DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[sphinx88844]

Are they doing pre-sales for this project/is there a site for people to put in deposits - I can't find anything yet.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

I'd love to see the Amacon towers built. I'm just worried that private equity and foreign investors are going to eat it up. Does Denver have rule on the books to prevent that ?

You mean restrictions on what entities can buy private property? I can’t think of anything that would prevent a Russian oligarch from buying every single unit in the building solely for his border collie.

Though if Denver adds additional affordable housing requirements I’m sure that could affect such an outcome. The collie would then have a few dozen neighbors that the bodyguards would have to deal with.

[The Dirt]

Do we really have a private equity buyer issue in Denver? Condos have not been flying off the shelf like SFHs have.

[laniroj]

Originally Posted by twister244

Cool renderings of the Amacon development, but again.... I will believe it when I see it. Still no sales website.....

No sales website is not a problem. Assuming Amacon has a huge balance sheet (which they do else they couldn't build this project) then they'd be foolish to lock in sales contracts right now when home prices are generally escalating >10% annually. It willbe 2-3 years before this hits the market and they will want/need every bit of any home price appreciation during that time. Obviously, markets can change but that's the risk developers take!

[TakeFive]

Just Spitballing

Originally Posted by sphinx88844

Are they doing pre-sales for this project/is there a site for people to put in deposits - I can't find anything yet.

Chances are Amacon is still 4-5 months away from breaking ground. As gopokes21 points out they are spending money and may be able to fund preliminary foundational work before going vertical. That could encompass another six months so there will be plenty of time to do presales.

Amacon is currently working on four towers in Canada. Avia and Avia 2 in Mississauga (near Toronto) are selling from $785,900+. However their Alaska Condos in Burnaby B.C. (near Vancouver) start at $589,900 to over $1,799,900

Alaska is a new condo development by Amacon currently in preconstruction at 4433 Alaska Street, Burnaby. Sales for available units range in price from $589,900 to over $1,799,900. Alaska has a total of 164 units. Sizes range from 576 to 1547 square feet.

Not sure how comparable to Denver.

[EngiNerd]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Just Spitballing


Chances are Amacon is still 4-5 months away from breaking ground. As gopokes21 points out they are spending money and may be able to fund preliminary foundational work before going vertical. That could encompass another six months so there will be plenty of time to do presales.

Amacon is currently working on four towers in Canada. Avia and Avia 2 in Mississauga (near Toronto) are selling from $785,900+. However their Alaska Condos in Burnaby B.C. (near Vancouver) start at $589,900 to over $1,799,900

Not sure how comparable to Denver.

Those are Canadian dollars BTW, I'm sure the Google can help you compare

[The Dirt]

Canada definitely has a lot of foreign money buying up condos, but even there, they have incredibly restrictive zoning. You're either allowed condo towers on 10% of the land (which are expensive to build) or SFH zoning (which ends up driving up land prices) on much of the other. Not much room for missing middle.

For anyone who's curious, here's the conversion.
CAD $589,900 = USD $479,220
CAD $785,900 = USD $638,446
CAD $1,799,990 = USD $1,462,194

[TakeFive]

Excellent Point

Originally Posted by EngiNerd

Those are Canadian dollars BTW, I'm sure the Google can help you compare

Given the number of Canadian gold miners they could be accepting Gold Coins, Bitcoins, Dogecoins and certainly American $'s

The current exchange rate (which changes every day) is 1 United States Dollar equals 1.23 Canadian Dollar. But given the inflationary pressures building in the U.S. this could change a lot over the next couple of years.

Well Done

Originally Posted by The Dirt

For anyone who's curious, here's the conversion.
CAD $589,900 = USD $479,220
CAD $785,900 = USD $638,446
CAD $1,799,990 = USD $1,462,194

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by DenvertoLA

I'd love to see the Amacon towers built. I'm just worried that private equity and foreign investors are going to eat it up. Does Denver have rule on the books to prevent that ?

Rules that say foreigners and companies (but only certain types of companies) can't buy real estate? Does anybody in this country have those rules on the books?

[gopokes21]

Yeah, given that developers and construction lenders are still skeptical of condo unit absorption in our market, I would say anyone who wants to buy a unit should be welcome. Condos are still very challenging in Denver to the point that we really have the opposite problem of Vancouver.

[DenvertoLA]

well I'm glad home hoarding isn't a problem there. That's one of the reasons so many people from California are moving to Denver /Austin. It's almost impossible to compete with all cash offers from equity firms.

So Denver has the Evolve and Amacon towers in the pipeline. Is that all for condos ?

[SirLucasTheGreat]

I believe Evolve and Amacon are all condos but watch them convert to apartments. Also, I drove by the Mission Ballroom and that Hines project is really coming along. It looks like the elevator cores are nearly topped out.

[SirLucasTheGreat]

I saw today that Andrew Yang is planning on raising $900 million in revenue for New York City by increasing property taxes on undeveloped parcels. Would a plan like that help downtown Denver?

[The Dirt]

I think that condos are still considered third rate homeownership in Denver, but are now in the price range that sfhs used to be 5 years ago for older stock and equal to sfhs for new construction. Tack on association fees and people feel like they'd rather live out in the boonies for all that yard space for the dog/child/significant other.

[TakeFive]

Two clueless ladies?

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

I believe Evolve are all condos but watch them convert to apartments.

Circling back to Feb 7, 2020: https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2020/02/06/denver-condo-development-rebound.html

When Karina Christensen tells people she's developing a condo project in Denver, she often hears some variation of the same question: "Why?" "We are told every day, 'You can make so much more building an apartment building,'" Christensen said.

"I would not have built an apartment building," Christensen said. "My sole reason for doing this is to build attainable, for-sale housing in downtown Denver. This is personal for me."

Christensen and her co-founder, Patricia Watson, are rare players in Denver, albeit in a field that may be on the rebound.

This is where my eyes start to cross per November 4, 2020: https://milehighcre.com/evolve-towers-receives-unanimous-approval/

Evolve Towers, 23-story residential development in Arapahoe Square, designed with a “net zero” energy goal, received unanimous approval by Arapahoe’s Downtown Design Advisory Board (DDAB) last week.

According to OZ, the residential towers are designed with a “net zero” energy goal by combining innovative and highly energy efficient technologies and construction methodologies with responsibly sourced materials and strategic architectural detailing.

I'm not sure how such highly designed energy efficient architecture creates "attainably-priced" units, especially when Cypress claims their newly approved apartment project in RiNo will cost $400K per unit to build?

Please STOP with wanting to screw with people's Property Rights.

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat

I saw today that Andrew Yang is planning on raising $900 million in revenue for New York City by increasing property taxes on undeveloped parcels. Would a plan like that help downtown Denver?

Denver is not San Francisco or NYC; nor is it even Austin or Seattle.

Denver does not have an apartment shortage. Landlords are currently offering one to two months free rent etc.

Denver does not have a land shortage. There's probably enough land in developers hands to build half again as many apartments as there are now. But try making new construction pencil out with soaring building costs and a soft rental market? Some are in a position to forge ahead projecting a much better market by the time they're done but many others aren't able to do this.

[TakeFive]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

I think that condos are still considered third rate homeownership in Denver, but are now in the price range that sfhs used to be 5 years ago for older stock and equal to sfhs for new construction. Tack on association fees and people feel like they'd rather live out in the boonies for all that yard space for the dog/child/significant other.

That's a good summary of the current state of things. I'd like to think that there's room in downtown for a project like Amacon Towers but time will tell.

What I'm hoping for is that at the least they build the project as 'legal' condos with the thought of maybe having to rent out the second tower (or units that aren't selling). That adds significant legal costs, actually the additional recording fees of having to record each condo separately would be impressive. But it would also allow for easy conversion to condo sales later.

[TakeFive]

Speaking of Condos...

SOBO 58 - 1898 S Bannock St


Image courtesy SOBO 58

South Broadway Condo Project Nears Completion
February 23, 2021 - Mile High CRE

SoBo 58, a new South Broadway condominium development just west of Platt Park, is nearing completion and is already almost 70 percent sold out. The state-of-the-art mid-rise project totals 58 private residences, consisting of studios, one-bedrooms, one-bedrooms with a den, two-bedrooms, and select plans with a private mezzanine and vaulted ceilings. Prices start in the low $300k’s.

Units are priced from $335,000 to $610,000

[TakeFive]

Back to new apartment projects

Fox Iron Works Apartments


Image courtesy CBRE via Mile High CRE

385-Unit Multifamily Community Planned for Denver’s Fox Street Corridor
Cinco de Mayo 2021 - Mile High CRE

CBRE recently secured construction financing for Fox Iron Works, a planned 385-unit, transit-oriented multifamily development in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood. Craine Architecture, Inc. is the architect for the development and Martines Palmeiro Construction, LLC is the general contractor.

It's all about TOD

The site, which is adjacent to the Fox Street light rail station, offers immediate access to Interstates 25 and Interstate 70, a bus line on Fox Street, and a bike path, connecting the property to the nearby neighborhoods of LoHi, Sunnyside, RiNo, Tennyson, downtown Denver and the future Denver Western redevelopment, which includes a satellite campus for Colorado State University.

Construction is slated to complete in the third quarter of 2023.

I decided to connect a few dots, what with no Nuggets or Avalanche tonight

The DBJ piece on this project mentions "Atlanta-based RangeWater Real Estate" and "Houston-based Marble Capital" as being partners. I've never heard of either one of these guys but chances are they haven't heard of me either so we're even I guess. Off to the interwebs I go.

RangeWater
is a privately owned real estate developer etc. based in Atlanta; most of their properties are in the SE. But not all; on Jan. 20, 2021 Brandon Corn was appointed Director of Business Development in the Southwest. They already have one project in Boulder called The Armory in the NoBo Art District and another in Scottsdale south of Old Town.

Marble Capital
based in Houston raises money for equity placements.

December 18, 2019

Marble Capital, a Houston-based investment manager focused on multifamily development, has closed its second fund with $250 million in capital commitments, exceeding the fund’s initial target of $150 million.

According to their 'map' they've placed equity in lots of projects all over the SW and SE.

My conclusion
based on the rendering above plus RangeWater's projects in Boulder as well as Scottsdale, they aren't trying to capture the sexy side of the market; they appear to be targeting more affordable units - and that's not a bad thing.

[DenvertoLA]

Originally Posted by SirLucasTheGreat View Post
I saw today that Andrew Yang is planning on raising $900 million in revenue for New York City by increasing property taxes on undeveloped parcels. Would a plan like that help downtown Denver?

Originally Posted by TakeFive
Please STOP with wanting to screw with people's Property Rights.


Denver is not San Francisco or NYC; nor is it even Austin or Seattle.

Denver does not have an apartment shortage. Landlords are currently offering one to two months free rent etc.

Denver does not have a land shortage. There's probably enough land in developers hands to build half again as many apartments as there are now. But try making new construction pencil out with soaring building costs and a soft rental market? Some are in a position to forge ahead projecting a much better market by the time they're done but many others aren't able to do this.[/QUOTE]


Can you explain to me how this infringes on their rights? This policy is just tweaking the tax code to motivate people to develop instead of leaving their land (in a critically important areas) undeveloped. They still have the right do leave it be, it just won't be as finically appealing. Yes?

[rds70]

Here are a couple of projects that have recently started construction by Holland Partner Group.

2950 Arkins Ct. (RiNo) - 8 stories, 374 units, 18,500 square feet of retail:






1010 Santa Fe - 5 stories, 84 units, 5,000 square feet of retail: