On May 12, 2026, the City of Colorado Springs declared Tejon Street "officially revitalized." The $8.6 million project rebuilt two blocks, from Colorado Avenue to Kiowa Street, with wider sidewalks, bigger dining patios and granite crosswalks. Less than four months later, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar served its last meal at 11 S. Tejon, on the first block the project rebuilt.
That was one closure in a year of steady turnover on downtown's main street. The Downtown Partnership counts 24 new businesses opened downtown in 2026, with more than a dozen still in the pipeline. Line up the closures against the openings and a pattern shows. Most of the places that closed were built around a long sit-down dinner. Most of the places that opened are built for a shorter stop. The street was redesigned for lingering outside, and what's filling it now is a lineup of short visits.
What the $8.6 million actually built
Work started the previous spring on the block between Pikes Peak Avenue and Colorado Avenue, then moved north to Kiowa. The second block reopened in time for the 2025 holidays. A final closure in late April 2026 handled the Pikes Peak intersection, new paving and the decorative granite crosswalks.
The finished blocks have more room for sidewalk dining, a refreshed Historic Busy Corner, new trees, benches and light poles, and better stormwater drainage underneath. The city's own caption says the expanded dining areas have "room for everyone — and their dog." During the last phase, visitors interviewed by KRDO's Road Warrior said they liked the upgrades but would have preferred turning the two blocks into a pedestrian mall. So the street remains a street, now with much more room on the sidewalks.
The year's exits were mostly dinner restaurants
The closures started before the patios were finished. Oskar Blues Bar & Grill closed in late December. In January, 707 Pizza Co. paused service at 819 N. Tejon, Suite 120, with no reopening date. By September, The Gazette's downtown roundup listed it among the year's closures.
Jax had been on Tejon since January 2020, serving a raw bar, oysters, chowder, crab cakes and lobster. Its last day was Sunday, Aug. 30. Big Red F Restaurant Group, the Boulder company that owns it, explained the decision this way:
"After six and a half years — a long and disturbing trip down COVID Road, our current recession that isn't a recession, and a challenging Colorado restaurant climate — our Colorado Springs Jax location has closed."
The company said it has no plans to reopen Jax elsewhere in Colorado Springs. Its Boulder, LoDo and Fort Collins locations are still open.
The following week, owner Mitch Yellen confirmed that TILL Neighborhood Bistro & Bar and Vine & Wheel had closed at 616 S. Tejon. The two shared a building with Garden of the Gods Market and Café and were designed to work together. The café handled mornings and brunch, TILL took the dinner crowd, and Vine & Wheel ran as a stand-alone wine bar. The café is staying open with extended hours, and the TILL and Vine & Wheel spaces will become private event rooms.
At that address, the new setup is easy to describe. Daytime service is growing, the evening dinner room is becoming space booked for private events, and no replacement restaurant has been announced. No successor tenants have been named for the Jax or 707 spaces either.
What opened is built for shorter visits
Most of this year's arrivals sell a treat, a pastime or a game, and you can finish a visit in under an hour. Here they are from south to north, along with the nearby addresses that fill out the walk.
South end, Moreno Avenue to Colorado Avenue
- Dice Guys/Ice Guys, 29 E. Moreno Ave., just off Tejon's south end. It combines a game shop with homemade ice cream. It soft-opened by early June and held its grand opening June 12. Its downtown page lists events in early October.
- The Green Magick Vault, 514 S. Tejon, inside COATI. It announced a Sept. 1 grand opening.
- The Sportsbook Bar & Grill, 402 S. Tejon, Suite 100. Its public grand opening was June 5.
- Landmarks Coffee, 635 S. Sierra Madre St., Suite 100, next to Weidner Field. It moved from a truck into a permanent shop in early August.
Middle, Pikes Peak Avenue to Bijou
- Slice 420 Express, announced for 107 N. Tejon. An Aug. 20 Springs Magazine report expected it to open "before fall." The chain's location page doesn't list it yet, so check before you go.
- Stoney's Bar & Grill, 118 N. Tejon, in the former Oskar Blues space. It's the first Colorado Springs location for the chain and opened in early September. It has also announced a fall pumpkin-carving party, date to come.
- Terra Verde Boutique, 208 N. Tejon. The store reopened with a refreshed look on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
- Lolley's Ice Cream, 216 N. Tejon. It held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting Saturday, May 16, four days after the city finished the streetscape.
- Easy's Records & Vintage, 327 N. Tejon. It opened Sept. 10, giving downtown a stand-alone record shop again.
A block east of Tejon on Pikes Peak Avenue
- Ritual Hot House, 520 E. Pikes Peak Ave. This sauna and contrast-therapy studio opened July 11.
- The Karaoke Studio, 324 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 140. Its website says it plans to open in fall 2026. It's a separate business from Liquid Courage, the karaoke bar that opened at 114 N. Tejon in August 2025.
Read top to bottom, the list covers two ice cream counters, a game shop, a record shop, a boutique, a sauna and two sports-oriented bar and grills. Downtown still has its established dinner restaurants. But this year, most of the new options are a 30-minute stop on the way to somewhere else, and the wider sidewalks make walking between them easier than it was a year ago.
Why the south end is pulling its weight
The Downtown Partnership's 2026 list shows new businesses spread along Tejon, from Moreno Avenue at the south end to Colorado College at the north. New and planned apartments, however, are concentrated on downtown's southern and southwestern edges, near Weidner Field and the South Nevada corridor. Next to Weidner Field, the second phase of Experience at Epicenter has been approved to add 12,000 square feet of retail space. That's the same complex where The Brit Pub opened in October 2025.
So Dice Guys on Moreno, Landmarks beside the stadium, and The Sportsbook and Green Magick on South Tejon sit closest to downtown's newest households. The Partnership has also given more than $330,000 in grants this year to 11 downtown businesses, covering signs, lighting, opening inventory and marketing. That's the kind of startup cost a small storefront struggles to pay on its own.
Three October dates that use the new street
The rebuilt sidewalks get their busiest test of the season this month. Event details can change, so check the Downtown Partnership calendar before you go.
- Sunday Market at Acacia Park, Sundays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The season ends Oct. 25.
- Downtown Candy Crawl, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2 to 5 p.m. More than 20 downtown businesses are taking part. Tickets are $5 per candy recipient, and all ages are welcome. The rebuilt blocks between Colorado and Kiowa should handle the crowd better than the old, narrower sidewalks did.
- The Colorado Springs Philharmonic's Edward Scissorhands, Oct. 30 and 31 at Pikes Peak Center. It's a short walk to a pre-show stop at Lolley's or a post-show stop at Stoney's on North Tejon.
Tenant changes on Tejon tell you a lot about a block, including which spaces sit empty, which become event rooms, and which kinds of businesses can make the rent work. If you own downtown and want to know how this year's turnover affects your building or your block, talk to Benjamin Kennedy for a straight answer. Let's Connect.
