Williams Village Boulder Redevelopment: What's Next on Baseline?

"I'm very concerned that we're taking out a 15-minute grocery for a neighborhood, with no guarantee of getting it back," Planning Board member Jorge Boone said in September 2025, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. He voted against Williams Village II partly for that reason. The board approved the project anyway.

Ten months later, the scenario he described came true. In July 2026, Sprouts Farmers Market told Axios Boulder that its store at 2950 Baseline Road would close for good on Sept. 4 and would not come back to the redeveloped center. The homes on this corner are approved, measured and counted. The shops at street level, which are what most of South Boulder will actually use, now have no named tenants.

What the Council Signed Off On

The Boulder City Council approved Williams Village II unanimously on Nov. 20, 2025, KUNC reported. That came a month after council voted 7-2 on Oct. 23 to call the project up for its own review, with members calling the 416,927-square-foot proposal too big to leave with the Planning Board.

The property owner is George Williams LLLP, and Morgan Creek Ventures is the developer. The approved plan includes:

Fifty-eight thousand square feet of commercial space is a real amount of retail. It is also the one line in that table nobody has filled. When council voted, developers said many current businesses wanted to stay at the center, and they named Sprouts, Cosmo's Pizza and Dairy Queen. Of those, Sprouts was the only business to say publicly that it planned to reopen in the new development.

Two Departures in One Year

The plan's two best-known tenants left months apart, and neither gave much warning.

1. September 2025. The Planning Board approves the project. Boone votes no over the grocery question.
2. Oct. 23, 2025. Council calls the project up for its own review.
3. Nov. 20, 2025. Council approves Williams Village II unanimously. At that point the plan included a new space for the Dark Horse.
4. April 2026. The Dark Horse says it is moving to Louisville instead of returning.
5. July 16, 2026. Sprouts tells Axios Boulder that its Baseline store will close Sept. 4 and won't return.

The Dark Horse was the emotional center of the public hearings. KUNC described it as a Boulder staple for 50 years, known for the antique artifacts hanging from its ceiling. Under a 2024 memorandum reported by Boulder Reporting Lab, the developers agreed to help the owner look for relocation sites and to move and store the bar's memorabilia. In return, the owner agreed to oppose any effort to landmark the existing building.

The bar's next home is planned for the former Outback Steakhouse at 988 W. Dillon Road in Louisville, near U.S. 36 and McCaslin Boulevard. CBS Colorado reported at the time that the lease was in hand but not yet signed. In April, the bar's manager told the Daily Camera the Louisville location would open "ASAP" and that "as much as we can" of the memorabilia would carry over. Axios Boulder reported that the bar's well-known bathroom doors are coming along too, with karaoke and trivia night.

Sprouts gave no reason for its decision. The company said in its email to Axios that "closing a store is never an easy decision, and we are deeply grateful to the customers who have supported the Baseline Road location over the years." The store had been on Baseline since 2009.

Storefronts Built for a Different Kind of Tenant

This is where the design matters. According to Boulder Reporting Lab, the project team made the commercial spaces smaller on purpose so local businesses could afford them. The buildings surround a central village and are tied together by the woonerf, a Dutch term for a "living street" where cars can pull in for drop-offs and pickups but aren't the priority.

Bill Holicky, speaking for the project team, told council the old center had been built around cars, and that the message from council was to do something different. "The whole point of a neighborhood center was car-dominant," he said, as reported by KUNC. "Everything we heard from you was, 'Don't do that … invent something.'"

A large grocery store and a 50-year-old tavern with a ceiling full of antiques were the two tenants least like everyone else in that mix. Both have now opted out. Axios put it plainly: developers wanted businesses on the ground floors, "but it now appears those will be new tenants." Smaller spaces around a pedestrian street tend to suit coffee shops, quick-service kitchens and specialty food shops better than a full grocery. No replacement tenant, grocer or otherwise, has been announced.

South Boulder has shown demand for neighborhood food recently. When Hosea Rosenberg was preparing to open Morso at 627A S. Broadway in the former Under the Sun space, he told BizWest the area was "a hungry neighborhood."

What the Plan Leaves Alone

Not everything on the corner is changing. Of the 9.86 acres, 7.96 are being redeveloped. Boulder Reporting Lab reported that the McDonald's and the Boulder Broker hotel would not be demolished, and KUNC said the Broker Inn would not be affected.

The redevelopment area takes in the buildings that house Moe's Original BBQ, Cosmo's Pizza, Dairy Queen, Carelli's of Boulder and other businesses, according to KUNC. The Daily Camera's list of buildings to be demolished also included a Conoco gas station. Moe's lists its location as 675 30th Street, and Carelli's lists 645 30th Street. None of these businesses has announced a closing date or a new address. Calling ahead before a weeknight dinner is a good idea while the corner is in flux.

The Errand Map Until Construction

For groceries, the nearest store from the same chain is the Sprouts at 2525 Arapahoe Avenue, which Axios put about two miles from the Baseline location. That is a short drive. It is not the walk or bike ride that Boone had in mind with "15-minute grocery."

On timing, the project team told Boulder Reporting Lab in late 2025 that construction would happen in phases and could start within about a year once the remaining permits were approved. The Daily Camera reported that the first phase is the student-housing building, and the second phase starts after it. That estimate came before either anchor tenant left, and developers haven't announced a groundbreaking date since.

If you own near Baseline and 30th and want to know how the Williams Village II timeline could affect your own plans for selling, buying or staying, I'm glad to go through it with you. Candace Newlove Marrs follows South Boulder one corner at a time. Schedule a personal consultation.