DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[Fritzdude]

Hey - whatever happened to Denverinfill.com? Did they stop posting updates? I’m getting more frequent updates from several Instances accounts like DevelopingDenver and NakedDenver. I was wondering if they’re behind the content of those sites?

[TakeFive]

Amazing Happens

The legislature passes business-friendly Bills.

New Colorado law seeks to boost condo development by reforming construction defects rules — again
May 12, 2025 By Seth Klamann -- The Denver Post

Gov. Jared Polis signed a law Monday that’s a negotiated settlement to the construction defects wars — a bid by state legislators to bolster the development of condominiums and other starter homes.

The bill’s backers, including Polis, say it will result in the building of more affordable, market-rate starter homes while helping the entire spectrum of housing availability. If more condos are available, higher-income renters or older homeowners who want to downsize can move into them and free up space elsewhere. It applies not only to condos but to other detached structures, like duplexes and townhomes.

Should this work, it could factor into more/better TOD as well as other missing middle housing.

Wait; There's More

Governor Polis Signs Modular Housing Bill
May 9, 2025 -- Mile High CRE

On May 8, Colorado Governor Jared Polis held a press conference at West Holden Place, a new modular workforce housing community in Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood by Adam Berger Development, to sign into law SB25-002, also known as the Regional Building Codes for Factory-Built Structures bill.

... the new legislation aims to streamline the approval and construction process for factory-built residential and nonresidential structures, including modular and tiny homes. Once the Colorado State Housing Board adopts related rules, oversight by the state plumbing board, electrical board and fire suppression administrator will no longer apply to these types of structures, removing costly and time-consuming regulatory redundancies.

Yet Again

A new era of single-stair apartment buildings is coming to Denver and other Colorado cities
May. 13, 2025 by Bente Birkeland -- Denverite

In an effort to encourage denser development, Gov. Jared Polis signed a new bill into law on Tuesday to allow smaller apartment buildings in Colorado to be built with a single staircase, instead of the two previously required by building codes.

Under House Bill 1273, cities with more than 100,000 residents must revise their building codes by Dec. 1, 2027, to allow for a single stairway exit in apartment buildings of up to five stories, with a maximum of four units to a floor.

(Well, You knew it couldn't last, right?)

ALL HAIL DENVER'S HUNGRY LAW FIRMS

Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce disappointed in direction of Colorado
May 14, 2025 By: Shannon Ogden -- 7Denver News

DENVER — Colorado's business climate is heading in the wrong direction, according to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

This week, the chamber held its annual State of the State event to review the work of the 2025 legislative session.

"For example, we saw, this year, 43 bills introduced that create a new private right of action, so a new way for someone to sue a business. We saw 37 of those bills last year," West said. "And obviously, not all of those passed, but it shows an increasing trend of an overly litigious environment that all adds up to cost and risk to businesses. That really creates an atmosphere where it is difficult and challenging to do business."

[TakeFive]

Updating a previously posted announcement of an auction

Downtown office tower sells for $22M in first deal since 2005
May 14, 2025 By Thomas Gounley -- BusinessDen

An office tower south of downtown Denver has changed hands for the first time in two decades, for less than it fetched back then. The 1290 Broadway building sold Monday for $22.4 million, according to public records. The structure is 17 stories and 252,000 square feet, meaning the deal works out to $89 a square foot

1290 Broadway



According to the DBJ An LLC tied to an address in Suffern, New York, purchased the 17-story building.

[TakeFive]

It’s not a great time to own an office building in Denver
May. 13, 2025 By Sarah Mulholland -- CPR News

Denver’s office values are cratering, according to new data from the county assessor. Nobody’s really sure how much further they’ll fall, or how the slide will reshape the city’s skyline.

Office property values are down between 10 percent and 25 percent since the last time they were assessed for tax purposes two years ago, according to Denver county assessor Keith Erffmeyer. Some are down even more, he said. “It'd be like if you were holding a rubber band and you were holding one finger steady and pulling it down with the other,” Erffmeyer said. “We've seen the top of the market, I would say, hold value and remain relatively flat, while we've seen the bottom end kind of really sag.”

Generally stuff we already know.

When office workers first started working from home, building owners waited to see what was going to happen, he said. Now, a lot of leases are expiring, Erffmeyer said, and tenants are moving or reducing the amount of space they lease.

It can take a long time to figure out what to do with these buildings after a default. Take the Wells Fargo Center, known as the Cash Register Building. The property has been in limbo since the owner defaulted nearly two years ago.

With respect to those older tired buildings.

“When we look at what might happen to those [older] buildings, some might be candidates for conversion, certainly not very many of them,” said Jeannie Tobin, the director of market analytics for Denver at CoStar, a real estate data company. “Those are few and far between … Office owners are going to have to get pretty creative when it comes to those older legacy buildings … especially the larger ones.”

What is the Highest and Best Use?

In the meantime, office values in Denver could drop further, according to Jerrold Bregman, a business attorney and partner at BG Law in Denver.

That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, according to Bregman of BG Law. Eventually, prices will fall enough to lure investors that can put the land to better use, he said. “At some point, the market will respond to the economics … And that presents an opportunity,” he said.

[TakeFive]

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Denver could loan $5M to convert historic commercial building to income-restricted residential
May 08, 2025 By Kyle Harris -- Denverite

Three stories of commercial space at the historic Denver Dry Goods building at California Street and the 16th Street Mall may soon become 55 new income-restricted homes. To complete the project, developer Perry Rose LLC is asking the city for a $5.5 million loan to a roughly $65 million budget. On Wednesday, a Denver City Council committee sent the loan to a full council vote.

Between renovating old units and building new ones, the plans call for one studio, 56 one-bedrooms and 49 two-bedrooms.

Denver Dry Goods




Photos courtesy Rent Cafe and Wikipedia

Denver Dry Goods was built in the 1880s. It once housed a popular downtown department store, a saddlery, a tea room – and, most recently, T.J. Maxx.

Back in the 1990s, after an economic downturn, preservationist and developer Chuck Perry converted a portion of the building into 51 affordable homes. The commercial space where the 55 units are planned is currently vacant.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Fritzdude

Hey - whatever happened to Denverinfill.com? Did they stop posting updates? I’m getting more frequent updates from several Instances accounts like DevelopingDenver and NakedDenver. I was wondering if they’re behind the content of those sites?

I don't think that Ken or Ryan have anything to do with DevelopingDenver or NakedDenver- I believe they've gotten busy with life. Andrew Cushen of Build Up Denver does do blog posts on DenverUrbanium which has had more frequent updates than DI. The big takeaway is how much effort Ryan was putting into DI posts.

NakedDenver is such a mixed bag, I feel like a lot of the content is AI-produced, but they sometimes have a good nugget. DevelopingDenver seems to be the gold standard now, but the discourse is nothing like it was on this forum in it's heyday.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Denver could loan $5M to convert historic commercial building to income-restricted residential
May 08, 2025 By Kyle Harris -- Denverite

It should be noted that this is NOT funding coming from the Downtown Denver Authority but is a good illustration of how much of a multiplier affect DDA funding can have on housing conversions downtown.

[TakeFive]

Denver’s 16th Street Mall has a new name

"THE DENVER WAY"

..........

[Cirrus]

"16th Street" sans Mall is ok. "The Denver Way" is forced. "16th Street Way" I actually would have liked.

Anyway, I trust y'all will post some pictures of the fabulous new mall way when it's worth photographing. Yes? Yes.

[mhays]

Every district naming effort will be unpopular, but this one is particularly questionable.

Locals will still call it 16th due to habit and its location between 15th and 17th. They'll also be confused about the name at first. People take pride in not using marketing names.

Visitors will be confused by the name forever. My first thought was "the Denver method." Returning visitors will already know the original name.

My area gives some clues. Tourists screw up "Pike Place Market" constantly, despite it being well-known for generations. They don't get that it's named after the street that runs through it, Pike Place. Second, the City and business community renamed Lower Queen Anne "Uptown," of which there were 24 per Wikipedia last I heard. I'll never call it that. Third, the business community started calling part of Downtown "West Edge" but it's never become common. Fourth, my old employer changed its name in 2000, but in 2025 it's still often called its own name.

[mr1138]

^ I still call where the Broncos play "Mile High Stadium"

I think our resident forum blogger may have misrepresented the outcome a bit here. The city is officially renaming the street to just "16th Street." This is what is being reported in every Denver media outlet, and seems like a good move to me (this just reverts back to the original name before "mall" was added).

The Denverite article also says "In addition to calling the former mall 16th Street, city brass are also referring to it as 'The Denver Way.'" But I don't at read this at all as saying that is the official new marketing name. This article from Denver7 doesn't even include the phrase "the Denver Way" anywhere in the article. It says that the big outcome here is that they dropped the word "mall."

[AHS1983]

"The Denver Way" sounds like it comes from a recipe or a guidebook for intimate positions.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by mr1138

I think our resident forum blogger may have misrepresented the outcome a bit here. The city is officially renaming the street to just "16th Street." This is what is being reported in every Denver media outlet, and seems like a good move to me (this just reverts back to the original name before "mall" was added).

He did indeed- the permanent signage all says 16th Street, while the temporary banners and signage on the vacant storefronts uses Denver Way. It's clearly a temporary slogan being used as part of the relaunch of 16th Street following the end of construction.

I'll add that the trees look damn nice, but they need to be pruned up a bit to provide more headroom and prevent the inevitable shithead from breaking the branches.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

"16th Street" sans Mall is ok. "The Denver Way" is forced. "16th Street Way" I actually would have liked.

Anyway, I trust y'all will post some pictures of the fabulous new mall way when it's worth photographing. Yes? Yes.

IDK if my five-year iPhone SE will be up to the task....

[TakeFive]

I'm grateful to you and mr1138 for properly educating me

Originally Posted by wong21fr

He did indeed- the permanent signage all says 16th Street, while the temporary banners and signage on the vacant storefronts uses Denver Way. It's clearly a temporary slogan being used as part of the relaunch of 16th Street following the end of construction.

You want to hear something really crazy? I didn't expressly think about it but in the back of mind I thought the street signs always just said "16th Street" without the Mall attached. But of course the signs read "16th Street Mall."

This has to be the biggest bull 🞵🞵🞵🞵 scheme I've ever heard of

Promoted as a rebranding turns out to be nonsense. It's actually (to pick a nit) an un-branding - not a rebranding. But to appease those that wanted something to latch onto, they're offering "The Denver Way" which is no more than a short-term promotional gimmick? What a farce.

TBH I don't mind NOT having any branding which is actually better than the obtuse "The Denver Way;" that would be more confusing than "Mall" was.

If you want to read something worthwhile about this whole cluster-mess, check this out:

A Mall No More: Looking Back at the Real 16th Street
May 21, 2025 By Alan Prendergast -- Westword

For a kid growing up in Denver in the 1960s, the bumper-to-bumper traffic along the old 16th Street was the apex of urban sophistication and cool. Downtown was where you took cousins from the suburbs and hick towns to impress them, showing off sky-scraping bank buildings and clock towers and venerable sandstone hotels as if you owned them. And 16th Street was the ribbon of light and noise and energy that held it all together. It was our Broadway, our Sunset Boulevard, our Champs-Élysées.

The street had everything. Elegant, hulking movie palaces fit for a rajah beckoned with huge marquees and lobby displays; the Denver and the Paramount squared off across the street from each other with the latest blockbusters, while the Centre pushed Disney fare a few blocks away. (Nothing better than plunking down 35 cents for a Wednesday matinee at the Paramount and being the first kid on your block to see Goldfinger.)

Note: I've long enjoyed reading anything written by Alan Prendergast; he's an amazing wordsmith.

[TakeFive]

Rockefeller still content to build in Denver/metro

MGL Partners and Rockefeller Group Launch The Moraine
May 13, 2025 -- Mile High CRE

MGL Partners, a Denver-based real estate investment, development, and management firm, in partnership with Rockefeller Group, has announced the launch of The Moraine, a 297-unit multifamily development in Longmont. This project marks a continued collaboration between MGL Partners and Rockefeller Group...

The Moraine comprises a diverse mix of floorplans ranging from studio apartments to expansive three-bedroom homes. The Moraine is designed by Santulan Architecture and constructed by B.C. Builders, with Allied Orion Group serving as the property manager.

The Moraine


Courtesy The Moraine/Santulan Architecture

This development team recently started leasing their new apartment project that's right on Main Street in Parker as they continue to finish the 2nd phase.

[TakeFive]

We have an office 'conversion'

Hotel conversion planned as architects sell Ballpark building for $6.5M
May 22, 2025 By Matt Geiger -- BusinessDen

Last week, Van Sistine purchased the 12,200-square-foot, three-story building for $6.5 million from Open Studio Architecture, the firm that developed the property in 2018 and has its office on the second floor. Van Sistine's plan is to turn the building's upper floors into a 16-room hotel.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

IDK if my five-year iPhone SE will be up to the task....

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Rockefeller still content to build in Denver/metro

This development team recently started leasing their new apartment project that's right on Main Street in Parker as they continue to finish the 2nd phase.

James Beard-Nominated Bakeshop Relocates to Parker Mainstreet
May 22, 2025 -- Mile High CRE

Nationally acclaimed bakery Poulette Bakeshop will move to The Juniper in the fall of 2025, a brand-new luxury rental residence located at the gateway of downtown Parker’s Mainstreet. The agreement marks the first confirmed retail tenant at The Juniper, which was co-developed by Colorado-based real estate and investment firm MGL Partners and U.S. developer Rockefeller Group and began pre-leasing its 264 upscale apartments in April 2025.

The Juniper on Mainstreet -- 19865 Mainstreet Parker


Courtesy MGL Partners & Rockefeller Group

[TakeFive]

Who Knew?

New Brand Launches to Meet Demand for Active 55+ Living
May 22, 2025 -- Mile High CRE

Headwaters Group, a Denver-based vertically integrated real estate owner, acquirer and developer, has announced the official launch of its Aspendale brand. Aspendale, created to fill a growing need in the active adult 55+ housing market, will serve as the umbrella for a growing portfolio of communities across Colorado and the western U.S.

Aspendale Centennial -- 13857 E. Arapahoe Pl.

.....

.....
Courtesy Headwaters Group

Aspendale communities currently in development or leasing include:

• Aspendale Centennial | 13857 E. Arapahoe Pl. - Aspendale Centennial is scheduled to open in late 2025.
• Aspendale Northglenn | 10699 Melody Dr. - Broke ground in April 2024; Aspendale Northglenn is slated to open in early 2026.
• Aspendale Littleton | 5355 S. Alkire Street - the 190-apartment home community began in September 2024 with completion expected mid-2026.
• Aspendale Scottsdale | 13850 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. - The Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired community began construction in December 2024