Four projects are in the works on the 100 and 200 blocks of North Public Road this fall: a bookstore, a food hall, a pub and a motel. Each has reached a different step in Lafayette's approval process. A "coming soon" banner can stay up for a whole season. The city record for each address is the better guide to when a door will actually open.
Here is where that record stands at the end of September 2026, block by block. It starts with what is already open and moves to the projects with the furthest to go.
The ladder every project climbs
For new construction and major redevelopment in Lafayette, the city's project pages lay out the same basic sequence:
- Formal review, where staff and outside agencies comment on the plans.
- A public hearing and approval, with Planning Commission and City Council for site plans.
- A building permit application.
- Construction.
- Opening.
The city's own Lafayette Listens pages describe a project at the hearing stage as moving from staff review to a Planning Commission recommendation and then to the permit application. City-owned property adds steps at the start, including a request for proposals and a purchase agreement. Historic buildings add a Historic Preservation Commission review. North Public Road has examples of almost all of these right now.
Rung five: open now
Remi's Cajun Creole Cafe, 211 N. Public Road. The newest finished project on the north end opened this summer, according to Axios Boulder's September 24 review. It has 60 seats and is owned by Dara Sanchez-Mack, who spent 15 years in hospitality. Colorado native Napoleon Lewis runs the kitchen. The menu covers gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, po'boys and muffulettas, plus New Orleans BBQ shrimp and the sticky "Voodoo Wings." Remi's is in Suite 110 and calls itself "Lafayette's living room for Southern hospitality." Dogs on the patio get their own Doggie Delights menu. It's open Thursday through Monday and closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The Collective, 201 N. Public Road. Next door is the north end's anchor, which climbed the ladder years ago. The city held the grand opening for this refurbished historic building on February 17, 2017. Today it serves as the City of Lafayette Community Arts Center and houses the city's Arts & Cultural Resources Department. It hosts exhibits, lectures, films and author readings. Its fall exhibit is covered in the calendar section below.
These two addresses sit on the same short stretch. One opened this summer and one has been open for nearly a decade. Both are useful markers for the projects still in progress.
Rung four, almost: a converted law office at 111 N.
Triple One Public House, 111 N. Public Road. This one is the closest to opening, and its timing is the least clear. The building's owners are turning their former law office into a pub with a patio. Their website promises TVs and invites guests to bring their own food and watch games over a beer. The site still says "Opening Summer 2026." A September 9 update from the local newsletter A Political Hobbyist in Lafayette, CO reported that the pub was not open yet. No firm opening date has been published since.
Converting an existing building usually skips the longest steps on the ladder, which is why Triple One has gotten this far. Without a published date, though, the best available signal is a lit window and an open door.
Rung three: a food hall that keeps getting smaller
North Public Market, 210 N. Public Road. The vacant corner at Public and Baseline has been through more versions than any other site on the street. The 2022 plan by BV Builders was a two-story building. By 2024 it had been cut to one story. City Council approved the site plan and minor subdivision for a 6,155-square-foot food hall on September 17, 2024.
That approval is two years old, and the project is still on rung three. The city's project page, last updated August 20, 2026, lists it in the building permit application process. In May 2026, Economic Development Director Brigid Keating told council the project had been difficult since it started before COVID. She said the builder remained committed and hoped to break ground in early fall. The plans call for three food stalls, a bar, an arcade and family activities in the backyard. No source confirms that construction has started. Equipment and fencing on the corner would be the first sign that the project has moved up a rung.
A city-owned bank at a different starting line
Former Chase Bank, 200 N. Public Road. This project doesn't start at formal review, because the city owns the building. Lafayette first ran a request for proposals and received three bids for the nearly 9,000-square-foot building, priced at $1.6 million. Grant Hopfenspirger, owner of Teocalli Cocina, proposed a community restaurant and beer garden. The Arts Hub and Urban West Group proposed splitting the building into four separate uses. The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe proposed a flagship store. About 1,800 people took the city's survey, and the bookstore was the top-ranked proposal.
On August 4, 2026, council voted 6–0 to authorize negotiations. That vote allowed the city to start talks. It did not approve a sale. According to the city's project page, staff and the bookstore are still negotiating and expect to bring a purchase and sale agreement back to council this fall. The proposal includes expanded retail, event space and outdoor gathering areas. The September 15 council recap did not list the agreement.
The reason for the move is space. Co-owners Barbra Huntting and Deirdre Appelhans opened the bookstore at 129 N. Harrison Ave. during the pandemic. According to the Daily Camera, Huntting told council the store had "outgrown our space" for its events and book clubs. "We're bursting at the seams, basically," she said. Keating framed the choice in plain terms: "Small business support and retention is key." She said negotiations were expected to succeed. The next public step is a council agenda with the purchase agreement on it. Nobody has published an opening date for the new store.
The city's plans for the street also include a fixed point. The parking lot at 108 N. Public Road will stay city property and remain open for public uses like the Lafayette Farmers Market and seasonal pop-ups.
Rung one, with a history review first: the Deluxe Motel
105–107 N. Public Road. The project with the furthest to go also has the longest history. In its August 3, 2026 review, city staff found that the Prather family, George and his son Wally, built a group of buildings on the property. The family ran a motel, a liquor store and a residential duplex there. At the hearing, local researcher Vicky Uhland, who has studied motels along the Lincoln Highway, said the original Deluxe Motel buildings matter more historically than the house that was up for demolition.
The developer, applying as WB Capitol, plans to add a level to the original motel, for eight units in total, plus 3,000 square feet of retail. The developer has also secured the name Deluxe Boutique Motel. A September 1 local report named the builders as Jerod and Justin Wood. The commission found that the house at 105 N. did not meet the criteria for landmark designation. It voted 6–0 to waive further review and release the demolition permit.
That vote covered only the house. The record doesn't show the full motel project going through site plan review, and no construction schedule has been published. The motel's name is settled, but it remains the earliest-stage project on the street.
What's open on these blocks this fall
While the projects work through approvals, the north end already has a full fall calendar:
- Lafayette Farmers Market, Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Public Road between Cleveland and Geneseo streets, through October 25.
- Lafayette Music Fest, October 3, with more than two dozen Colorado acts on eight stages around town.
- Día de los Muertos Exhibit, Arcos y Portales, at The Collective from September 24 through November 8. The exhibit includes a Paper Catrina Workshop on Friday, October 9, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., a drop-in picture-frame decorating activity October 24 and 25, and a closing celebration on Friday, October 30, from 3 to 7 p.m.
- Remi's for dinner Thursday through Monday, a few doors up from The Collective at 211 N.
On a single Sunday morning in October, a walk from the market to The Collective passes all four projects. Each sits at a different step in the approval process, and the city's project pages are the best place to check where each one stands.
If you own a home near Old Town and want to know how projects like the Read Queen move or the North Public Market corner figure into what your property is worth, The Groem Group can track those approvals with you. Request a Home Valuation, and we'll build the current status of the projects near you into the numbers.
