New Restaurants Coming to Castle Rock 2026 and the Rest of the County: Border Burger Is Open, Peak Pizza Says Late October, 7 Brew Lands in Castle Pines, and Lockheed Adds 450 Jobs

Two weeks since edition seven, and this one is heavier on doors actually opening: a sports bar, a cookie shop, a coffee stand, two Pilates studios and a food truck yard, plus the first owner-stated date for the Outlets' pizzeria and the county's biggest jobs announcement of the year. Tip line on the About page. Verified closures got their own piece this week: the fall closings roundup.

Lockheed Martin: 450 jobs, and the county pays with a tax rebate

The biggest item is not a restaurant. Gov. Jared Polis announced October 8 at the Site Selection Conference in Denver that Lockheed Martin will expand its existing Douglas and Jefferson County facilities, with up to 450 new jobs in Douglas County over the next four years and about 190,000 square feet of additional space, per the county's own release. The county's side of the deal: Lockheed keeps paying standard real property taxes on land and buildings, and the county rebates its share of the business personal property tax on equipment, with the incentive to appear in the proposed 2027 budget. The release names no site and no dollar figure for the rebate. Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle credited the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation; Lockheed's Kate Watts said "expansion like this does not happen in isolation." We will report the rebate amount when the budget is published.

Opened

Border Burger Sports Bar opened September 30 at 810 New Memphis Ct. in Castle Rock, in the building that was Trifecta Sports Bar and Grill, per DougCo Social, which reports owner Rick Good (Border Burger Bar in Manitou Springs), three floors, a third-floor cigar lounge and a plan to make the first floor 21-plus. The bar's own site lists burgers ground in-house, Colorado craft beer, and hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends. The exterior still said Trifecta when DougCo Social visited, so do not drive past it.

Joy Batch Cookies and Coffee opened October 9 at 9315 Dorchester St., Unit 109, in Highlands Ranch, the first storefront for what was Quinnie's Cookies, Sarah Carlson's home bakery, per DougCo Social, which also reports the shop sold out on both days of its opening weekend. The shop's own site lists launch hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Castle Pines Chamber ribbon cutting is set for October 20, 4 to 5 p.m.

7 Brew Coffee now lists a stand at 570 Castle Pines Pkwy. on its locations page, the chain's first in Douglas County per DougCo Social, which describes it as a 510-square-foot double-lane drive-through with no lobby, no order-ahead yet, and hours of 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday). Customer reviews started appearing October 5.

Nova Glow Studio, carried in this tracker as "August," then "fall," then "October 10," is open. Its site now reads "now open in downtown Parker," and DougCo Social reports a grand opening on Saturday, October 10, with a limited soft-opening schedule from October 12 for about two weeks. It is at 19865 Mainstreet, Suite 110, in The Juniper: ten reformers on the window side, a 90-to-95-degree infrared mat room with red light panels, an infrared sauna, and a $75 two-week unlimited intro. BODYBAR Pilates in Highlands Ranch, which we had as "opens October 12," is also open: the studio's page at 9265 S. Broadway, Suite 100, now lists a full weekly schedule from 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and DougCo Social's list puts the grand opening party at October 7.

The Gathering Yard, a food truck and vendor lot at 11023 S. Pikes Peak Dr. behind the main building, a short walk from Mainstreet Parker, has been soft-open Fridays through Sundays since October 1, per DougCo Social, with rotating trucks, no posted daily hours, and a Grand Opening and Fall Festival set for Friday, October 30, 5 to 8 p.m. Bring a chair.

Dated, slipped, and honestly unknown

Peak Pizza at the Outlets at Castle Rock (Suite 660, next to the food court that lost Villa Pizza in 2024) finally has a window from the people who matter: owners Allen and Katie Hoover, who also run the Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon at the Outlets and ran Villa Pizza there from 2021 to 2024, told DougCo Social on October 6 they are "aiming to open in mid-to-late October." The Outlets' own store page still says "coming soon." New York slices from a rotating stack of whole pies, strombolis, soft-serve, about 50 seats, five to seven arcade games, and beer and wine pending the license.

Dunkin' at 1185 Aloha St. in Castle Rock, in Founders Marketplace, was supposed to open "late September or early October" per the statement Dunkin's PR team gave DougCo Social on September 3. As of DougCo Social's October 5 check the signage was up, the store locator still said "coming soon," and there was no firm date. We could not get the locator to tell us anything different today.

Thirsty Lion Gastropub is coming to 8335 Park Meadows Center Dr. in Lone Tree; the chain's own locations page says "opening late 2026," and DougCo Social reports December.

SuBourbon on Main, the whiskey bar at 19590 Mainstreet, Suite 101, in Parker's old chamber building (next to the Rugby Scott butcher shop), has slipped to "around the new year," per DougCo Social's October 10 visit, which found an epoxy crew on the floor and no one willing to commit to a date. Signs have been up since late August.

The Summit Society speakeasy now has a location on DougCo Social's list: the Parker Hotel on Mainstreet, still targeting December 1. We said last edition that if it landed in The Juniper, that building would have done more for Mainstreet nightlife in a year than the previous decade. It is a block away instead. Close enough.

Built, or being built

Fire Station 156 is going up on Castle Oaks Drive in northeast Castle Rock, the town's sixth station, serving Cobblestone Ranch and Terrain. Town Council approved the construction contract with O-A-K Colorado on March 3 (Legistar RES 2026-031, at the west side of Castle Oaks Drive and Pleasant View Drive), crews broke ground April 16, and CBS Colorado reported a $21.5 million total for a 13,000-square-foot station plus a 13,000-square-foot logistics and fleet-maintenance center, operational in 2027. Fire Chief Norris Croom told CBS the northeast corner is seeing response times of 14 to 15 minutes and the station should "cut those response times in more than half." Two contract amendments for the owner's representative and the engineer sat on the October 6 consent calendar; DougCo Social reports they add $137,340 and $21,680 after the site was moved for floodplain issues, within the existing budget. We have not read the staff memo and are attributing that.

Castle Rock Planning Commission, October 8: both items passed. The commission approved the 112-home Crystal Valley Ranch site development plan on its consent calendar (PC 2026-025), and approved the RidgeView Town Center annexation and its planned-development zoning at 895 N. Ridge Road in separate votes (PC 2026-026), per the town's Legistar records. On annexation and zoning the commission only recommends: RidgeView goes to Town Council on Tuesday, October 20, at 6 p.m., and Crystal Valley Ranch is noticed for a council hearing November 17, per the town's hearing notices as reported by DougCo Social. If you care about either, that is the meeting.

Baby Café: the county health department opened a free weekly drop-in for breastfeeding and lactation support on October 8, Thursdays 10 a.m. to noon on the third floor of 11045 E. Lansing Circle in Englewood, the WIC office. No appointment, no referral, no WIC enrollment required, per the county.

The still-waiting list, kept honest

• Cask and Trotter (19865 Mainstreet, Unit 150, The Juniper, Parker): the navy sign is now mounted over the door, photographed October 10 by DougCo Social, which still says end of 2026. Jeffrey Coyle's Table 31 Hospitality (Wolf Peach Public House). 5,000 square feet.
• Thai Wow (794 S. Perry St., Castle Rock): the restaurant's own site still says "coming soon" with ordering unavailable. DougCo Social says late 2026. Same as it was.
• GQue BBQ (18424 Cottonwood Dr., Parker): still not on GQue's own locations page. End of 2026 remains the only target anyone has said out loud.
• Stumpy's Pizza: the website still lists the 138 S. Wilcox hours it stopped keeping in August. No new address.
• The Hideaway (600 Jerry St., Castle Rock): closed since the May fires, no rebuild date.
• Los Dos Potrillos (6372 Promenade Pkwy., Castle Rock): no 2026 update. Still on the list.
• Vehicle Vault (18301 Lincoln Meadows Pkwy., Parker): held its "one final gathering," the last Espresso and Exhaust, on October 10, per the banner on its own homepage. The museum's hours page is unchanged (Wednesday to Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday noon to 5) and no closing date has been published. Details in the closings piece.
• Dunkin', Castle Rock: see above. Joins the list until it opens.

Next edition around October 26. Previous: edition seven.