The old schoolhouse at 1604 S. Cascade Ave., near South Tejon Street and East Ramona Avenue, has a new boss. Bristol Brewing Company now runs every inch of Ivywild School, the 1916 elementary building that closed in 2009 and reopened in 2013 as a food hall and gathering spot, after its longtime partner Blue Star Group packed up to rebuild its original restaurant across the street.
A Clean Split Between Longtime Partners
The change became official around a school-wide refresh planned for Sept. 21, 2026, according to sidedishschniper.com, which reported that Bristol Brewing Company assumed all operational duties at the whole complex while Blue Star Group departed to focus on its long-awaited return. The Gazette reported that Mike and Amanda Bristol, who own the brewery, now hold the entirety of Ivywild School, with Mike Bristol telling the paper, “We’re officially fully Ivywild,” according to gazette.com. In the same arrangement, Blue Star Group fully owns the Blue Star Building at 1645 S. Tejon Street, the Gazette reported.
The building itself carries plenty of history worth protecting. It was built in 1916 and closed in 2009; Mike Bristol, Blue Star owner Joe Coleman and a local architect joined to buy the building, which reopened in 2013 as a modern, multiuse space, the Gazette's account notes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has also pointed out that Ivywild School quickly became a popular gathering place in Colorado Springs’ Ivywild neighborhood after that reopening.
Mornings Get a Makeover Inside the Food Hall
Early risers now have more reason to show up before the lunch crowd. The Principal’s Office now opens at 7 a.m. every day to complement breakfast with craft coffee drinks brewed with beans from local roaster Loyal Coffee, according to springsmag.com. Bluebird Breakfast and Yellow Brick Bake Shop are now open at the community marketplace and food hall, the outlet reported, with Bluebird serving hot items like breakfast burritos, omelets and French toast from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. daily.
Yellow Brick Bake Shop, open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, sells pastries, breads, tarts, cookies, brownies and other desserts that are baked fresh on site, per the same account. The bakery took over the space vacated by Gold Star Bakery, which moved across the street into Blue Star for production, sidedishschniper.com reported.
Pizza Out, A New Lunch and Dinner Concept In
Not every change is finished yet. Decent Pizza will be shelved for now, to be replaced mid-January 2027 with The Restless Chef, according to fox21news.com. The incoming concept is planned as a lunch and dinner spot that will explore a wide variety of food cultures and regions with a menu that changes quarterly, the station reported.
Fox21 also reported that Ivywild Kitchen will eventually move to the north end of the building, right next to a new indoor counter for Spark BBQ. Meanwhile, Salad or Bust, Axe and The Oak and retail outfit Odds & Ends will stay in place, sidedishschniper.com reported, giving regulars some continuity amid the shakeup.
One Tab for the Whole Building
Ivywild is also trying to make paying easier across its sprawling footprint. The complex is introducing a unified point of sale system that will allow guests to have one food and beverage tab wherever they go in the building, according to the Fox21 report. Future plans at the school include weekend brunch, more live music, art openings and additional events, the station added.
Blue Star Rebuilds Its Original Home
Across the street, Blue Star is working toward a comeback of its own in the building it relocated to in 1998, after first opening in Old Colorado City in 1995. The restaurant is moving back in at 1645 South Tejon Street, according to kktv.com.
The pairing of a 110-year-old schoolhouse with a Colorado Springs restaurant reopening in its original storefront fits a pattern the Colorado Real Estate Journal has flagged in its coverage of the city’s growth: it has pointed to Ivywild School as an example of a successful adaptive reuse project, and noted that another former elementary school, the Lincoln Center, was purchased in 2015, redeveloped and reopened in 2016. Colorado Springs had a 14.7 percent millennial growth rate from 2010 to 2015, the fastest rate of any city in the nation.
As Colorado Public Radio reported, food journalist Matthew Schniper of the Side Dish newsletter noted that Bristol Brewing is a 30-year-old brewery, with Phantom Canyon standing as the city’s original brewery. Ivywild School has functioned as a food hall, and Blue Star owner Joseph Coleman could not give an exact reopening date.
