The Wash Park Grille Corner Came Back Because Its Neighbors Bought It
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
The building at 1096 S. Gaylord St. sat dark for more than a year after Wash Park Grille closed. When it finally changed hands, the buyers weren't from out of state or a restaurant group from another neighborhood. One of them lives in Wash Park and runs a business on the same block. Another works out of an office on South Gaylord. Their restaurant, Wash Park Social, opened in late April and is now heading into its first fall. Nearly every choice behind it, from the suppliers to the patios to the hours, makes the most sense for people who are already on Old South Gaylord most days.
According to the Denver Post, Aaron Grant and Kris Johnson bought the property for $6 million in October 2025. Grant lives in Wash Park and owns Park Coworking on the same block. Johnson lives in Hilltop, works in oil and gas, and has an office on South Gaylord.
They own the restaurant with Bart Hickey and Justin Martinez. Hickey runs it day to day. Hickey spent 24 years with the Capital Grille in several locations, the last seven as managing partner at the Larimer Square restaurant. He met Grant there, back when Grant was a regular at the LoDo Capital Grille. As Grant looked into buying the Wash Park building, he called Hickey to ask whether he would run the restaurant.
So the corner was revived by people who walk past it on an ordinary workday. They saw the empty storefront from their own doors and windows, which probably shaped how the restaurant was built.
The building's history explains the price and why the reopening matters to the street.
The $1 million paid in 1998 and the $6 million paid in 2025 show how much one corner on this block is now worth. Hickey said the interior build-out cost another $1 million to $1.5 million. That included new floors, ceilings, walls, furniture and equipment. He said it was "a little bit bigger than what we planned, but we still kept it reasonable." At that cost, the owners need a dining room that stays busy every week of the year, not just on special occasions. Most of the other decisions follow from that.
Hickey told the Denver Post that about 75% of the menu would be "traditional crowd-pleasers" like a chicken sandwich or a salmon entrée. The other 25% is for more adventurous diners, with dishes like grilled octopus. The current menu on the restaurant's site includes grilled octopus, a crab cake, wagyu and bison burgers, rotisserie chicken and trout.
A mostly familiar menu fits a place people return to every week, but the suppliers say more about the restaurant. Grains come from Rebel Bread, a West Wash Park bakery. The cocktail list features Laws Whiskey House, a distiller in Platt Park. Hickey described the goal this way:
"We're just trying to find as many Colorado connections as possible while also doing something seasonal and conscious."
He paired that with a more practical point about running the place. He said he plans to bring in the processes, systems and culture he learned at the Capital Grille. "It's not sexy, but it allows you to be consistent, which is huge for restaurants," he said, noting it matters even more while Denver's dining scene is struggling. Local suppliers and consistent execution are both aimed at the same diner, the one who lives a few blocks away and comes back often.
The room changed with the owners. Wash Park Social has more booths than the Grille, which was mostly tables. Hickey called the horseshoe bar by the entrance a jewel and said much of the investment went into "the things you see right when you walk in the door."
The posted details point the same way. According to the restaurant's own pages:
The happy hour page lists it as 3 to 6 p.m., while the patio page calls it Social Hour and lists 3 to 5 p.m. If you're planning to arrive after five, call ahead.
Opening at 10 a.m. on weekends, keeping weekday happy hour and covering both patios all suit a neighborhood crowd. That means people walking dogs on a Saturday morning, people leaving nearby offices at the end of the day, and people coming back from a loop around the park. A destination restaurant would be set up differently.
The second part of the plan hasn't arrived yet, as far as published reports show. In March, the Denver Post reported that Hickey would reopen the 700-square-foot former Agave Taco Bar space next to Social about two months after Social opened. The new spot, called Provecho's, was described as a street taco and margarita concept.
By that timeline it would have opened around midsummer, but no published report has confirmed an opening. The South Gaylord business directory has a merchant page for "Provecho" at 2217 E. Mississippi Ave., published in April, with no opening date or hours. A 2025 report on the redevelopment called the planned taco concept Taco Garage. Until the owners announce it, treat the taco counter as planned, not open. When it does open, the two storefronts that closed together in February 2025 will be back in business under one neighborhood operator.
Old South Gaylord's next big event is Trick or Treat Street on Saturday, October 31, from 3 to 6 p.m. Local businesses on the street hand out treats. It will be Wash Park Social's first Halloween on the block, and it falls on a Saturday, when the restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The same pattern of a local business growing close to home is visible on South Pearl. Reunion Bakery, from James Beard-nominated baker Ismael de Sousa, left its original spot in The Source market hall. It opened a larger bakery and café at 1240 S. Pearl St. in Platt Park in early May. The bigger space has an all-day menu with brunch dishes like the "Eggsession," an open-faced sourdough sandwich with soft-scrambled eggs. Bread service runs Wednesday through Sunday, and the pastel de nata is still on the menu.
Two more dates on South Pearl round out the fall:
At Mckinze Casey, we follow corners like 1096 S. Gaylord closely, including who buys the building, who runs it and what that means for the block. If you're thinking about a home near Old South Gaylord or South Pearl and want to know how these changes affect the streets around it, Mckinze Casey can walk you through it. Request a Private Consultation.
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