Seafood restaurant takes former Crafty Fox space in Fox Island

A new tenant has been secured for a long-vacant restaurant space at the entrance to Denver’s Fox Island.

Zulma Cervantes leased 5,700 square feet at 3901 Fox St., in the decade-old Fox Street Shops retail strip, to open Capri Seafood and Bar.

The space was last home to The Crafty Fox Taphouse + Pizzeria, which closed in June 2019.

Erik Ledezma of Call It Closed International Realty, who represented Cervantes in the deal, said Capri will serve fine seafood cuisine, similar to downtown’s Water Grill. But the dishes, such as succulent ceviche and grilled fish, will pull inspiration from northeast Mexico.

Ledezma said Cervantes is opening Capri with her brother Marcos. He said the siblings come from a family of restaurant owners in Mexico, but this is their first concept in the United States and Denver, where they now live.

Cervantes said opening a seafood restaurant that captures the “essence of Mexican flavor” has been a dream of Marcos, and the two have been developing the concept for years.

Fox Island, part of the Globeville neighborhood, is a semi-isolated pocket of Denver with a RTD station and an unusual set of restrictions on development. Despite the latter, it is growing, with new apartments on line and the Fox Park project poised to eventually replace a former Denver Post printing facility.

The four-unit Fox Street Shops was developed by Central Street Capital, the family office of the Salazar family. President Isiah Salazar said it was a struggle to fill the space in part because businesses were waiting to see how the pandemic shaked out, but also because the neighborhood is still in early stages of development.

“We’ve been bullish on the neighborhood for 20-plus years and it’s great to see development finally happening,” said Salazar, whose firm is building some of the apartments.