ordinary breakfast places, no cafeterias, no hamburger places (except McDonalds), no soup-and-salad places. The Denver Dry Tea Room, Neusteter's cafeteria, Manning's and The Matchless cafeteria, Shaner's, The Gayety, the Roosevelt Grill, Bob's Hamburgers (two locations) all closed when their old buildings were demolished and replaced by new construction charging much higher rents. Each of the foregoing was heavily patronized right up to closure. Yet much...