The commercial real estate cliché about retail following rooftops describes what’s playing out in Parker, as trendy national retailers like Trader Joe’s and In-N-Out Burger are choosing to open locations in the Douglas County town southeast of Denver.

On top of that, downtown-changing development seems imminent as the Town Council approved an exclusive negotiation agreement last week with Golden-based Confluence Companies, an urban infill developer that’s changed downtown Castle Rock, for five Mainstreet parcels it’s been trying to sell individually for years.

“We’re excited to see many new-to-market retailers and restaurants coming to Parker in 2022,” said Deputy Town Administrator Bo Martinez. “We continue to be a premier location for those types of retailers. … It has a lot to do with our highly-educated population with spending power.”

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Parker experienced a growth surge in the past decade, with its population increasing 23% from 2010 to 2020, according to the most recent census data. It now has 58,512 residents, making it Colorado’s 19th most populous city.

Openings in 2022 will include super-popular grocer Trader Joe’s, which is almost finished building a store at the Crown Point commercial development on the northeast corner of Parker Road and E-470, next to Costco. Just south of that intersection, fast-casual chicken tenders restaurant Slim Chickens is close to opening on Parker Road and Pine Lane.

In-N-Out Burger has filed development plans for that same corner with Parker’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

“We do hope to open a new restaurant in Parker sometime in the future,” Mike Abbate, assistant vice president of real estate and development for In-N-Out, said in an email. “At this stage, we are in the development application process, so it’s still too early to say when, or even if, we will be able to open a restaurant there.”

The popular California burger chain has five restaurants in Colorado, with three more under construction in Thornton, Castle Rock and Denver. Once construction begins, it’s typically seven to eight months before opening, Abbate said.

Negotiations also are underway to bring an Amazon Fresh grocery store to Parker Road and Mainstreet, where the Goodwill Industries retail store used to be located, according to two sources familiar with the deal. Plans show adding 6,267 square feet of space to the existing 3,550 square feet. According to commercial real estate listing site LoopNet, “national grocery tenant filling the Goodwill space soon.”

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Documents filed with the town show Denver’s Zaga Design Group as the applicant. The group’s listed contact did not return messages seeking comment. An Amazon spokeswoman declined comment.

As for the deal with Confluence Companies, Martinez said town officials are working with “an urban infill downtown developer that has a great track record doing these types of developments.”

“We’ve got some great vibrancy, and some great building blocks downtown,” he said.

The town has been trying to sell four of the five parcels for years. A citizen’s committee in 2019 tried to get a ballot measure to voters that would have rezoned the largest parcel, 24 acres on Pine Lane and Mainstreet, to open space in an attempt to preserve it as grassland. The measure never made it to the ballot. The fifth parcel is owned by P3, the Parker Authority for Reinvestment — the town’s urban renewal authority. The group conducted surveys and meetings “to provide feedback about how to best develop” the properties.

“The (agreement) grants Confluence Companies a 90-day exclusivity period to conduct site due diligence, study development feasibility and develop concept plans,” according to a news release. “During this exclusivity period, the My Mainstreet parcels will not be listed for sale, nor (will) the Town of Parker or P3 have discussions with any firm regarding the development of the properties.”

Tony De Simone, Confluence’s principal and co-owner, said the company specializes in “vibrant, mixed-use environments.”

“There’s a ton of potential in Parker,” De Simone said. “But the approach the town was taking was not right to list all the parcels and hope you get a developer to do what you want. Our approach is to take all those things and master plan them and put them under one group that can work in partnership with the town. That route should yield more success.

“Our purpose is to create something special there.”

The company developed the successful Encore and Riverwalk mixed-use developments in downtown Castle Rock. The $150 million developments added 354 new (multifamily) residences, 124 for-sale condominiums, 80,000 square feet of commercial space with condos and five new restaurants. There’s also 35,000 square feet of office space in Riverwalk, and 15,000 in Encore.

“All the uses are working together,” said De Simone. “The office space creates daytime users and makes the restaurants viable.”

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Martinez acknowledged that there’s a segment of the Parker population that’s not quite pro-growth — as evidenced by the 2019 citizens committee.

“Yes, we want to keep it local and local is great, but you also have to make sure that you have a regional draw as well,” Martinez said. “People want authentic, unique and experiential experiences in order to create a great place and I think we have all the building blocks to make that happen.”

“We need to get to work now,” said De Simone. “We’ll have something exciting to share in a few months.”