In today’s Denver Post, Margaret Jackson reports that local development firm Sage Hospitality is planning on occupying 32,000 SF of office space on the top three floors of Evan Makovsky’s still-under-renovation Fontius/Steel building. Congratulations to Sage and Makovsky for the deal! It’s great to keep a local HQ in the heart of Downtown.
Since the Fontius name has been associated for such a long time with a run-down building, I can understand why Mr. Makovsky wants people to refer to the historic structure as the Steel Building instead, after its original occupant, Steel’s Department Store. But Steel’s hasn’t been in the building for more than fifty years and they don’t exist anymore anyway, so why not give the building a more relevant moniker like, the Sage Building?
I thought he had changed the name….
Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/11/fontius-renamed-new-anchor-sage/
The Sage Building sounds very wise, young grasshopper.
Or keep it as the Fontius building? And bring back that retro sign they had hanging up? Of course, when they originally put it up, it wasn't retro…
He already did. Take a look at story on Rocky's Web site…
Hey Ken,
Any update on what's going up on Sherman St. between 11th and 12th?
The parking lot is gone and they are excavating.
At the press conference today, Evan actually re-named the building the "Sage Building" in honor of the new tenants.
And there is going to be (another) bank occupying the retail on the 16th Street Mall portion of the building.
What a waste, I thought Denver was going to be blessed with something cool going into that building, after all this damn hype… and all we are getting is occupied office space?? What happened to house of blues idea? Or a multi-level department store like Harrads in London?? How about something like that?? Great, more offices, that will sure make 16th street vibrant!
^ no one suggested the upper floors were going to be used for anything but office
What is the word on Sage Hospitality's W hotel?
There are more than one retail space, correct? So we still might see something other than the bank on the 1st floor.
is the bank on the 16th side or the Welton side?
Who uses all these new banks? Every time a strip mall or development goes up, there's a bank in it. Doesn't everybody with a job have a bank account already?
I like the name "Fontius" it just has history. By the way anon 12:54 I couldn't agree more. Too many banks in places that nobody should care about. The way I see it though, as long as we get 6 or 7 stores and maybe a club or bar, 16th st becomes just a little more interesting.
I've read articles about Manhattan commercial real estate that say the same thing: too many banks, who can afford to pay more than more interesting tenants, and they drive up the overall lease rates. I don't understand why banks need so many branches, when everyone is converting to online banking anyway. Leasing a tiny little space for an ATM makes sense, but not all these branches. Anyway, banks belong on 17th, not 16th.
These days banks are using branch locations as very expensive billboards. The whole point isn't so much that they need all these locations (they don't), it's that they want the advertising. People walking by, seeing their logo, thinking to themselves "that bank sure is convenient".
It's going on everywhere and is a big problem. It's especially a problem in places like the CPV where buildings frequently only have 1 or 2 retail frontages on a side, so every bank branch takes up extremely limited retail space. And of course bank branches are NOT retail no matter how often ad agents claim otherwise.
The only places this isn't happening are big regional shopping malls, where sophisticated leasing agents know it's important to keep the right mix of shops.
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