Owners of Cherry Cricket, the well-loved burger and beer joint that’s been a Cherry Creek staple since 1945, closed the deal on a third location in Littleton Thursday by buying a building there.

The new restaurant, 819 W. Littleton Blvd., is about one mile east of downtown Littleton at the site of the longtime restaurant Crestwood off Huron Street. It’s being built by the Breckenridge-Wynkoop Restaurant Group.

“We’re excited to bring our quirkiness at the Cricket to this location,” said Alex Bunn, vice president of brand strategy. “It has a lot of its own personality already.”

The 6,400 square-foot, free-standing building is surrounded by trees, and includes a pond, fountain and a foot bridge. Loopnet most recently listed the sales price reduced at $1.5 million. It’s also been Pinocchios Italian restaurant and DS’ Tavern.

“It’s always been a restaurant location,” Bunn said. “Maybe we’ll do a menu item as homage to some of the previous owners or history … but by and large it’s going to be the menu that folks love at the Cricket.”

The Group also owns Phantom Canyon in Colorado Springs, the Wynkoop Brewery downtown Denver, the other two Crickets and some coffee shops. Expansion plans had been underway in 2019, but the COVID-19 induced pandemic shelved them until this year.

Why Littleton?

Bunn said the group has experience working with the city after it built and opened the Breckenridge Brewery there. The Brewery was later bought by Anheuser InBev (NYSE: BUD), along with the “Breckenridge” naming rights (the Ballpark location used to be a Breckenridge, before it was re-branded as Cherry Cricket).

“We had a lot of fun with that project,” she said. “That’s a big part of why we picked this new location in Littleton. We love that community.”

While the Ballpark Cricket had its challenges – as did every restaurant downtown with the pandemic closure orders and office workers disappearing – it’s almost up to 2019 sales levels, Bunn said. The Cherry Creek location fared better after they scrapped the parking lot and created a burger garden outdoors with 200 additional seats.

“We’re significantly ahead of our 2019 sales there,” she said.

In addition to expansion capability at the Littleton location, including room for another burger garden, Group officials plan for additional Cherry Cricket locations, as well.

“I do attribute (the Ballpark location’s success) to the strength of the brand,” Bunn said. “For us, it proves the strength of the band and leads up to believe that brand has additional legs.”

The Littleton Cherry Cricket is expected to open in late 2022, or early 2023.