Former Kmart’s parking lot now a drive-through coronavirus testing site in Denver

This is the time of year Spirit Halloween stores tend to materialize in empty retail spaces. While the metro area is still sporting plenty of those in 2020, the short-term operator open outside a vacant former Kmart in south Denver is a more apt reflection of the times.

CO Covid-19 Drive-Up set up a coronavirus testing site in the parking lot of the long-vacant store at 2150 S. Monaco Parkway, near the intersection of Monaco and East Evans Avenue, last month.

Dr. Stephen Volin founded the company in Thornton earlier this year as a spinoff from his Women’s Health Group medical practice, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Hoffman said. At its two Colorado locations, 9195 Grant St. and the former Kmart lot, it offers both nasal swab testing for active COVID-19 infections and antibody testing for people who may have had the disease and recovered.

“We can see up to 200 people,” in a day, Hoffman said of the capacity at the Kmart lot. “That would be a busy day, but certainly we could handle it.”

CO Covid-19 Drive-Up works with a number of insurance providers, though not Kaiser Permanente or Centura, according to its website, cocoviddriveup.com. Testing usually costs customers nothing out of pocket if they have applicable insurance. Those who aren’t covered will be charged $145 for a swab test.

Dr. Volin personally checks in with people who test positive, Hoffman said.

CO Covid-19 Drive-Up says it can get customers’ results in 24 to 48 hours, a turnaround it says is twice as fast as most free testing sites. That is made possible by a close relationship with its lab partner, UniPath, Hoffman said. The lab is just a few blocks away from the vacant Kmart, which is what led the company to seek a short-term lease there.

“It’s a little closer to the middle part of town,” Hoffman said. “A lot of people that would come to Thornton would say, ‘Gosh, it sure was a long drive up there.’”

The company is considering further expansion with eyes on Highlands Ranch or Lakewood, Hoffman said.

Glendale-based Forum Real Estate Group bought the former Kmart and the 13 acres it sits on for $10.5 million last September with aims to build hundreds of units of multifamily housing there.

While plans for that project’s first phase make their way through the city’s review processes, Forum has kept the site active with short-term users.

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