Earlier this month we took a look at the dozens of multi-family residential projects developed in Downtown Denver since 2010. Today, we are focusing on Downtown’s non-residential development projects—that is, office, hotel, civic, and institutional uses—during the same time period. We did something similar in September 2014, but that was for office projects only.
As with our recent residential analysis, projects included are those within a 1.5-mile radius of the historic D&F Tower at 16th and Arapahoe, which works well as a geographic center for the Downtown area. Click on the image below to view in full size our June 2015 Downtown Denver Non-Residential Projects map and table. Use this link to view/download a high-resolution PDF version (6 MB) formatted for printing at 11″ x 17″.
Please note: The gross square footage figures listed are approximate. All projects are new construction with the exception of the Crawford Hotel at Denver Union Station and the Marriott Renaissance Hotel at the Colorado National Bank building. These two adaptive reuse projects were included to provide a more complete look at the Downtown hotel development market.
Office: Since 2010, approximately 3.2 million square feet of office space has been completed or is currently under construction in Downtown Denver. That represents roughly a 10% increase in the total Central Business District office inventory. The number of publicly announced Downtown office projects that have not yet broken ground is now down to just a handful. This is probably a good thing, as it makes sense to see how quickly the nearly 2 million square feet of space currently under development is absorbed. Fortunately, there are a lot of positive factors driving demand for office space in Downtown these days, such as the increasing number of firms who recognize their employees want great access to transit and an engaging, walkable work environment.
Hotel: 1,430 new hotel rooms have been added since 2010 with another 983 currently under construction. All of these, with the exception of the Fairfield Inn Lower Highland, are in the core Downtown area within easy walking distance of the Colorado Convention Center and/or RTD’s free MallRide or MetroRide. If and when the two hotels in the Proposed category are completed, they will put the number of hotel rooms in the Downtown core over 10,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, tourism numbers for Denver are setting records, business is booming at the Colorado Convention Center, and Downtown hotel occupancy rates are very strong.
Civic/Other: The public and institutional sectors have been busy investing in Downtown Denver, with over 3 million square feet of space added through numerous civic buildings, museums, and educational and health facilities.
The Proposed section for all three use categories is limited to those projects we’ve covered already on DenverInfill. Of course, there are more developments “in the pipeline” than these, but projects that haven’t been made public can be hard to quantify, so we’re not attempting to do so as part of this assessment.
In summary, Downtown Denver is firing on all cylinders. A strong office market fueled by companies moving Downtown for its desirable transit/walkable environment? Check. A strong hotel market driven by booming convention center business and Downtown urban tourism? Check. A steady stream of public and institutional projects reflecting our community’s desire to keep Downtown the civic heart of the city and region? Check. An off-the-charts Downtown multi-family residential market reflecting strong demand for an urban lifestyle? Check. Like all booms, this one will someday come to an end. Hopefully it will be a “soft landing” as they say. For now, however, the sheer magnitude of new infill development in Downtown Denver since 2010 (my rough estimate: $5 billion) is staggering; a sign that we must be doing something right.
I recently heard from a good contact of mine at Shea Apartments that’s tied into the 999 17th St. office/apartment project that they’ll probably be breaking ground within the next 30 days.
That would be HUGE for Denver – that half-block will knit together a lot of that side of town.
That is awesome news, Jorge.
With all of the recent momentum in Denver, Ken, are you aware of any plans for a new tallest for Denver?
That would be great news, but I would think that something this monumental would have a big news release and followed by months of preparation before breaking ground. However, I’d gladly eat crow if they, indeed, decide to break ground in the next month. Dubious, though..
Meh, I will believe that when I see it.
Interesting data about hotels – I wondered if occupancy was that good. It’s also a good sign that office space seems to fill up reasonably fast. Better than the boom/bust days of the mid-80’s. We also benefit in better high-rise architecture than the mid-80’s.
Definitely a good point about hotels Dan. Obviously with the great mix of development and the long term outlook for conventions, this is nice to hear as that tourist dollar is fantastic along with the new trend of businesses moving to the city from the suburbs and the overall affect so many industries are having. I’m very curious about Ken’s point about how quickly 2 million square feet of office space will be absorbed as if that’s absorbed in a 1 to 2 year time frame as some of these big office projects get finished out, that will have a great impact on the condo & apartment market downtown.
When will we see some of this growth start to inspire some condominium construction? I, like many thousands of others, would love to live downtown, but don’t want to rent. The scarcity of downtown for-sale housing has caused a spike in prices that is difficult to accept.
Hopefully we will see a “real” run at construction defect legislation this next session.
We won’t. It’s an issue nobody wants to touch during an election year. We’ll be waiting until 2017 apparently.
Ken,
Great information as always. Your contribution to the distribution of information on Denver Development is always timely and extremely well presented. As a member of the Denver real estate community, I applaud your efforts to bring what is (many times) private to the masses.