The developers of Belleview Station, south of downtown Denver and just west of Interstate 25, have been on both sides of the area’s real estate market.
The Denver Technological Center sculpture stands tall behind the American Flag in Raymond A. Bullock Park in the Denver Tech Center on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. “When the tech center was originally developed, the style at the time, or the thought process, was let’s create a business park where we have an office only on big lots that have a lot of landscaping, surface parking and they’re spread out,” said Jim Neenan, president and CEO ofPlaces to eat and shop were afterthoughts, Neenan said.
Denver Tech Center in Greenwood Village is pictured on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. DTC has a nearly 17% vacancy in office buildings. The trend of people wanting to work in proximity to housing, stores, restaurants, in activity centers, was growing before the coronavirus pandemic, said A for lease sign advertises available space near DTC Parkway and E. Belleview Avenue in the Denver Tech Center on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. Marina Square Shopping CenterLouis “Dutch” Bansbach, president of Front Range Land and Development, said when George Wallace founded DTC, most of the office buildings and associated businesses were in downtown Denver on the periphery of downtown.
The office for the CEO sits under construction at the new Kodiak Building Partners headquarters in Englewood on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Kodiak Building Partners is moving their corporate headquarters from Highlands Ranch to a new 32,00 square foot facility in Englewood near I-25 and Lincoln Avenue. While office building owners in the south metro area face similar challenges to downtown, the region has advantages, say real estate experts. Downtown Denver’s overall vacancy rate was 28.
A 120,000-square-foot Kaiser Permanente office in the southeast metro area had been up for lease, but Kaiser recently renewed the lease, said de Loizaga, adding that JLL wasn’t involved in the transaction. He believes as more people spend more time in the office, building vacancies will decrease. Kodiak is renovating an existing building and expects to move in a couple of months, said Steve Swinney, the CEO. The company has 6,000 employees nationwide and roughly 900 in Colorado. About 75 people work at the headquarters.
“It’s one of the main factors we got a lot bigger space when a lot of people are shrinking spaces right now,” Swinney said. “We outgrew this space awhile ago. We’ve been kind of limping our way along.” Brooke Bansbach Maloy, left, and Trey Warren, both with Front Range Land and Development Company, the master developer of Belleview Station, are pictured on Aug. 14, 2023. For some companies, a new building is the way to go. Others, more concerned about their budgets, might be willing to lease an older building, said Neenan with Prime West.