It’s no secret that Denver’s commercial real estate market has been incredibly strong for the past few years. In 2019, this uphill trend continued, revealing sustained strength across nearly every sector. Meeting the high demand for commercial and industrial real estate, including downtown high-rises, suburban business parks, warehouses and manufacturing facilities, Denver continues to heat up with new developments to keep pace.

Here’s a round-up of Denver commercial real estate activity in Q4 2019.

Downtown Denver:

While Downtown Denver experienced a decrease in active construction during Q4, plans for more development were announced, further strengthening the area’s reputation as a major business hub for the Front Range.

  • Denver-based developer Jordon Perlmutter & Co. unveiled plans for “Paradigm River North,” an eight-story, 200,000-square-foot office development at 3400 Walnut St. in the RiNo Art District. Slated for completion in 2022, the building is designed to appeal to the next-gen office user.
  • Law firm Fisher Phillips is nearly doubling the size of its Denver office with a move to a new office in the Central Business District. The new office is in a 20,235 square foot space on the 24th floor of the 25-story building at 1125 17th Street.
  • The Downtown Denver Partnership, along with the City and County of Denver and the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District (BID) launched the Urban Forest Initiative to grow Denver’s tree canopy from 4% to 10%. From the funding of the City, BID, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, FirstBank, the Zoellner Family and additional philanthropic support, 17 grantees have been awarded funding for 113 tree plantings in downtown Denver.
  • EF Education First, a foreign language training and travel company, announced plans to move into the new Platte Fifteen building, which is nearing completion on the corner of 15th and Platte streets. Reports say Platte Fifteen is the city’s first commercial building utilizing cross-laminated timber.

 West Denver:

Despite a slight increase in vacancy rate, West Denver experienced strong building sales.

  • The Union Walk Retail, a 12,000-square-foot retail space at 180 S. Union Boulevard in Lakewood, has sold for $5.025 million. The space was fully leased at the time of sale, featuring strong national tenants including Bruegger’s Bagels and Floyd’s Barbershop.
  • An eco-friendly developer broke ground on the Parkview Residences, a 45-unit townhome project in Lakewood. The project will offer a mix of two and three-bedroom units ranging from 1,200 – 1,500 square feet across nine buildings. The units are expected to sell from the high $300,000s to more than $500,000.
  • Clear Creek Commons, an active senior living community in downtown Golden, has sold for $18.75 million. The buyer Griffis/Blessing Inc. paid $416,667 per unit, and the 45-unit community was 100% occupied with a waiting list at the time of the sale.
  • Suite Office Solutions LLC leased 6,257 square feet at 274 Union Blvd. in Lakewood. Dan Bartell represented the landlord.
  • Kiowa Engineering leased 2,177 office square feet at 7175 W. Jefferson Ave., Suite 2200, in Lakewood. Eric Gold represented the tenant.

Northwest Denver:

With a rise in office inventory from 11.8 million SF in Q3 to 21.9 million SF in Q4, Northwest Denver reached $642 million in total building volume sales – a $390 million increase from the previous period.

  • Partners Group, a $91 billion Swiss investment firm, opened its 129,400-square-foot North American headquarters at 1200 Entrepreneurial Dr. in Broomfield. The company is predicted to grow its headcount to 450 employees within the next five years, adding more than 250 jobs to the region.
  • Schnitzer West was chosen as the developer of two office sites in Downtown Westminster totaling up to 650,000 square feet.

Colorado Blvd/Glendale/Cherry Creek:

In Q4, Colorado Blvd/Glendale/Cherry Creek experienced monumental growth. With the vacancy rate down by 3.6% from the previous period, the total building sales volume reached $1.2 billion – a significant increase from the previous quarter’s $186 million total sales.

  • Florida-based TerraCap Management paid $77.5 million for the 14-story, 168,486-square-foot Centerpoint I and the 16-story, 205,534-square-foot Centerpoint II at 1777 S. Harrison St. Combined, the deal works out to about $200/SF.
  • The four-story building at 101 University Blvd. sold to MDC Realty Advisors for $26 million – that’s more than triple what it sold for in 2011.
  • Equinox Fitness agreed to take space in a new six-story, 75,000-square-foot office building at 240 St. Paul St. The project will be developed by Denver-based BMC Investments.

 Denver Tech Center:

The Denver Tech Center experienced an increase in average rental rates (up by $1.62 from Q3), while also remaining attractive for real estate investment, reaching $247 million in total building sales volume.

  • ML East Tufts LLC sold the Stanford Place II building at 7979 E. Tufts Ave. to Los Angeles-based Lowe for $62.25 million. At 366,184 square feet, the deal works out to $170 per square foot.
  • Schnitzer West announced it will break ground on its latest office development in Q3 2020. Located at 6363 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, the three, sixteen-story Class-A office towers will include a tower with approximately 290,000 RSF, an efficient standard floorplate size of 30,800 RSF and a parking ratio of 3.0 per 1,000 RSF.