Guests will soon be able to drink at the outdoor plaza next to Mission Ballroom.

The Denver City Council approved a bill in a block vote to designate the area around the concert venue as the North Wynkoop Entertainment District, which would include a common consumption area.

The drinking area would include the outdoor plaza outside of Mission Ballroom in the River North Arts District and a building owned by Westfield Company Inc., the same owner of Stanley Marketplace in Aurora (also a common consumption area).

There’s one exception: Bringing drinks in and out of Mission Ballroom will not be allowed.

The area was designed to allow people to drink while waiting outside to get into a show, camping for merchandise, after concert celebrations or for days when Mission Ballroom doesn’t have events. Participating businesses include Left Hand Brewery, Chubby Unicorn Cantina and the Peach Crease Club.

Mission Ballroom is operated by The Anschutz Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corp., which owns Clarity Media Group, parent company of The Denver Gazette.

This will be the first common consumption area license for the City and County of Denver — following several other Colorado cities like Aurora, Fort Collins, Glendale, Telluride, Greeley and more.

The applicant passed all required inspections, said Eric Escudero, spokesperson for the city’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and the department will issue the license once Mayor Mike Johnston signs the ordinance.

It’ll be different from a “city-established consumption area,” like the one set up in front of the Denver Pavilions off Glenarm Place and 16th Street, which has stricter restrictions such as businesses need a state liquor license for take-out drinks and it doesn’t allow people to bring their alcoholic beverages to adjacent businesses that aren’t eligible.

Meanwhile, common consumption areas are primarily designed for private properties.

Anyone with drinks will have to have a cup with branding from the participating businesses and they can’t take a drink out of the drinking zone.

The city’s common consumption pilot program was set to expire in June 2026 after struggling to get any applicants in its five years — until the application for Mission Ballroom came in August.

The licensing department’s spokesperson said at the time it wasn’t clear why there had been low interest, but suspects the pilot program’s implementation in the midst of the pandemic may have been bad timing.

The agency hopes Mission Ballroom plaza could pave the way for other applicants to see it can be done in the future.

The City Council also voted on Monday to repeal the sunset date, to ensure the district’s license could be renewed after its first year was up and to give future applicants more certainty that the program will still be around if they choose to invest in it, according to a city presentation.

It was a lengthy process to get the license, said Westfield Special Projects Manager Ally Fredeen. If other developers are considering getting one, she said they should start now because it could take a year or more.

It required establishing an entertainment district, getting proper insurance, and getting a board and association to manage the district, she said.

“I think that’s why we were the first successful applicant. It’s a beast,” Fredeen said. “It’s serious. It involves alcohol.”

Now that they’ve got it, Fredeen said the plaza will be the “starting point” for the common consumption area.

It also applies to any ground-floor businesses at 4180 Wynkoop St., including other non-alcohol businesses such as retail or an art gallery that may move there in the future. She added they’re also considering hosting farmers’ and makers’ markets at the plaza and music shows during the day when the concert venue doesn’t have shows.

The license could be issued as soon as this weekend, she said, just in time for the National Western Stock Show as many people will come to park by Mission Ballroom.

“We see a lot of potential in this area from building more community and drawing more people to the area, not just on concert night,” said Alex Jump, director of operations at the Peach Crease Club.

The new cocktail bar opened in November, with a culinary twist on alcoholic beverages. Cocktails on the menu are inspired by dishes such as borscht, papaya salad, jeweled rice and fattoush.

But ahead of its opening, the owners knew their landlord was seeking the special license and added a separate window bar called the “Peach Pit” that will serve cheaper and more traditional bar drinks.

“We built that window bar with the expectation that we’d be able to serve an unlimited number of people out the window on specific nights,” Jump said.

If the license comes through this weekend, she added, the cocktail bar plans to host a Jameson Irish coffee pop-up experience for attendees wanting to warm up with a drink, with hopes people will be allowed to come out to the plaza for the occasion.

“Any opportunity to draw more people there through this entertainment district,” Jump said, “We’re excited for the opportunity to do so.”