For about two years, the dining room at 361 Village Square Lane sat dark. On Sept. 1 it reopened as Castello Italiano. In November, Life Time plans to open a club of more than 100,000 square feet at 7373 Canyon Forge Drive. That will be the first building in Canyonside, the planned mixed-use town center east of I-25, that people can actually walk into. Between those two openings, the city's seasonal events run from late October to mid-December, at Village Square, Elk Ridge Park and The Ridge.

By the end of the year, Castle Pines will have two places pulling people in. Village Square has its longest-empty restaurant space back, and Canyonside will have its first business open.

The Storefront Village Square Waited Two Years to Fill

Castello Italiano opened in the space across from the Castle Pines library. That spot had housed Pino's Italian Kitchen & Bar for about two decades. DougCo Social reported that Pino's closed at the end of September 2024, and the storefront sat empty until this fall. The space actually goes back to 2003, when it opened as La Dolce Vita. Pino's took over in 2017, so the address has been an Italian restaurant for more than 20 years.

The new owners also run Farro Italian Restaurant in Centennial, and Castello is their first expansion. Co-owners Petrit and Erion took on a renovation that ran about a year. The dining room now seats 157 people. The opening menu includes a white bolognese, bison short rib ravioli in vodka cream and wild boar ragu over pappardelle, each $27. Entrées run from $24 to the $55 ribeye.

A few details matter for planning:

• Dinner only, closed Mondays. Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
• No lunch or happy hour planned for now. Walk-ins are welcome, reservations are recommended, and online ordering is for scheduled pickup only.
• Parking out front can get tight. Duke's Steakhouse is in the same center, just down the walk.

The tight parking matters this week in particular, because the same few blocks are about to get much busier.

This Weekend Still Belongs to Village Square

The city's two fall events take place almost next door to Castello.

Bonfire, BBQ, and Brews runs Friday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. at 7437 Village Square Drive, with BBQ, s'mores at the firepits, drinks and live music. Castello opens at 4 p.m. on Fridays, so you could have an early dinner there and walk over for the music.

The Fall Festival, Trick-or-Treat Street, and Pumpkin Race follows on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the same address. The city lists a farmers market, a petting zoo and the annual Castle Pines Pumpkin Race at 1 p.m. New this year is the first Castle Pines Chili Cookoff. Each entrant brings about two gallons of red, green or white chili, gives it a name for the tasting station and has it hot by 10 a.m.

If you want to take part, the deadline is today, Thursday, Oct. 22, at 5 p.m. That's when chili cookoff registration closes, and the entry fee is $20. Race kits cost $25 from the city and also have to be bought by 5 p.m. today. Kits must be picked up at the City offices, 7437 Village Square Drive, Suite 200, by noon Friday, and the office closes for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. You can also enter the race without buying a city kit by registering through the City of Castle Pines event page. Your pumpkin still has to meet the race rules posted there.

The leaves get their own day too. On Saturday, Nov. 7, the city runs Leaf and Pumpkin Composting at Elk Ridge Park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., free for Castle Pines residents.

Castle Pines Parkway Picks Up the Everyday Stops

A couple of smaller openings are filling in the gaps between the big ones.

7 Brew is now open at 570 Castle Pines Parkway, on the southeast corner of Debbie Lane. DougCo Social notes it's the chain's first stand in Douglas County. It's a 510-square-foot building with two drive-through lanes and no lobby or indoor seating. Mobile ordering isn't set up yet. It opens at 5:30 a.m. every day and closes at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. That's earlier and later than anything else this post covers. Dogs get pup cups.

Pure Green is still under construction at 858 W. Happy Canyon Road, Suite 120, in the Village at Castle Pines. As of Oct. 1 it had window wraps and a Now Hiring sign up. The juice and smoothie shop is aiming to open in November or December, according to its DougCo Social listing.

The biggest opening of the fall is on Canyon Forge Drive.

November Puts Canyonside on the Map

Life Time's Castle Pines page says the club is "Arriving November 2026." No exact opening day has been announced. The two-story building covers 102,600 square feet and is Life Time's ninth Colorado club. It's run by general manager Jeff May, who held the same job at Life Time Parker-Aurora.

Skyler Hager, project manager for North Canyons Development Company, gave a Canyonside update at a Castle Pines Chamber of Commerce meeting this summer. The Castle Pines Connection reported what he said about the club:

He called the 102,000-square-foot Life Time fitness facility the "crown jewel" of Castle Pines. "This is their [Life Time] single highest-end club."

Life Time's August walkthrough lists the main features:

A Castle Pines membership also works at Life Time Centennial and Life Time Parker-Aurora. Life Time puts each about 15 minutes away.

Joining before it opens takes some timing. DougCo Social reported that Life Time emailed enrollment invitations to its waitlist on Oct. 12 with a same-day deadline. People who missed it went to the back of the waitlist until more memberships open up. Life Time says waitlist members get preferred pricing on monthly dues, and that dues go up once the club opens. The waitlist signup is still on Life Time's site.

The Club Arrives Well Ahead of Everything Around It

For now, the Life Time building will be the only open door at Canyonside. The Castle Pines Connection's August update listed the projects around it, and none of them has an opening date this year:

• Album by Greystar, a four-story, 164-unit apartment community for ages 55 and up, is under construction.
• The Peaks at Canyons, 74 freestanding rental townhomes, is also under construction. Leasing could start by the end of 2027.
• An AdventHealth medical office of 24,500 square feet, with a proposed emergency department, is under review for the corner of Hess Road and Canyon Forge Drive.
• A QuikTrip is under review, now that the relocation of S. Havana Street is finished.
• A 12-acre pad north of Castle Pines Parkway is zoned for mixed use, and no tenants have been named.

Hager also pointed to about 2.1 million square feet of commercial space planned on 100 acres south of Castle Pines Parkway. He described it as "truly going to be mixed use and a very walkable neighborhood," with "more plans to come." For this winter, that means a big, busy club on Canyon Forge Drive with mostly construction fencing around it.

December Goes Back to The Ridge

When the holidays start, the city's seasonal calendar moves to The Ridge Golf Course. Here are the fall and holiday dates from this weekend through mid-December, with the Life Time opening in between:

The city's calendar also has civic dates in this stretch, including a New Resident Welcome Reception on Oct. 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. Several of the December listings still say details are coming soon. The dates, times and venues are posted on each City of Castle Pines event page, and those pages will have the final details first.

The holiday season starts on Friday, Dec. 4, at 5 p.m., when the tree lights up at The Ridge.

If the changes at Canyonside have you wondering how the new development fits into your part of Castle Pines, Brian and the team at Luxe Living are happy to talk it through, with no pressure and plenty of local context. Let's Connect.