The block of South Rapp Street between 5757 and 5827 now has a mead tasting room, a kava and mocktail bar, and a chicken-feed shop within a few doors of each other. Honnibrook Mead Cottage pours craft mead at 5757 S. Rapp St. and has a patio. Next door, at 5767, Tonic Zero Proof Bar is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. A little farther up, Lewis and Cluck has returned to 5827 S. Rapp St.
Around the corner on West Alamo Avenue, DIRT Coffee moved into a house built in 1901. For about a year, most of downtown Littleton's growth has happened a block or two off Main Street. Main Street's own rebuild is now at the point where the city is asking what it should become, and the side streets already offer a working example.
One Empty Storefront, Three Moves
The Rapp Street cluster formed through a chain of moves. DIRT Coffee used to operate on Rapp. When it moved, Tonic's founders Manny Sampedro and Brett Young were touring the old space as DIRT got ready to relocate to Alamo, and they "immediately fell in love with the space," according to the Littleton Independent. They had searched across the Denver metro before choosing it. They wanted a neighborhood that was walkable without being in a city.
Tonic serves kava, a mocktail menu, ginger beer on tap, 0% beers, drip coffee, and cold brew. The owners have already co-hosted live music with Honnibrook next door and say they plan to keep doing it. Young summed up why they chose the block:
"We can all be collaborative and successful together because of the neighborhood, because people come down here for the neighborhood, not for an individual business."
Lewis and Cluck followed the same pull. The chicken-feed and supply shop had moved out to South Broadway, and it came back downtown under new owner Steve Skundberg, who bought it from founder Pete McClintock. Taken together, the three moves put a mead patio, an all-day zero-proof bar, and a backyard-chicken supply shop on one short stretch of Rapp.
The House on Alamo
DIRT Coffee's space at 2506 W. Alamo Ave. is larger than the one it left, and the layout shows it. The two-story house has more seating and a new electric drum roaster. Out front are a porch and an outdoor gas fireplace. Upstairs is a workforce-connection center. It has a Comcast Lift Zone computer lab, accessible technology, and room for coaching, résumé help, interview prep, and business meetings. Development manager Brooke Shellhorn told the Littleton Downtown Development Authority the expansion would create more meaningful-work opportunities for neurodivergent people.
DIRT has been on Alamo since October 17. The DDA feature announcing the move ran in December 2025, so by this fall the house is an established stop. Outlanes Pinball Lounge, at 2555 W. Alamo Ave., shares the street and was among the downtown openings the DDA highlighted in summer 2025.
Main Street Is Still Adding Storefronts
Main Street keeps adding shops too. Leaves on Main opened Sept. 5 at 2699 Main St. It sells indoor plants, books, and plant-care supplies. Founder Nancy Szilagyi has a Colorado Master Gardener background and used to run a landscaping business.
The street those shops sit on is a different matter. The side streets got their new character one lease at a time. Main Street's changes will come through a single public works project, and its scope is still being set.
What Main Street Is Actually Deciding
The city has authorized about $32.6 million for the Main Street Improvements project. That total is up to $30 million in Certificates of Participation plus $2.6 million in other capital funding, according to reporting in The Badger on Sept. 17. The project is the first major piece of the Project Downtown Concept Plan, which City Council adopted unanimously in November 2024. It is now in preliminary design.
The concept plan calls for a pedestrian-oriented corridor along all four blocks of Main Street, with the biggest changes on the interior blocks. That includes a curbless section between Curtice and Prince streets. What remains open is how much of the budget goes past the required infrastructure. The Badger reported that the project splits roughly into two tiers:
- Baseline: drive lanes, curbside parking, loading and drop-off zones, sidewalks at least 5 feet wide with ADA access to building entrances, streetlights, trees and landscaping, traffic signals, and compliant curb ramps and push buttons.
- Possible enhancements: wider sidewalks, bulb-outs, raised crosswalks, patios and social spaces, stormwater planters, more tree canopy, event hardscape, festival lighting, gateways, wayfinding, and interpretive features.
The second list describes much of what already draws people to Rapp and Alamo: patios, places to sit, and streets comfortable enough to linger on. At its Sept. 22 study session, council was scheduled to discuss five priority outcomes: pedestrian circulation and comfort, business and street activation, trees and landscape, event flexibility, and downtown identity and character.
The schedule has firm checkpoints but no construction dates yet. The city's investment-strategy presentation shows council giving direction in January on two or three preliminary design scenarios, then approving a preliminary design in March and moving into final design. Construction appears later on a timeline that runs through 2029. The city has not set the timing, locations, or length of any closures, and it has not settled on a phasing plan. The project page says the team is evaluating phasing strategies to limit impacts and keep downtown businesses accessible. A parallel effort, Project PARKing, is studying parking, loading, and curbside needs for downtown and Littleton Boulevard during and after construction.
The Fall Calendar Is the Test Case for "Event Flexibility"
Of the five outcomes, event flexibility is the easiest to picture, because the calendar for the next ten weeks puts it on display. The concept plan specifically calls for event-closure infrastructure on Main Street. These are the downtown dates on the books this fall:
- Sept. 25, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.: The final Downtown Littleton Wine Walk of 2026. The Littleton Merchants Association launched the series this year. Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door.
- Oct. 3, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Littleton Craft Fair at Ketring Park, with more than 250 booths and, new this year, acoustic live music arranged by Littleton Arts.
- Oct. 10: Big Pride Littleton, an all-day event organized by Littleton Q+.
- Oct. 25, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Goblin Giveout, hosted by the Littleton Merchants Association.
- Nov. 20: Pink Friday, a shop-local event with downtown businesses.
- Nov. 27, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: The Candlelight Walk. The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. After Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, a drone show flies over the Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street.
- Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday.
The downtown calendar that lists several of these is updated dynamically, so check with the organizers before heading out. The Candlelight Walk shows why the enhancement list matters. It fills the whole length of Main Street, from the parade route to Bowles Plaza to the west-end sky. Event hardscape and festival lighting are two of the options council will weigh for exactly that kind of night.
October 5 Is the Public Window
The city will hold an open house on Project Main Street and Project PARKing on Monday, Oct. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Half Moon Room at Arapahoe Community College, 5900 S. Santa Fe Dr. An online survey opens the same day. Details are on the city's event page. The city says this input will directly shape the design it develops for construction, and the Let's Talk Littleton project page has a sign-up for updates. Council's January direction on the design scenarios is the next decision point after that.
If you own a home near downtown and want to know how streetscape plans like this one tend to show up in local home values, REBL Home Team follows Littleton at the block level and can walk you through it. See your home's value now.
