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By Sarah Mulholland

Colorado Public Radio

DENVER (AP) 鈥� It鈥檚 about 9:30 on a Thursday morning, and the buzz at Tea with Tae on Denver鈥檚 16th Street Mall is comfortingly familiar.

The espresso machine is going, soothing music is piping through the speakers, and there鈥檚 a clutch of people catching up on office chitchat while they wait for their beverages. This is usually the busiest time of day, according to owner Tae O鈥橠orisio.

鈥淚t could be the 7 o鈥檆lock to 8 o鈥檆lock hour or the nine to 10 hour,鈥� O鈥橠orisio said. 鈥淭hen sometimes randomly we get a rush from like two to three, so right when we鈥檙e about to close.鈥�

It all sounds typical for a place selling hot beverages downtown. But behind the scenes, there鈥檚 one atypical aspect of this arrangement 鈥� O鈥橠orisio isn鈥檛 paying any rent.

O鈥橠orisio is participating in the Downtown Denver Partnership鈥檚 Pop-Up Denver program, which seeks to coax small businesses and entrepreneurs to set up shop in empty storefronts in city areas that are struggling to recover from the pandemic. Participating businesses still need to pay operating expenses, but there鈥檚 no rent for at least three months. Businesses also get a stipend for things like marketing and design.

The project started last year with five spaces on the 16th Street Mall and $200,000 in funding from the city. Now, the Downtown Denver Partnership is launching a second phase using part of a $2.4 million investment from the federal government鈥檚 pandemic aid package. The downtown booster group is looking to add 10 spaces for this round. The plan is to start accepting applications from businesses in February.

So far, not one participant has opted to make its temporary storefront permanent, but that鈥檚 the ultimate goal.

鈥淭hat is our hope,鈥� said Sarah Wiebenson, director of economic development at the Downtown Denver Partnership and the point person for Pop-Up Denver. 鈥淓ventually they鈥檒l be given this runway to success, that they have the time to build up a customer base by not paying base rent.鈥�

Landlords have been pleased with the results, according to Wiebenson, even though it means they鈥檙e not collecting rent on the real estate.

鈥淲hen you have foot traffic coming and going from the pop-up, that increases the visibility for the lease-paying tenants next door. It also shows the viability of a space that may have sat empty for quite a long time,鈥� she said.

Landlords retain the option to replace the pop-up with a paying tenant if they can find one. If that happens, the Downtown Denver Partnership will work to find the business a new space, Wiebenson said.

Empty storefronts are becoming a stubborn blight in areas like the 16th Street Mall that rely on office workers for foot traffic and business during the week. The remote work revolution ushered in by the pandemic has been great for white-collar workers that are able to cut out their commutes and work from the comfort of a home office, but it hasn鈥檛 been great for the restaurants and shops where they used to spend their money.

The hollowed-out feeling of the 16th Street Mall creates a host of issues for the businesses there. Public perception of safety in downtown Denver is becoming increasingly problematic, said Beth Moyski, a vice president at the Downtown Denver Partnership, during a recent panel discussion on homelessness.

鈥淚t鈥檚 that person talking to themselves,鈥� Moyski said during the event. 鈥淭hey might not have any contact with me whatsoever, but when you walk past them or when they walk past you, it might make you feel uncomfortable. And that鈥檚 how people feel unsafe.鈥�

It鈥檚 hard to nail down the actual storefront vacancy rate on the mall. The number is constantly changing, and some businesses might still be paying rent even if they鈥檙e not open, making it a squishy calculation. According to the Downtown Denver Partnership, roughly a quarter of storefronts in the Upper Downtown area 鈥� including the mall 鈥� were what the group calls inactive when they started outreach on the Pop-Up Denver program last year. That鈥檚 since declined to less than 20 percent, according to Wiebenson.

O鈥橠orisio launched Tea with Tae online in April 2020, when her job coordinating influencer events for the National Cattlemen鈥檚 Beef Association slowed to a crawl. Her website, where people can order different teas using a subscription-service model, was well suited to a world where people were hunkering down at home, she said.

The business was thriving, and O鈥橠orisio had no plans to open a physical store.

鈥淩etail was hit so hard, and businesses had to close down,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t honestly didn鈥檛 seem like something that would be a good idea for the business. So, no, it wasn鈥檛 something that was on our radar at all.鈥�

But when O鈥橠orisio heard free space was available on the 16th Street Mall, she figured it could be a good way to diversify the business and get in front of more customers. She opened the storefront in July.

Tea with Tae is in a prime spot two blocks from the Denver Convention Center in what used to be a Starbucks. There was a steady stream of customers during that Thursday morning rush. But it鈥檚 nothing like it used to be when downtown was chock-full of office workers.

Downtown Denver is showing some signs that people are coming back, but office workers are still staying away.

Jeff Bader, who has worked upstairs for the Denver Urban Renewal Authority since 2018, was getting his hot coffee to go. He said that pre-pandemic, there would be a line out the door at the Starbucks in the morning. He notices that a lot of businesses now are just gone, like the deli that used to be next door.

鈥淭here would just be a bigger, critical mass of people coming and going,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just less people, so it feels a little more empty, quiet.鈥�

O鈥橠orisio has until February to decide whether she wants to sign a real lease.

鈥淲e鈥檝e only had a few months of sales data to see how the space is really doing and how it鈥檚 come back after COVID,鈥� she said. 鈥淎t this point we鈥檙e hoping that we continue and sign a long-term lease for this space.鈥�