Aurora hopes federal grant will help transform Fletcher Plaza in the Colorado city's East Colfax neighborhood

Fletcher Plaza in front of the Martin Luther King Library on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora is kind of a park, and kind of the front door to the library. But one thing the Colorado city of Aurora thinks it is fully is a great, but underutilized, space.

Thoa Nguyen owns Banh & Butter Bakery Café right across the street. She says when she and her sister wanted to open their neighboring restaurants, something about the Aurora downtown area really spoke to them.

"I grew up on Federal (Boulevard), and it kind of reminds me of where my parents had first started," said Nguyen.

But she admits getting people to come into Banh & Butter can be challenging because of their location.

"You know, East Colfax goes so fast some people just don't know you exist," said Nguyen. "A lot of the businesses around here have to really rely on you know, social media and marketing. We kind of, you know, have a lot of families around us. But, you know, Stanley Marketplace is more of like the place where everyone kind of meets and everything."

That's why the City of Aurora applied for and received a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It wants to revitalize Fletcher Plaza.

"There's, you know, a lot of noise and traffic that comes by on Colfax itself. But the plaza itself has areas that just need to be reimagined," said Ginger White Brunetti the Director of Library and Cultural Services for the City of Aurora.

The plan is to add temporary features like play areas and host events at the plaza so they can find what will bring local artists and visitors into the area and keep the children and families that live nearby in their neighborhood.

"Creating those assets that allow that to happen and those amenities that allow that to happen is, I think, one way in which to create a space that is well utilized by the neighborhood," said White Brunetti.

The city says they will match the grant for a total $150,000 project budget.

Nguyen says that will make a huge difference for her and her sister.

"It's getting people to have events, to be here to know that you are on the like the map, you know, so it makes all the difference," said Nguyen.

Events and temporary installations will begin in the summer of 2027, but in the spring, the city will be looking for community input on what they would like to see at Fletcher Plaza.