After decades in Old Town, bakery to breathe new life into Joe's Upholstery building

The smell of vinyl and the sound of a clacking sewing machine will soon be replaced by the aroma of fresh-baked sourdough and the din of diners at 247 Linden St.

Bread Fellow, a new bakery and cafe in Fort Collins, is set to open in the historic 1882 building in late February, marking a new life for the longtime former auto upholstery shop. The bakery's opening will also signify the end of eight years of closed doors and a two-year redevelopment project that has transformed the space from top to bottom.

The building is the first project for Snagwood, a Boulder-based development business focused on restoring historic mixed-use buildings in walkable downtown areas across Colorado. The company purchased the Tubbs and Cowan block at 247 and 249 Linden St. — best known for its decades as Joe's Auto Upholstery — in 2021, according to Snagwood founder and owner Drew Fink.

"I felt like downtown Fort Collins was a uniquely special historic center — it’s expansive, it’s cohesive, it’s been really well preserved," Fink told the Coloradoan. "At the same time, you have a lot of creatives and entrepreneurs. (It) felt like a really vibrant place."

Bread Fellow to bake life back into 247 Linden St.

Walking the line between a full table service and fast-casual restaurant, Bread Fellow is looking to strike a balance with its elevated food and cozy atmosphere, according to co-owner and founder Jenn Webb.

The small-batch bakery and cafe is the latest project for Jenn and her husband, Andrew Webb, who opened Bindle Coffee together out of an old mechanic's garage in the redeveloped Jessup Farm Artisan Village back in 2015.

Bread Fellow has been in the works for about two years — roughly around the time the Webbs found the Linden Street space and became part of its redevelopment plans.

The bakery and cafe will focus on sourdough with an emphasis on nourishing foods, including soups, bread, toast and weekend brunch, Jenn said.

"(It's) an elevated version of what we're currently doing," she added, referring to Bindle Coffee. "We'll still have a full espresso bar and pastries, but with the addition of sourdough bread and breakfasts and lunches."

Fort Collins restaurant news: Jay's Bistro to close after more than 30 years in Fort Collins

Bread Fellow is hoping to softly open in late February, Jenn said. Its hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Since purchasing the Tubbs and Cowan block, Snagwood has rebuilt the building's interior, which had been gutted prior to its 2021 sale, into a mixed-use space with Bread Fellow on its ground floor and an apartment on its second floor. The apartment will be used as a short-term rental, according to Fink.

As part of the apartment's renovation, Fink said Snagwood preserved the building's original second-story window openings and used a historically accurate plaster on its brick walls.

With the exception of replacing its garage doors, windows and trim — as well as the repair and repainting of its original brick — few changes were made to the exterior of the building, Fink added. Of the changes made, all fit within the Secretary of the Interior's standards for the treatment of historic properties since Snagwood is seeking state and federal tax credits for the project, he said.

The building has been listed as a contributing structure in Fort Collins' locally and nationally designated Old Town Historic District since the late 1970s.

Almost all the materials salvaged from the building during its interior demolition have also been cleaned and repurposed for use in Bread Fellow — from its original 1880s interior wood framing to its floor and roof boards, Fink said.

Meanwhile, in a garage on the other side of Jefferson Street, another homage to 247 Linden St. is in the works.

Honoring a Linden Street legacy

When I walked into Joe's Auto Upholstery's Willow Street shop early this week, I was greeted by the characteristic quiet of a Monday morning, the slight chill of an airy Colorado garage in January and Richard Cienfuegos.

The 77-year-old has spent practically all his life around Joe's Auto Upholstery — the business his father, Joe Cienfuegos, started after coming home to Fort Collins following his service in World War II.

After first running his upholstery business out of an auto repair shop at the corner of Jefferson and Linden streets, Richard said his parents, Joe and Teresa, purchased the building at 247 and 249 Linden St. around 1952. It set them back $7,000, according to Richard.

"That was a lot back then," he said. “The average wage then was only $1 an hour for grown men — not even that.”

By then, the Italianate-style building — which had spent its early years as a restaurant; furniture store; and, later, a feed, hay, coal and harness shop, according to local blog Northern Colorado History — had settled into its life as an auto service station. The building had been modified with a garage door by at least 1929, per historic building permits, and was home to Hawley's Auto Top Shop when the Cienfuegos family took it over, Richard said.

Want more Fort Collins history? Check out The Coloradoan's binge-worthy 'podpast' podcast

Richard remembered working alongside his dad and brothers, Joe Jr. and George, in the Linden Street shop, which was often characterized by the smell of vinyl fabric, the trill of a sewing machine and the hiss of Joe's air stapler — an amazingly modern gadget back in the 1950s, Richard recalled with a laugh.

"It's a great building. My dad always said, 'Linden Street’s the place to make your living,' " Richard recalled, noting that the downtown street was once home to multiple grocery stores, a furniture store and auto shops like Joe's Auto Upholstery.

Joe ran the shop until his retirement around 1985, when Richard took over the business. He died in 2011.

Richard said Linden Street got increasingly busy over the years, with regular 8-to-5 businesses like Joe's Auto Upholstery giving way to more bars that catered to Colorado State University students. In 2015, after more than 60 years in the Cienfuegos family, Richard sold the building. Roughly five years ago, he moved the auto upholstery shop to its current location at 310 Willow St.

It was there, surrounded by tables of fabric samples and walls lined with antique clocks and telephones, that Richard directed me to a table near the center of his shop Monday and gently lifted up a panel of vinyl fabric lined with a quilt-like pattern of stitches.

As part of the redevelopment, the "Joe's Auto Upholstery" sign that once hung above the business's door will be showcased in a decorative display case constructed from the building's original lumber and set against this upholstered piece from Richard.

Once finished, it will be returned, backlit and displayed in the only home it knows: 247 Linden St.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins restaurants: Bakery taking over Joe's Upholstery space