After months of anticipation, Freedom Street Social — a food hall and gathering place in Arvada’s Candelas neighborhood — held its grand opening on July 13. Freedom Street Social is located at 15177 Candelas Parkway.
The space features vendors including Lea Jane's Hot Chicken, Giordano’s Pizza, Balance Grill, Sushi Lido, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, Breakfast Club, Press Coffee and Vinyl and Osito — the “little brother” of Denver favorites Mister Oso and Señor Bear.
Founder Nick Costanzo — a former franchisee of Marco’s Pizza — said he was inspired to create Freedom Street Social because of the dearth of dining and community gathering options in West Arvada, near his family’s home in Leyden Rock.
“Everybody in this area has been clamoring for restaurants,” Costanzo said. “1,000 people came to the soft opening. Everybody was smiling and happy and the chefs were smiling and (customers) gave us amazing comments on how they appreciate it for the neighborhood.
“We’re a part of this,” Costanzo continued. “We built it for us. We’re the stereotypical family in this area. We have two kids, 12 and 5, and we wanted to build something that works for us and works for everyone. It’s a very family-oriented place. There’s a date night area on the mezzanine. We’re just trying to create a lot for everybody.”
Costanzo said his vision for Freedom Street Social is for it to be more of a community hub than just a food hall. The facility includes a patio area with lawn games as well as a bar and 21-and-up mezzanine geared toward parents looking for a date night spot.
“We didn’t call it a food hall because we want it to be much more than that,” Costanzo said. “We want it to be a community hub. We want to have events, kids coming after and before school, the social aspect of what this could be.”
On their first day of business, Costanzo said he was thrilled with the staff, customers and vendors and how everything’s come together.
“The food’s amazing, the staff has been amazing,” Costanzo said. “It’s a dream list of vendors. We went to the ones we wanted, and everyone said ‘absolutely.’”
