Columbine Square Shopping Center - Littleton, CO - Part Two

If you read part one of my Columbine Square Shopping Center story, you're familiar with its condition after the property owners closed the place down, in 2013. (And if you haven't read part one yet, go do it now!) Well, get ready for it to be all sorts of 2015 again, as it's time for part two!

Very 1970's style Columbine Square sign, at the south (Federal Blvd.) shopping center entrance. Photo taken April 8, 2018, after I finished taking pictures of the Littleton Prep (Safeway) demolition. (Oh, sorry... SPOILER ALERT!) I still really miss seeing the Rocky Mountains every day. 

Going back a bit further is where part two starts. 

The shopping center was already looking pretty rough, less than 2 years after all the tenants were kicked out. It had been a while since I walked around the property for pictures. Now I had a big writing project coming due. Which I needed additional Columbine Square material to complete. The day I chose for this was...

Sunday, June 7, 2015. 

Pulling into the east driveway of Columbine Square, off Federal Blvd. The plan for this morning was to park in the US Bank lot, walk to the west side of the property, then back and around to the south side of the shopping Center. Getting pictures of all point of interest.

On my immediate left as I drove in, would be the sad remains of the Columbine Square Burger King. Or Big Papa's BBQ, depending on your personal timeline or preference. Now sporting a black graffiti cover-up smudge! I wrote about the Burger King property in a separate story, a few years ago. You can read that here.

And if you have a copy of this, you've already read a highly condensed version of what appears here.

Wasted Quarter issue #70, Abandoned Englewood, was printed in August, 2015. So this round of photos of Columbine Square, mark the latest time period covered in that book. A few of these pictures were used in putting that story together, but they were not only in black and white. And most were only an inch and three quarters wide.

Which is the biggest problem with Abandoned Englewood. Weighing in with over 1,000 images and nearly 200,000 words. Absolutely crammed into a 150 page, perfect bound book. It's dense and nearly overwhelming with content. I love that I did it. But as I've said before, the further I get from that project, the less happy I am with it.

As much as it goes against everything I said some 20 plus years ago, this has become the best medium for this...

I parked at US Bank and walked out to the sidewalk parallel to Belleview Ave. Looking over the green tarped fence for this shot of the Break Room and Liquor Store. Many instances of black cover up paint mark the building where taggers have left their own mark. Not sure why the property manager chose to not match the paint color.

El Lucero restaurant and Horizons Church. Featuring more black cover-up paint blobs on the walls and windows.

I was surprised the pavement looked as good as it did. You'd expect to see weeds growing up through the cracks. Must have been seal coated shortly before the businesses were evicted. Though I remember the parking lots to be a lot more treacherous.

Littleton Prep. is looking considerably worse. More of the windows have been broken out and more are boarded up. I wish they wouldn't have included the entire north parking lot in the fenced-in zone. I would have gotten much better photos if I could have stood on the sidewalk, in front of these stores.

Oh well, that's why the fence is way out here. To keep people like me back... 

Time to walk around to the south side of the shopping center. Past the Break Room, my car at US Bank, Big Burger Papa's King BBQ and...

The All Star Sports Club.

Also afflicted with black cover-up paint blobs and plywood covering broken windows.

Side of the All Star Sports Bar, facing...

The south parking lot of Columbine Square.

Walking up to, and looking over, the green tarp wrapped fence, for this shot of Colorado Dance Sport. Actually not looking that bad in comparison to some of the other storefronts. 

Just to the south, Tandy Leather was already getting its hide tanned. Three of the windows had been smashed out, with a sheet of plywood covering them. Itself already needing a dose of black cover-up paint blobs. What do vandals have against leather, yet for dance?

Tandy Leather's front entrance, if you don't feel like shoving the plywood aside. 

Ruff 'n Ready Pet Grooming used those doors previously.

Whoever tagged the facade either had to stand on something, or climb on the roof and reach over to spraypaint. I guess you want to make the site manager have to work to cover up your marks. Make his effort match yours.

I also really liked the seeing inside the green tarp wrapped fence, reflected back in the (as of now) unbroken glass. 

Centennial Veterinary Clinic has seen some unwanted visitors. If you look closely, there is black and white spraypaint on the front counter and back wall. I hope they didn't take the flags left behind by The Pet Doc.

Store M has already seen it's front door destroyed.

Sure hope they didn't deface that sweet beach mural in any way!

American Family Insurance gets both black AND white cover-up paint blobs on the doors and windows. 

The courtyard between building still looks fairly okay. No broken -or even boarded up- windows in this shot. Though a few of them have cover-up paint.

The Columbine Square directory has some very disappointing graffiti. But not in the sense of "How could someone do that?!?" The directory sign is one of the more prominent markers for the shopping center, and the graffiti applied to it should be somewhat notable.

Maybe even profound? 

What is this? 

Whoever is responsible for doing this, should feel ashamed. Even if these are words or letters, what is that even supposed to be? You don't let the least talented singer front the choir. You also don't give the worst painter the biggest canvas. A much better tagger needed to show up, push this hack aside, and paint a giant penis aimed right at Littleton Glass! 

Now that's a statement!

See, you lucked out.

Hey Dunton, is this place available?

I'd like to open a shop that sells spraypaint and plywood...

Soccer Stop still looks okay. 

Does anyone else think it's funny that nearly two years after the shopping center closed, there's a new plastic bag in the trash can. It has to be new. There's no way it would have survived two summers and winters. Maybe one of the squatters inside The Cleaning Authority has taken it on as a personal mission to keep up Columbine Square's trash service. 

Rounding the corner and looking back over the fence, at the sidewalk behind me.

And the 2015 winner of Littleton's best example of Urban Decay goes to... Littleton Square!

Here to present the trophy...

A used toilet dumped off in the parking lot.

They did include the box!

Too bad no one's here to engrave it.

But I'm pretty sure you'll win again next year...

******

Sunday, June 19, 2016

It's been just over a year since my last dedicated visit, so another round of Columbine Square photos seems appropriate!

Between 2013 and 2018, I worked overnight shift 3-4 days a week, ending either on a Saturday or Sunday morning. My routine during those years was to get off work at 6am, then drive around taking pictures of dying retail and industrial areas. After I was done, I'd copy the photos over to my archive disks and write in notebooks about that days travels. This would include any notes related to specific pictures, that I wanted to remember later. 

(The Columbine Square portion of the notebook writing after today's photos.)

Unfortunately this tradition didn't find it's way to Minnesota. I work five days a week again (which sucks) and it's 10pm, not 6am, when I get off work. There's a not a whole lot of driving around photos you can take at 10pm. Writing in notebooks has also fallen off since 2018. There isn't the time to dedicate to it anymore. These days I'll scribble things into a pocket-sized notepad, then tape them into a notebook after I fill the page. I can still hand write several thousand words on a 3" x 5" sheet. 

So it's the same, but different.

Like this set of photos compared to the last ones...

Parts of the green tarp have become detached from the security fence. Leaving large swaths of plastic canvas flapping across the parking lot. Colorado Dance Sport sits in the distance, and looks pretty much as it did a year ago. Although someone has broken into the storage doors, outside the windows.

Standing in front of the former Tandy Leather, looking west. Most of the windows have been painted black. Must be a lot of graveyard shifters sleeping inside. Sure wish I could have used blackout paint like this, in my old apartments.

Many of the windows have been covered by what looks like a black painty-tar substance. Some of that has broken off the windows, but left the glass underneath, intact. I became fascinated by this. Almost wondering if a secret plan was developing, to shield Columbine Square in a candy coated shell?

The Centennial Veterinary Clinic somehow still has intact windows, with only one of them blacked out.

But how are the flags?

That's a big pile of wire left outside The Cakery...

Hey! That wire has no wire in it! Who would do such a thing!

The courtyard is looking a bit worse. Still no broken windows, but more of them are blacked out.

Directory of disappointing art. 

Well it's a little better this year...

"Life is Meaningless"

Now that's more like it!

Take that Littleton Glass... With your wimpy little white arrow pointing to the doors.

Should have gone with the idea I had earlier.

I didn't find much had changed between Littleton Glass, The Cleaning Authority, Soccer Stop or...

Special Occasions... So I snapped a few pictures and moved on. You can see O'Tooles Garden Center's reflection in the unbroken display windows. My completely random guess is the high traffic in and out of O'Tooles keeps the vandalism down at this part of the shopping center. You're going to want to break the windows of businesses that aren't just a few feet away from the finest SUV's that Highlands Ranch has to offer.

Sidewalk outside of Soccer Stop.

There's too much sun interference to see if the trash has been taken out.

Looking back across the south parking lot, as I continue my walk around to the front of the property.

And there's All Stars Sports Bar Club. With a perfectly placed now dead pine tree in front. It was alive last year, but not looking too well. Now it's definitely dead and looks like it belongs here.

There was no sidewalk in this area of Federal, and the green tarp-wrapped fence was placed very close to the road. There was a narrow walkway worn into the grass, which I'd likely contributed to. As I was walking up the drive between Burger King and US Bank, an SUV pulling off Federal, drove through a puddle and splashed me with water. I couldn't avoid it, but the driver certainly could have.

Dick move dood...

Burger King has had a really rough year...

Colorado Dance Sport and the Break Room. All of these windows have been painted black, but a small bicycle rack has been placed on the sidewalk. Maybe Columbine Square has a large percentage of bicycle riding squatters?

North side of the Break Room, with tarp-wrapped fence shadows at the bottom of the picture.

The Belleview Avenue sign now has all of the former tenants covered up.

The sign on Federal Blvd. remained intact through the demolition. 

Zooming in for an imperfect look at Perfect Teeth and El Lucero Restaurant. I never took a picture of that duplicate shopping center directory, in front of the mystery store next door. 

The alley between that mystery store and Horizons Church.

Horizons Church and Littleton Prep. A close look at the parking lot pavement shows that weeds are finally starting to break through. Still, I have worse ones in my driveway. And I drive on that every day. This lot gets virtually zero traffic, and went a couple years before the weeds showed up.

I was a big fan of the 90% label scar for Littleton Preparatory Charter Scho. An even more pointless cover up than the Jesus label scar, that used to be next door. 

After taking my photos of Littleton Prep., I walked back around to the south side, where I was parked. I summed that up in my notebook, later that afternoon.

I'll type it so you don't have to strain your eyes reading my handwriting.

"Since no progress has taken place on demolition, it's especially sad seeing the windows blacked over on businesses that were once vibrant. Well, sort of... Representing that not only is there no business going on, the covering of the windows is just another sign of a death that isn't coming anytime soon. (Looking at the Break Room, also sporting plywood for an emergency exit door...) Took some good shots from the northwest corner of the property, I walked back around to the car. Planned on smoking a cigarette before going home, but a Littleton police officer pulled into the lot, drove by me and parked by O'Tooles, facing me. Speculated that I'd been called on as suspicious, and he showed up to check me out. (Psyching myself up for a confrontation that never came... Thankfully...) But I stayed my ground until I was done smoking and left. Made no other stops before home. The photo tour complete, but not my best work..."

******

Sunday, September 24, 2017

I let another year-plus go by before I went back to Columbine Square. Ideally, I would have gone at least once every six months. That way I could have kept better track of the rot. And there was a significant amount of new rot, since I was last here. 

After parking at US Bank, I looked over the fence by the Break Room, and took this shot of Burger King and the All Star Sports Club. Mostly obscured by trees, I still like this picture a lot.

Burger King had a new coat of cover-up paint added to the entrance, that almost matched its previous color. Even that tiny piece of plywood can't hide the fact that many of the windows have been smashed out. The parking lot isn't looking that smooth either.

When I wrote the Columbine Square Burger King story a few years back, I didn't give much mention to Big Papa's BBQ. 

Around 2007-08, a new Burger King was built a few blocks east of here, and this restaurant was closed. Shortly after, the interior was renovated slightly, and the store reopened as Big Papa’s BBQ. They lasted a few years in this location, before closing in early 2012. Since Big Papa left, the building sat vacant. The Googlesmobile snapped this picture for me in September of 2012, after it closed, but before the signs were taken down.

The drive thru side of Big Papa's BBQ, while it was still open, in October 2011. The parking lot belongs to All Star Sports Club, but is already fairly weedy despite it still being open at this point. Photo also courtesy of that same Googlesmobile, just a year earlier.

You should check out my old Burger King story, for some interesting interior photos of the mess Big Papa left behind. Before even that was destroyed by vandals.

Now absolutely dead, that pine tree in front of the vacant, decaying All Stars Sports Club Bar would be an excellent setting for seasonal "haunted house" attraction. Get a DJ and some muted college football, and you have a missed opportunity!

Even with a $100,000 dance floor!

Loving those parking lot weeds...

For now, let's jump across the property, and park at the fenced off entrance by Littleton Prep. Which was a Safeway grocery store, several decades ago.

Littleton Prep's former playground.

Safeway's closure brought down the rest of the shopping center's commercial value, because it no longer had a strong anchor. Repurposing the large anchor space as a charter school didn't bring any new business to the rest of the complex. Even though it was likely doomed from the start by its own design, Columbine Square's slow death began when Safeway left. It just took forever for the plug to be pulled.

CMCB claimed that despite their efforts in marketing the property to retailers through various agencies, no one was interested in moving into Columbine Square. They had some preliminary conversations with Kroger in attempts to lure King Soopers from their long time location across the street, in Englewood. But those talks resulted in a revamped Centennial Shopping Center, with a new and much larger King Soopers inside. Still in Englewood.

CMCB also tried to negotiate with WalMart, offering retail space for WalMart's planned prototype Neighborhood Market grocery store. Instead, WalMart chose renovating a closed Albertson's, a mile or so southwest of Columbine Square. Since that had been a fully functioning grocery store as recently as 2010, it didn't require near the expense of converting a former grocery store, from a school, back into a grocery store. 

It wouldn't have mattered much, as WalMart pulled the plug on their Neighborhood Market concept in mid 2014. Which was kind of sad, it had potential. I almost liked shopping there.

After being spurned by two companies that could save Columbine Square, CMCB started exploring alternate options for the property. All signs indicated that it wouldn't be this...

The buildings looked cool, but the shopping center definitely had an awkwardly laid out 1970's feel to the complex. One could easily see why this place was a failure. Choosing a major grocer to anchor a shopping center is a great idea. Placing their store at the far end, not even visible from the busiest street bordering the complex, is a terrible idea. You'd never see Safeway from Federal Blvd. Reverse the layout of the entire shopping center, and there may have been a different outcome. 

How could this not have been thought of before construction began in 1976?

The way the El Lucero Restaurant was boarded up, it almost looks normal.

As if there never was a door or windows on this side of the building.

At some point in the last year, the Perfect Teeth sign was removed. Leaving an odd label scar behind.

Also interesting is the neon green "we moved" poster is still hanging in the window. No one that was here to vandalize the place bothered to take it down? Sure, smash a window open, but don't mess with the address change poster. Someone needing a root canal may get confused! 

And if you look really close, you can see the Backstage Hair Designs door art is also intact.

Probably because it was too cool to destroy!

The Liquor Store and Break Room.

North parking lot, looking west. 

More torn green fence tarp is laying on the ground.

The Break Room door has been removed, with only two narrow beams awkwardly placed across the gap.

That'll stop anybody from entering the building! They wouldn't dare cross that sort of barrier!

At some point when I wasn't looking, this truck pulled into the lot. He got out and put some traffic cones on the ground, but I couldn't tell what they were for. So I decided to go around to the south side of the property, in case more people showed up. Lesser potential of someone bothering me, or getting in my pictures. I'm okay with strange looks from O'Tooles customers, because they wont talk to me. 

And no one's here!

The front doors of Littleton Glass have replaced by wood. 

At least the shopping center directory is starting to look more interesting. 

Windows of Horizon Church's Sunday School rooms have now been broken out.

Looking down the American Family Insurance sidewalk.

All of the windows and doors are now boarded over. 

Well, The Pet Doc's sign remains...

I wonder if his flags do?

Cant see because it looks like Centennial Veterinary Clinic's doors have been bolted closed.

Store M could just as well be Store D or Store K or Store Y, and you still wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Burned up wooden Royal Crest Dairy milk crate left in the parking lot, just across from where you used to be able to walk inside Tandy Leather. I remember seeing these scattered around town, on Englewood's front porches during my pizza delivery days. Always wanted one. Sure I could have found a good use for one of these crates. 

More black painted windows on Colorado Dance Sport, and boarded up windows of Tandy Leather.

While I never encountered any of the people living inside Columbine Square during my photo missions, you could see the evidence of their presence throughout the property.

Walking around the south side of Columbine Square, there was suddenly a lot of traffic around the shopping center. Not sure why they were all showing up and getting in my way, so I left after walking back around the All Star Sports Bar Club. Again, loving the weeds in the parking lot.

So I went home, copied my pictures, then wrote out my notes from the day's photos in my notebook.

******

Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry X-Mess Columbine Square!

This photo of Littleton Glass was the only one I took today.

In the last two months, someone smashed those three windows that had remained unscathed for several years. 

******

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

I'm going to keep my source anonymous, so we'll call him Mr. C. (Because Mr. C is afraid that if he uses his real name too much, it will wear out.) Mr. C was driving down Broadway one morning when he saw me taking photos of the Gates Rubber Company demolition. That night at work, he asked me if I had a part time job as an insurance adjuster. I told him if I was, the disaster that Gates would have been claiming on insurance would be more than a part time job for me.

He recalled my part time job a couple of years later. One night at work, he asked me: "Have you taken insurance pictures of the shopping mall in Littleton that caught fire?"

I had no idea what he was talking about. 

He said he saw it on the news, but didn't hear where it was, but remembered the news saying it was in Littleton. My first thought was Southwest Plaza, because no other shopping mall existed in Littleton...

Oh wait!

After getting off work, I went home and hit the Googles. 

Thanks to KDVR Fox Denver, I learned it was indeed Columbine Square.

Colorado Dance Sport specifically. 

CBS Colorado had a shot from the opposite angle.

They even had a nice post-fire drone shot, for perspective.

And I had a new photography mission to kick off my weekend.

******

Sunday, January 7, 2018

After leaving work this morning, and visiting whatever sites were on my docket, I stopped by the Columbine Square Shopping Center, to see the damage from the fire a few days ago.

Yup... That's rather significant...

Over the next few months, several stories related to the Columbine Square fire, will appear on Colorado Community Media. Interesting details regarding the fire, but no real answers to the question of what will happen next.

Here's some pieces from their first reporting on the fire.

An early morning fire consumed a portion of the long-abandoned Columbine Square Shopping Center at Federal Boulevard and Belleview Avenue in Littleton on Jan. 3. Littleton Fire Rescue received a call just after 3 a.m. "When we got here, it was fully involved, we started a defensive attack – we surrounded the fire and drowned it. It was going to be a complete loss anyway. Nobody was in the structure when firefighters arrived, and no injuries were reported." Said LFR spokeswoman Jackie Erwin.

"Columbine Square is not completely abandoned. It is a known spot for homeless and transients to squat. You can tell people have been in these buildings sleeping – there are mattresses and so forth in different parts of the structure.” Erwin said.

"The blaze was accidental human-caused. In checking the surrounding buildings, there are obvious signs of people living in the buildings (abandoned clothing, food containers). We did locate a couple of fuel containers as well (one large metal can inside and one plastic can outside). We currently have no suspects or witness statements." said City of Littleton spokeswoman Kelli Narde in an email on Jan. 8th, 2018. 

The fire only destroyed the former Colorado Dance Sport building.

While the rest of the shopping center was destroyed by squatters and vandals.

The courtyard between building is looking pretty bad now. Any window that wasn't previously boarded up, is now smashed open. Including all of the storefronts used by Horizon Church.

Someone really must have needed to make it to Sunday School...

Weird how the building outlines are now black instead of white, where they stand out on the directory. US Bank, Burger King and The Break Room / Liquor Store really stand out. As does the wing with Soccor Stop. At least you can no longer see that it's misspelled. 

A new door has been created into Littleton Glass, right next to the sign declaring this as Private Property.

No one cares sign, not when there’s copper inside to steal!

Quite a bit of Photoshoppery assistance required to see inside, from across the sidewalk and above the fence. There's some broken stuff in there. And things. I can clearly see that there are things in that room. 

Looking in the middle window and to the left shows they already got the precious copper…

There’s something kind of appropriate and cool about the word “Glass” hanging above all the shattered windows and doors, spilling out on the sidewalk. Were I a tagger, I’d been tempted to scrawl “Thanks for the warning!” next to the mess below.

Kinda liked how this window shattered…

No soliciting, but spray paint and broken glass is okay.

Not sure what LPD stands for... Lotsa Pointless Destruction?

And those mini-blinds aren’t keeping anyone from climbing through that jagged, shard hole. 

Jagged Shard Hole would be a good band name, if I had any musical talent.

The Cleaning Authority has a new mess to get to work on.

Poor Soccer Stop... 

At least they got their balls out before all hell broke loose.

Looking pretty rough inside. The patch of Astroturf on the floor is covered by fallen ceiling tiles. How are you supposed to test out your new shoes? You cant properly dribble on broken tiles!

Not one intact window in the Soccer Stop back rooms. If I was a homeless squatter looking for shelter inside Columbine Square, I’d be pretty upset that people keep breaking all of the windows that should be providing some barrier to the elements. It’s January (2018) after all. The wind ripping through here from the southwest isn’t going to keep you very warm.

Perhaps that’s why they started a fire?

Hello?

No one’s home… 

You know, I should have done an undercover mission as a squatter for better photos...

On Special Occasions, we like to smash more windows. 

Since I saw my shadow while taking these pictures, that means this section of Columbine Square will only have six more weeks before it is demolished.

Plus an early Spring. But that’s irrelevant.

The All Stars Sports Bar Club didn’t get any plywood to cover its destroyed windows. That means anyone willing to hop the 6 foot fence could do anything they wanted inside. Except watch football with the sound on. That was not allowed in the sports bar themed dance club.

Now you be careful in there!

They guy who ran this place for less than a year (allegedly) spent over $100,000 on his new dance floor! 

No wonder he couldn’t afford his lease.

Before I leave for the day, here’s one last look at the arsoned Colorado Dance Sport, from across the weedy All Stars Sports Club parking lot.

Seeing as there’s now been a fire on the property, taking out one of the buildings, the entire shopping center meets the “qualifications of blight”, more now than ever. Certainly this event will bring some sort of finality to Columbine Square.

More from Colorado Community Media:

Columbine Square has long been a headache for Littleton. The shopping center, which once housed a Safeway and various small businesses, has been vacant since 2014. The property, owned by Carl Chang – the older brother and former coach of tennis star Michael Chang – through Redwood-Kairos Real Estate Partners, is Littleton’s sole remaining urban renewal district.

A fact sheet on the website of Littleton Invests for Tomorrow, the city’s urban renewal authority, lists the difficulties associated with the center – which is the city’s sole remaining urban renewal district.

“[A] significant challenge associated with redevelopment of the Columbine Square area is the number of parcels owned by out-of-state interests,” the fact sheet reads in part. “Particularly those that are part of a larger portfolio of assets, whereas these often lack the attention received by those with a local presence and higher expectation of financial return.”

The fact sheet also says that 14 buildings on the property, or 82 percent of the structure, have no fire sprinklers. The structure shows evidence of significant vandalism, with many of the windows broken and graffiti covering numerous storefronts.

“The number one priority in District 1 is what to do with Columbine Square,” City Councilmember Patrick Driscoll said after hearing about the fire. “It’s not good for the community if there are squatters living in there. I’ve heard all the copper has been stripped from the stores by thieves.”

“Multifamily housing sounds likely, and it would make sense in that area,” Driscoll said. “I’d like to see a community building, and the more green space the better. A little retail would be good too.”

******

Friday, March 9. 2018

Despite the new urgency of actual stuff going on at Columbine Square, I went 2 months without visiting the site. Life for Laura and myself took a drastic turn for the horrible, just after the fire at Colorado Dance Sport. As much as I tried to fight the inevitable, we had to leave the state of Colorado. Too many factors were piling up, so we would be moving back to Minnesota. Just as we’re coming to terms with that, in January 2018, Laura broke both of her legs in two separate accidents, less than three weeks apart. A contributing factor in the already difficult decision to change addresses by June.

Given all of the chaos of those days, I didn’t make it back out to Columbine Square again until early March. By that point, I’d missed the removal of most of the shopping center. Four of the seven buildings were gone, when I came back. 

Including Big Burger Papa’s King BBQ and All Stars Sports Club Bar.

At least for fire’s sake, there was an unblocked hydrant directly across the parking lot from Colorado Dance Sport!

The sun was interfering with my shot of the Break Room, so it's cropped weird. And now looking even more falling aparty. According to the reports I read from Colorado Community Media, the buildings still standing needed additional work on asbestos removal before they could be torn down. Which would be complicated by the fire at Colorado Dance Sport, since all of the asbestos had been released into the air from burning ashes and smoke, which spread all over the site.

Since it didn’t burn up, because it’s asbestos, you see!

Had I made it here a few weeks earlier, I could have taken my final pictures of Tandy Leather and The Pet Doc. They used to sit behind that there fence. Wearing many layers of extra plywood, in order to keep warms after having all their windows beaten out. 

With Littleton Glass, Soccer Stop and the Horizons Church Sunday school classrooms now wearing a cloak of invisibility, you can see the old Safeway building still standing. The south side is gone now, but additional asbestos removal had to be done in the grocery store. So they got a temporary reprieve.

Today was just a quick stop for a few phone photos on my way home from work. Plans were made to come back tomorrow with my camera, for better pictures, before going to work.

Until then, enjoy some more information from Colorado Community Media (February 17, 2018):

The long-awaited demolition of the Columbine Square Shopping Center at Federal Boulevard and Belleview Avenue began on Valentine’s Day. The owner of the seven-acre property recently received approval from the state Department of Public Health and the Environment to demolish four of the property’s seven buildings. According to Littleton Neighborhood Resources Manager Mark Barons. State-level approval is required to show that asbestos has been properly mitigated before the city issues its own demolition permit.

The owner, Redwood-Kairos Real Estate Partners, a California-based firm that boasts a slew of commercial properties nationwide, is currently working with the state to receive permits to demolish the remaining buildings, Barons said.

A fire that completely destroyed one of the buildings on Jan. 3 is believed to have been caused by squatters lighting a warming fire, authorities say, and a subsequent investigation by the fire department found evidence of habitation in numerous buildings and storefronts on the site. The burned building, a former dance studio, was not one approved for demolition. Only segments of its walls remain standing.

******

Saturday March 10, 2018

Left early for work today. Even with that, I texted my boss: "I will be late for art." on my way to Columbine Square. Knowing he could relate to that. Besides, I was already one week into my two week notice.

Write me up... It would be funny!

On my way, I took a few pictures of the now closed (in October 2017) Englewood Kmart. That'll be a future story someday. Though I screwed that one up big time by ignoring and procrastinating. No excuse for that, since I lived only two blocks away.

No more All Stars Sports Bar Club. The benches are still intact, but all of the globe-on-a-pole lights are broken. Except for one in front of a handicapped parking space, which has a dangling fragment. I always liked those light poles.

Some of the floor is still recognizable amongst the plain scraped flat cement. The same with Burger King Next door. Large patches of that trademark tan Burger King tile with black grout is still attached to the foundation. As is half of their former dumpster house. 

Hopefully the $100,000 dance floor was saved.

The All Stars Sports Club Bar sign used to stand here, before it was unevenly cut down. 

I really don't like that logo.

Parked on the far west side of the property, in the construction access cut-out, by Safeway.

Littleton Prep. looks like it's been undergoing more asbestos removal. All of the doors and windows are securely boarded up now. Not long ago, several windows were wide open because all the glass had been broken out. A lot of which was still on the ground around the building.

The yellow painted plywood covering the Horizon Church has already been cut open and tagged. Those squatters are persistent folk... Despite all the obvious signs the shopping center is being torn down around them, they still want to spend another night in the Jesus Store. 

What's left of the courtyard, with the directory (that I never took any photos of) and no buildings around it.

The Break Room and Liquor Store also had sets of quadruple asbestos removal holes punched into the plywood of windows.

The Break Room wasn't even messing around with a front door anymore. 

Colorado Dance Sport is still burned down.

At this point, I walked back to my car and drove it around to park in front of the stores that were no longer there. 

Just wanted a record of an official Columbine Square Shopping Center parking lot light pole.

It was really disappointing to see that someone smashed up the slightly burned wooden Royal Crest Dairy milk crate, that had been sitting in the parking lot for at least the last six months...

But I do remember it being slightly burned months BEFORE the fire at Colorado Dance Sport. 

Looking west to where Tandy Leather used to be.

The Pet Doc is not in.

Someone did a good job cleaning up the messy American Family Insurance office!

Even though the entire south side of the shopping center has been demolished, the courtyard seating circles, trees, and one of the directory signs, are still somewhat intact. Unfortunately, it's the one on the opposite end that I couldn't see.  

Seeing straight through Soccer Stop, to the broken doors behind Horizon Church. You know, I bet an average sized human being could fit under that door pretty easily. They really should put a new -and more secure- door up. Otherwise there's free reign over an old grocery store turned church, to anyone who wants to go inside! Of course the electricity had been turned off for years, so it's better suited to the mole people...

They left the stone planters full of dead flowers, the stone bench and the stone garbage can. Since The Cleaning Authority has been demolished, no one was available to put a new trash liner in the can.

And the dumpsters are gone too!

It took me a while to figure out why I wrote: "Hey! You won!" above the sentence about the excavators parked between All Stars Burger King BBQ and Colorado Dance Sport. Now I remember! From an earlier notebook writing, I was referring to their ominous position amongst doomed retail as a menacing presence. So I now get to publicly recognize their victory. 

Makes sense to me...

A few days later, I drove by again and saw an Earth Services truck parked at the front door of the Break Room. They were the contractors in charge of asbestos removal. So it makes sense why they were there.

I'll just come back in a few when you're done...

Over the next three weeks, I drove by every few days to see if anything new was happening on site. Safeway, the Break Room and the burned out Colorado Dance Sport stayed as they were. Sometimes there would be workers walking around the property, but nothing attention getting.

Since I've got nothing for this stretch of time, here's some more words from Colorado Community Media (April 6, 2018):

Excavators tore into the remaining buildings at the long-derelict Columbine Square shopping center at Federal Boulevard and Belleview Avenue on April 2. The first round of demolition in February removed four structures on the site, but three others remained while workers removed or contained asbestos materials, according to information published on the city’s website. The demolition was set in motion early this year, after a fire completely destroyed one building on the site on January 3. The fire is believed to have been started by squatters lighting a warming fire, investigators said.

Though the site’s owners remain incommunicado on the site and its future, some clues come from drafts of the Belleview Corridor Plan, presented to the public at an open house meeting on March 22. The cost of redeveloping Columbine Square “will likely be high,” the draft reads in part, “which will most likely require an increase in the density of use to make redevelopment feasible.”

The report says retail can be an important component of the redevelopment, but says “redevelopment of the site back into a stand-alone retail center is likely not feasible. A mixture of uses is likely necessary to make it an attractive redevelopment project for investors.”

Those investors are just not coming to Columbine Square...

******

Sunday, April 8, 2018

But I guess I have a reason to go back there now!

Standing by the sign on Belleview.

The Columbine Shopping Center has been reduced to piles of rubble behind it. 

The Liquor Store would have been on the left side, El Lucero on the right. 

Horizon Community Church and Littleton Prep.

West side of Littleton Prep.

With a sad basketball court.

And a She Shed!

I think we can blame O'Tooles for this...

Big pieces of Safeway wall, collapsed inward. Hopefully no squatters were injured during the demolition. Perils of wanting that one more night. Though I'm sure someone knocked on the walls before knocking them down...

An odd piece of roof left intact on top of wall chunks.

Don't know why this amused me so much.

Where toppled wall meets its anchor.

Littleton Glass was here.

Colorado Dance Sport is still here.

For fire related reasons, this building is the last one standing at the complex. 

Some fragments of Tandy Leather's floor are still hanging on.

Colorado Dance Sport from across Burger King's parking lot.

And this is the end of the Break Room.

The checkerboard tile of the dart throwing area is finally free!

Speaking of the end, I've got to get to work on packing up our apartment so we can move at the end of May. Even though Colorado Dance Sport was still standing, I stopped paying close attention to the Columbine Square Shopping Center after today. 

I got my ending I wanted so much.

******

Tuesday, April 29, 2018

While I was out running Aarons, I drove by Columbine Square and saw that Colorado Dance Sport was now gone. So I swung through and snapped a couple shots.

A view you wouldn't have gotten a few weeks ago, there's O'Tooles and the Arapahoe County Elections Facility! Also looks like a few of the trees in the walkway were burned in the fire.

There's some of that great Break Room checker tile, with the entire shopping center going back west to the houses on South Irving Street. Only without the shopping center. Those houses, and the ones on the north side of Belleview, no longer have to look at an abandoned shopping center, wrapped in a green be-tarped fence, every day of their lives. After all, only someone like me would actually enjoy that.

Columbine Square is finally dead, after its four and a half year coma. 

It was a structure that had a lot of character, which was also its fatal flaw. The place looked interesting, but ultimately wasn't feasible in today's retail climate. Especially in the retail climate of the early 2010's. It would have been even worse if they tried to keep it running past the pandemic. Easy to see why this place didn't work out, and likely no repurposing would have saved the original structures... So it's gone. 

And that's fine.

But what's going to replace it?

Well, that video is over four years old and there's STILL nothing going on here.

So I guess it’s more of the waiting game for the corner of Belleview and Federal.

Which leaves just one more loose end to tie up, before moving on to something else completely different.

After 31 years in business at Columbine Square, O’Tooles Garden Center closed in August 2022. (They do still have locations in Lakewood and Westminster.) O’Tooles did not own most of their parking lot, and were borrowing spaces from the shopping center. As plans were moving forward on redeveloping the property (even though nothing has still yet happened), O’Tooles realized they couldn’t function at their typical business level without using the shopping center parking lot. And that would become apartments any day now…

To the moon!

The footprint of the demolished Columbine Square Shopping Center.

The city of Littleton has stated the parking lot and concrete pads the buildings sat on will remain in place until the site is redeveloped. This is to prevent soil erosion from taking place. 

So there’s a lasting presence of Columbine Square, well over a decade after it officially closed, and six years after it was demolished.

It... just… won’t… go… away…

Hmmm… ENHANCE!

You can see the checkered tile of the Break Room’s former dart throwing area FROM OUTER SPACE!!!

Goodbye Columbine Square...

You got me drunk a bunch of times, and fixed a toof that was very hurty.

Enjoy becoming apartments...

Any...

Day...

Now...