New Aurora wine bar joins next chapter for East Colfax Avenue

In Aurora, a stretch of East Colfax long known for its grit and challenges is starting to see signs of change, including a new business that hopes to be part of its future without erasing its past.

Society 303, a Latina-owned wine bar, opened its doors this fall at Colfax Avenue and Dallas Street, serving big pours and small plates in a cozy space. Owner Natasha Sztevanovity said it immediately felt like home.

"East Colfax reminds me so much of New York City, which is where I'm from," she said. "I definitely saw the potential when I came to see the space, even though I think a lot of people were second guessing why I was starting a business here."

Society 303 opened just as East Colfax Avenue crossed a major threshold. Voters in Northwest Aurora approved the creation of the Colfax Downtown Development Authority. A DDA is designed to focus exclusively on improving a downtown area. Aurora's Colfax DDA will:

• Reinvest the growth in future tax revenues back into the area, rather than creating a new tax
• Focus on safety, infrastructure, small-business support, housing and economic development along the East Colfax Avenue corridor, guided by the Colfax Community Vision & Action Plan.
• Work alongside a Community Development Corporation (CDC) that will have more flexibility to address housing stability and broader neighborhood issues around the corridor.

For Mateos Alvarez, executive director of the neighborhood organization Original Aurora Neighbors, the vote was a turning point a decade in the making. Alvarez said previous attempts to "fix" East Colfax fizzled because they were driven by city staff and elected officials who rotated in and out, but not by residents.

"What was lacking was the community component, community kind of driving this and pushing this," he said. "In the past, that community engagement component was not a part of the original conversation. This time, what's different and unique is that community presence, that community voice, has been the game changer."

With the creation of the DDA, East Colfax Avenue is officially being branded as Downtown Aurora.

"How do you make people feel safe to come out, to spend money at a restaurant that helps small business owners?" said Alvarez. "That generates other opportunities when it comes to reviving East Colfax, making it more walkable, more lighting. All of those things."

The challenge, Alvarez said, will be moving fast enough to peel boards off vacant buildings without pricing out the people who kept the lights on. For many longtime residents and business owners, the word "revitalization" comes with a question: Will they still be here to see it?

"I voted for it, but now what's going to happen?" Alvarez said, summing up what he's heard from neighbors. "There is always that weariness that our community could be setting itself up to have large numbers of residents pushed out, and that's not what we want."

Sztevanovity describes Society 303 as rooted in community and connection. As a Latina owner, she's aware of concerns about gentrification in one of the most diverse communities in the country.

"As soon as someone walks in, they're taken care of," she said. "It doesn't matter what they look like, what their income is. None of that matters. I have a lot of Spanish-speaking customers, and I'm really happy to speak Spanish to them. As a Latina too, I feel like it is a big responsibility to make sure that anyone who walks through these doors never, ever feels judged."

Society 303 is open several nights a week, pouring wine for neighbors who've waited decades to see change and who are determined to make sure it's on their terms.

"A lot of people in my life have told me that I'm not capable of this," she said, tearing up. "So to be here is truly a dream come true. I'm here because I believe in the area. I love how diverse this area is. I appreciate how hard people work in this area, and I just want to be a small part of it."