DENVER | Main Development Thread #7

[TakeFive]

In The News

bet365 Opens its US Headquarters in Denver
September 30, 2024 -- Mile High CRE

Corporation (EDC) and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) have announced that bet365, a leading global online sports betting
company, has opened its new U.S. corporate headquarters in Denver at One Platte. The U.K.-based company expects to bring nearly 1,000 jobs to the Denver community.

1701 Platte Street (One Platte)


Courtesy Nichols Partnership/1701 Platte Street

BTW, I had previously mentioned that Shorenstein Properties had teamed up with Nichols Partnership when this development was announced back in February of 2020. Then in
February of 2022 it was reported that Robinhood had leased two floors of this building.

bet365 has taken 120,000 square feet at One Platte, occupying two full floors within the five-story, Class A office building... Before opening, the company completed a renovation
of the space to support its operational efficiencies and employment goal... bet365 anticipates onboarding over 300 employees within the first year of its Denver operations,
with approximately 50 employed at the time of the opening.

So, the good news for 1701 Platte is that it is now leased up save for some retail space, some of which has been leased.

EDIT: I have now learned that Robinhood never moved into their office space and it became available for sublease according to the DBJ Nov 21, 2022.

---------------------------------------

Kore Picks Up Denver Offices at Steep Discount
September 25, 2024 By Mike Boyd -- Connect CRE


Courtesy Kore Investments

Kore Investments bought ParkRidge Four at 10375 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree from Principal Financial Group for $18 million, a steep discount compared to the $42.2
million the previous owner bought the property for in 2015.

Kore Investments also owns the Re/Max Plaza building in the Denver Tech Center and the Kore Co-Working building in Greenwood Village.

The Denver Business Journal reports that prior to closing on the ParkRidge Four building, which Kore secured through an auction, the company increased its occupancy from 82%
to 89% while the property was under contract.

Principal Financial Group has been involved with (funding) many apartment developments in Denver but I wasn't aware they were also doing office. At least in this case they didn't
do so well, apparently. Guessing that Principle Financial must have foreclosed on the building, but not sure of all the particulars.

[TakeFive]

Careful; the paint may not be completely dry

Kalaco Apartments
1010 W Colfax Ave

Apartments starting at $1,500 and up to 8 weeks free

Kalamath and Colfax. It used to be just a corner. A stoplight. An intersection. A place tens of thousands of people passed through, but never stopped. Starting now, we’re changing everything. These homes are a door to everything Denver has to offer. The creative vision and diverse legacy of the Art District on Santa Fe. The innovation and education found on the Auraria Campus. The opportunity and energy of downtown’s emerging businesses. This is a landmark on a special intersection, where vibrant, creative people meet.

Images courtesy The Opus Group.

Original Announcement

Apartment Project Including Live-Work and Affordable Units Breaks Ground in Downtown Denver
March 9, 2022 -- Mile High CRE

Serving as the developer, design-builder, interior designer, architect and structural engineer of record, The Opus Group has officially started the construction of KALACO Apartments, a 280-unit multifamily development across the street from the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver at the southwest intersection of Colfax and Kalamath.

This is interesting

The seven-story apartment building will offer studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom apartments, as well as live-work units, which will allow residents to operate a business on the first floor with favorable business lease rates. Opus worked with the City of Denver Department of Housing Stability (HOST) and Neighborhood Equity and Stabilization (NEST) on the project. Ten percent of the apartments will be affordable to households earning 60 to 80 percent of the area median income.

[TakeFive]

The paint is dry but brand new fresh

The Northern
2600 Wewatta Way

True. North.
Taking RiNo to New Heights

With a nod to the area’s industrial legacy... The Northern rises above its neighbors on the edge of the reinvented Denargo Market district to offer remarkably light-filled homes with expansive, iconic views.

Early Rendering courtesy of Pacific Western Bank


Courtesy Cyprus Real Estate

Original Announcement

Cypress Real Estate Secures $88.7M Construction Loan for Denver Project
September 27, 2021 -- Mile High CRE

Pacific Western Bank has provided an $88.7 million construction loan to investment firm Cypress Real Estate Advisors (“CREA”) for the development of a 336-unit, Class A multifamily community at 2600 Wewatta Way in Denver.

Equity Partner

Mitsui Fudosan America has joined Cypress Real Estate Advisors (CREA) to develop The Northern, a sixteen story, 336 unit, class A apartment building in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood.

[TakeFive]

Groundbreaking: Fitzsimons Gateway Affordable Housing Community
September 18, 2024 -- Mile High CRE

BMC Investments (BMC), a Denver-based, fully-integrated real estate investment company, in partnership with Mile High Development, announced today that they have officially
broken ground on Fitzsimons Gateway, a 210-unit affordable housing project designed for families and individuals who make between 30% and 70% of the area’s median
income at the southeast corner of Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora.

Located on a 1.7-acre site adjacent to the Hyatt House Fitzsimons – a BMC hotel – Fitzsimons Gateway will be a six-story, 178,000 square foot building offering 171 one-bedroom
and 39 two-bedroom units. The building will also offer three private, centralized courtyards, a double level of garage parking and an exterior façade mix of masonry and stucco.

Courtesy BMC et al

Recently I also posted about the opening of The Broadleaf apartments by the The Max Collaborative who had earlier finished One River North apartments. The Broadleaf would be
due east of this new project with the Hyatt House being at the back of the site between both of these projects.

“As a real estate company who has been developing projects across Denver for more than a decade, we have seen firsthand the impact that a lack of affordable housing is
having on our community,” said Matt Joblon, founder and CEO of BMC Investments. “By partnering with groups with deep expertise in the field, such as George Thorn and Mile
High Development, we can leverage our extensive development experience and launch an affordable housing platform. We are eager to contribute our talents and do our part
to positively impact one of the most vexing challenges facing not only Denver but countless cities across the country.”

[TakeFive]

We Like Denver

University Hills Shopping Center Sells for $56.5M
October 3, 2024 - Mile High CRE

KPR Centers, a New York City-based retail real estate development and investment group, has entered the Denver retail market with the $56.5 million acquisition of University Hills, a 210,000-square-foot grocery-anchored center located at 2750 S. Colorado Boulevard. The grocery-anchored asset featuring King Soopers... was 100 percent leased and occupied at the time of the transaction.

Courtesy of KPR Centers

Why you not stay in New York City?

KPR Centers is now active in 18 states, with approximately 10 million square feet of owned and self-managed properties.

“We consider the greater Denver metropolitan area as among the most economically vibrant and healthiest retail markets in the United States, and we have been extremely diligent in our search to establish a foothold in the region with a signature property,” stated Daniel Eisenberg, operating partner of KPR Centers. “University Hills provided the rare opportunity to invest in an institutional-quality asset in the heart of Denver anchored by eight major national retail brands...

“We intend to remain aggressive in our approach to acquire additional assets in the greater Denver area to quickly scale our asset and property management operations in this market.”

[TakeFive]

DENVER: It's time to say Goodbye

Natural Grocers is closing Denver’s Colfax Avenue store due to “theft and safety issues”
Oct. 02, 2024 Andrew Kenney -- Denverite

Here's an unhappy Halloween surprise: Natural Grocers is permanently closing its store at Colfax Avenue and Washington Street on Oct. 31. The grocery chain, which is based in Lakewood, announced on Wednesday that the downtown Denver store will be closed due to "retail theft and safety issues impacting the store's performance."

Courtesy CBS News/Denver

"Despite our investment in security and loss prevention strategies over the years, these factors have continued to challenge our ability to operate our store safely and sustainably, and we have made the difficult decision to close our doors at this location," said Kemper Isely, the company's co-president, in a news release.

Have I ever mentioned that "you get what you tolerate?"

It also fair to say that Denver - DPD has limited resources. That said, Wheat Ridge has started prioritizing retail theft and DougCo has been prioritizing the problem.

As Colorado struggles with widespread retail theft, Wheat Ridge police takes proactive approach
September 26, 2024 By Karen Morfitt -- CBS News/Denver

"Frankly, our businesses don't deserve to deal with this constantly and constantly calling our department saying 'Hey we've got another guy walking out the front door after stuffing bags worth of goods,'" Rose said.

Rose says their new approach involves partnering with stores that are being targeted to track thieves in real time. On one day operation he says they arrested six suspected thieves. Each, he says, was seen loading up on carts or bags and then walking out the door.

"That day we just basically gave radios to the folks at loss prevention, so we had real time communication with those folks and every single person they identified we got them coming out of the store that day," he said

While the crime is all but ignored in some parts of the Denver metro area, Wheat Ridge Police hope going after every case will send a stronger message.

Then they need to have the 'laws' and the 'courts' do their part. Perhaps Wheat Ridge will be successful in chasing all these miscreants back to Denver or Lakewood.

[TakeFive]

One Down, more to come

Downtown office tower sells to Dikeou at 80 percent discount
October 3, 2024 By Thomas Gounley -- BusinessDen

The Hudson’s Bay Centre office tower in downtown Denver has sold to a local buyer for nearly 80 percent less than it fetched a decade ago. Denver-based Dikeou Realty bought the 20-story building at 1600 Stout St. on Monday for $8.95 million...

1600 Stout Street


Courtesy Cushman & Wakefield

[gopokes21]

That's the same group that's failing to redevelop the El Jebel Temple.

[TakeFive]

DOWNTOWNS: How BIG are they?

I have on occasion suggested that Denver's downtown was generally well defined and modest in size. I decided to put my guess to the test based on the total amount of office space. Per usual I stayed west of the Mississippi.

For starters, Denver's downtown is reported to have 28.3 million square feet of office space.

• Downtown Seattle is reported to have 50.7 million square feet of office space
• Downtown Portland is reported to have 44 million square feet
• Minneapolis--St Paul is reported to have 128 million square feet
• Minneapolis is reported to have 51.7 million square feet
• Austin is reported to have 15 million square feet
• Dallas is reported to have 33 million square feet
• Fort Worth is reported to have 36 million square feet
• Houston is reported to have 44 million square feet

What would be the point?

Well, one point I would make is that Denver having say 25% office vacancy would be half as much space as a downtown that had twice as much total office space and 25% vacancy.

I'll hope-assume that aside from the three already announced moves out of downtown 1) Antero Resources to Cherry Creek 2) Excel to RiNo and 3) TIAA to Frisco, TX that this is the bottom. And if the worst is over then better days are ahead.

Total Trivia

I recently read where The Henry restaurant will be opening on the ground floor of the 201 Fillmore building in 2026, where Antero Resources is moving to. The Henry is a nice restaurant/bar and is a part of Fox Restaurant Concepts family. Other Fox restaurants in Denver would be North Italia and Flower Child also in Cherry Creek plus Blanco Cocina + Cantina and Culinary Dropout at 9th Ave and Colorado Blvd.

Fox Restaurant Concepts is the brainchild of Sam Fox. In 2019 Sam sold his company to The Cheesecake Factory Inc. for $353 million. Prior to this sale Cheesecake had helped Sam with funding the expansion of North Italia and Flower Child restaurants. Sam then went on to develop a nice hotel called The Global Ambassador featuring three new restaurant concepts. I've picked up riders there several times and the Valet circle in front is always jam packed. "Just keep moving everybody."

[mhays]

Those stats are apples to horses. No parallels whatsoever.

[TakeFive]

Quite Impressive

Originally Posted by mhays

Those stats are apples to horses. No parallels whatsoever.

In my refrigerator I have "Washington Natural Old Fashioned 100% Apple Cider" (it's very good) so nice choice to go with apples. Choosing horses on a day when the Denver Broncos won in front of the home crowd is also a nice touch (we won't talk about the Seahawks).

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by gopokes21

That's the same group that's failing to redevelop the El Jebel Temple.

The Dikeou's have failed at developing anything anywhere ever.

[TakeFive]

How to reverse the ‘urban doom loop’
SEP. 26, 2024 By Robert Steuteville -- Public Square

Note: Robert Steuteville, F-CNU, is editor of Public Square: A CNU Journal and senior communications adviser for the Congress for the New Urbanism. This article is based on, summarizes a book on the topic.

Walkable urban places (WalkUPs) have been declining since 2019 due to the pandemic, rising disorder (or its perception), and a shrinking office market—but a new nationwide report says a virtuous cycle can be restored by rebalancing real estate and uses.

Reiminaging Cities: Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop, written by Cushman & Wakefield with Christopher Leinberger and Places Platform, analyzes 208 regionally significant urban centers in 15 major metro areas across the US. These include four types of WalkUPs: downtowns, downtown adjacent, urban commercial, and urban universities.

Source: Reimagining Cities

Nothing terribly new here but still it's a pretty Good Read. Need more residential downtown for example which we already know. There is one concept I want to zero in on.

The findings are especially relevant to New Urbanism because WalkUPs are defined by their physical characteristics: walkability, connectivity, great streets, inclusivity, and a mix of live, work, and play—in addition to their regionally significant commercial real estate development.

The play component—sports, entertainment, museums, theaters, retail, restaurants, convention centers, hotels, and more—comprises only 14 percent of the real estate in WalkUPs. The optimum range is 17-31 percent, with a mean goal of 26 percent. That’s nearly double the current level. One surprising finding that helps to explain the importance of “play” is that nearly 70 percent of foot traffic in urban centers is visitors; they neither work nor live in the WalkUP. This foot traffic contributes to safe and attractive streets and helps drive the economy of urban centers. This is true, surprisingly, not just in downtowns but the other kinds of WalkUPs.

Key idea:

This reflects the emerging ‘experience’ economy layering on top of the existing ‘knowledge’ economy.”

Call it (partly) the Gen Z affect. I've also read similar thoughts with respect to various new often mixed-use developments.

Think about it: The Potential

With a few adjustments Denver's CBD has the perfect setup. On one side you have LoDo & the DUS neighborhood. For bookends you have Coors Field and Ball Arena. On another side you have the Auraria Campus. On the 3rd side you have cultural arts including the Denver Art Museum and Library, the Capitol and the Civic Center. For the last side you have Ball Park, RiNo, Five Points neighborhoods etc.

Best of all there's the mile long renovated 16th Street Mall going down the middle of the CBD.

[TakeFive]

The Downtown Denver Dirty Nitty Gritty

Generally I've found Reddit threads to be a waste of time but I happen to run a search I hadn't done before and ran into a couple of Reddit threads that provide fascinating insight and are worth some time, especially the first thread.

Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate rises to nearly 34%
1 mo. ago -- r/Denver Reddit

This thread was interesting since most of the comments come from people who work (or live) downtown. Many comments are from engineers - be sure to click on "more replies" or you'll miss a lot. Comments explore different angles but they're all relevant to downtown.

One interesting takeaway is the amazing amount of floor space that is barely used due to WFH etc. The good news is that in many cases the tenant signed a longer lease so they're stuck with more space than they might otherwise need. They also discuss why landlords (generally) are unwilling to lower asking rental rates. Mostly they don't want to lock themselves into lower rents, would rather gamble by playing the interest rate and time element game, hoping for better days. (Best of luck)

It could be seen as a bit 'depressing' but it is what it is and this is (mostly) from employees so it's only one take.

If you'd like to read even more that's similar with some variation there's also this:

Vacancy rate of Denver office space going up as empty space accrues in downtown
3 months ago -- r/Denver Reddit

[Fritzdude]

Does anyone know who puts together the DevelopingDenver Instagram feed? They do a pretty good job.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Fritzdude

Does anyone know who puts together the DevelopingDenver Instagram feed? They do a pretty good job.

That is some pretty nice content. Throwing in the link:

https://www.instagram.com/developingdenver/

[TakeFive]

Upton Residences Now Accepting Ownership Reservations
October 9, 2024 -- Mile High CRE

Amacon’s Upton Residences — Denver’s largest for-sale mixed-use condo development located at 18th and Glenarm starting in the low $400s — will start accepting reservations for ownership tomorrow, October 10 at 10 a.m., by appointment at the Sales Gallery located at 1800 Welton St.

Interested buyers who reserve by putting down a $10,000 refundable deposit can lock in the lowest and best pricing incentives such as $10,000 off initial pricing at closing and a guaranteed parking space. Additionally, the first 25 buyers will receive the use of a storage locker, a $5,000 value.

Ownership contracts will begin being written in early 2025, ensuring ample time for buyers to prepare for their new investment

Upton Residences - 1800 Welton Street







......
Images courtesy Upton Residences/West + Main

Pricing for the residences:

• Urban one-bedroom – starting in the $400s
• One bedroom – starting in the $500s
• Two bedrooms – starting in the $700s
• Three bedrooms – starting at $1M

Available summer of 2025

[laniroj]

What do folks think about the City thinking big and instead of doing the same old, they build an elevated "high line" or "river mile" in our case above the tracks along the river mile frontage. We could add a ski lift as a nod to the former elitches. Tourist attraction in and of itself and huge neighborhood amenity.

Am I crazy?

[mhays]

Can you expand on that idea? Do you mean a full enclosed lid with park on top?

If the neighboring megadevelopments were built with the "high line" in mind, it could be a great amenity vs a few smaller crossings.

Without those things, or early in the buildout, it might not get much use. People don't go up 30' without good reason. The cost would be in the hundreds of millions at minimum.

Do the megadevelopments plan to connect a street or two across the rail lines? Would this mean pedestrian intersections at the high line level?

[TakeFive]

RyanD's favorite idea
was to run a Gondola between downtown and Cherry Creek

Originally Posted by laniroj

What do folks think about the City thinking big and instead of doing the same old, they build an elevated "high line" or "river mile" in our case above the tracks along the river mile frontage. We could add a ski lift as a nod to the former elitches. Tourist attraction in and of itself and huge neighborhood amenity.

Am I crazy?

Vancouver is working on an Urban gondola.

Seattle has been debating the topic for years.

it's a good way to save a ton of money over light rail.