An urgent care owner’s back-up plan will soon host a barbecue restaurant.
Darius Kerman, owner of the local AFC Urgent Care chain, has leased the shuttered Burger King property he bought in Five Points last year to a Utah-based barbecue chain.
Feastbox offers various styles of barbecue, including Texas, Hawaiian and Korean, as well as topping-laden hot dogs, sandwiches and loaded fries.
Kerman paid $1.8 million for the former fast food building at 3200 N. Downing St. last summer. He said it was meant to be a “plan B” option when his plans to open an AFC location across the street, at 3177 Downing St., hit a roadblock.
But AFC will be able to open at Kerman’s original desired location. He said he decided the 2,037-square-foot restaurant building would be a great coffee shop, but when deals with two coffee chains took too long, he opened his search up to restaurants and Feastbox jumped on the deal.
“I can’t wait for that intersection to get lively,” Kerman said. “That will have a great impact on the community. We’ll have an urgent care and a restaurant.”
Kerman said he anticipates the AFC across the street will open next spring. It was briefly open for COVID-19 testing during the pandemic.
Founded by Jody Rookstool in 2022, Feastbox exclusively operated through DoorDash and Uber Eats before opening its first dine-in locations last month, according to a news release. The company now has two Colorado locations – in Littleton and along South Broadway in Denver – and seven in Utah, according to its website.
Kerman said the Downing lease extends for 10 years. Wuanita LaRusso and Paul Roberts with Fuller Real Estate represented Kerman in the deal. Levi Noe with Fuel & Iron Realty represented Feastbox.
While he’s excited for the restaurant to open, Kerman said he’s not really looking to become the landlord of others.
“As of now, I’d rather pursue real estate for urgent care and medical health centers,” Kerman said. “This is one of a kind. It’s just an opportunity that happened to be there and I took it.”
This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.