Micro housing winners announced
The Denver Architectural League has announced the winners of its Micro Housing Ideas Competition.The winning entry for the possible building with small rental units along the South Platte River,across from the TAXI development, features a facade with scaffolding of prairie grass, allowing the building’s exterior to change with each season.
The building, designed by Armando Birlain López of Querétaro, Mexico, would appear as a carpet of green in the summe…
RedPeak starts renovation of Burnsley
RedPeak Properties has started the $5 million renovation of the 17-story Burnsley Hotel, which will be renamed as The Burnsley at 1000 Grant.
The renovation is being performed by W. E. O’Neil Constructionn and will be completed in September.
The work will maintain the historic character and charm of the property’s original architecture and design, while bringing the 50-year ol…
Amstar on board with Jefferson Park community
Amstar, a Denver-based real estate investment manager, in partnership with Allied Orion Holdings, a Texas- and Colorado-based apartment developer, announced today it will soon start construction on 2785 Speer, a 332-unit apartment project on Speer Boulevard in the popular Jefferson Park neighborhood in Denver.
They are scheduled to break ground this month with a delivery date in the spring of 2015 of the community that had previously been announced.
The five-story bu…
Landscape architect prospers in tough economy
On the long plane ride from Denver to China, landscape architect Craig Karn read the best seller, “The World is Flat,” by Thomas L. Friedman.
“Hey, that is us,” Karn thought, while reading the book about how there are increasingly no geographic or other barriers to doing global business in these days of heightened technology.
“Our tiny little firm is doing this giant, transit-oriented, re…
Kendall coins TINA to describe market
When apartment investment expert Jerry Kendall talks about TINA, he isn’t referring to Fey or Turner.
Rather, Kendall, principal of Greenwood Village-based from Multifamily Capital Advisors, coined the TINA acronym that stands for “There Is No Alternative.”
TINA has never been more relevant for the Denver-area multifamily market than today, according to Kendall.
In the first quarter, the average monthly rent for all apartments set a new record of $992, accordi…
ARA handles large apartment sale
Greystar Real Estate Investments, in a joint venture with Goldman Sachs & Co., last month paid $156 million for four Denver-area apartment communities with a total of 1,003 units.
“This is the biggest single deal so far this year,” said Jeff Hawks a principal with ARA.
Hawks, along with fellow ARA team members Doug Andrews, Terrance Hunt and Shane Ozment represented the seller, Chicago-based Equity Residential Properties.
Earlier, Greystar had purchased about an…
Celebration on Wednesday for 2020 Lawrence
The public is invited May 15 to attend the official grand opening of one of the most energy-efficient apartment high-rises in the nation - the 10-story, 231-unit 2020 Lawrence in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood.
Tesla Motors will demonstrate how its electric cars can be charged at one of the stations at 2020 Lawrence and details of the nation’s first-of-its kind rooftop greenhouse will be discussed at the even that will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The celebration…
Statewide apartment vacancies fall to 4.6 percent
The vacancy rate in Colorado apartments fell to 4.9 percent in the first quarter, down from 5.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012, according to a Colorado Division of Housing report released today.
The first-quarter vacancy rate is also down from 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
The vacancy rate had now been down for 14 consecutive quarters.
Vacancy rates varied considerably in different metros of the state, however, with northern Colorado and metro Denver showing s…
Springs rental rates continue to rise
The average rent in the Colorado Springs area rose year over year for the 13th consecutive quarter during the first quarter, , climbing 4.4 percent to $787, according to a report released today.
The report by the Colorado Division of Housing and the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado, the average rent for the region during the first quarter this year was up from $754 during the first quarter of 2012, but was down slightly from 2012’s fourth-quarter average rent of $…
Apartment vacancy rates falls to 4.6 percent
The apartment vacancy rate in the Denver metro area fell to 4.6 percent during the first quarter, dropping to the second-lowest vacancy rate recorded in any quarter since the first quarter of 2001, according to a report released today.
The vacancy rate was down from 2012’s first-quarter rate of 4.9 percent, and was also down from last year’s fourth-quarter rate of 4.9 percent, according to the report by the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Divisi…
Value-add apartment deal a winner
Nuevo Oaxaca LLC paid $19.66 million for the 24-building, 288-unit Village by the Park apartment community in Northglenn.The transaction was handled by Joe Hornstein and Josh Newell of Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors.
Sixteen months earlier, 10701 Pecos Street Partners LLC bought and repositioned the property.
Read the entire article in the May 1 to May 14 edition of the Colorado Real Estate Journal.
ULC's W line investments will create 500 jobs
While the first leg of the RTD’s FasTrack transit project opens on Friday â�¯ the 12-mile W line hat connects downtown Denver with Lakewood and Golden â�¯ the Denver-based Urban Land Conservancy has ben buying land along and near the new line for the past six years.
ULC spent almost $14 million acquiring the properties to assure that affordable. Housing and other community services would be available along the line.
ULC used the $15 million…
Forum plans apartments at Kent Place
The Denver-based Forum Real Estate Group today announced the launch of a luxury, 300-unit apartment community at Kent Place, an 11-acre site at South University Boulevard and East Hampden Avenue in Engelwood.
The site, formerly home to the Denver Seminary, is near some of the metro area’s most expensive neighborhoods, including Cherry Hills Village, Buell Mansion and the Wellshire.
“The Kent Place Residences will be among the finest anywhere in Denver, providing the …
Block 32 enters hot RiNo market
A dozen years ago, Scott McFadden developed the first transit-oriented development in the Denver area, the Alexan City Center in Englewood.
This week, he was scheduled to put the finishing touches on one of his latest development – Block 32 at RiNo, an apartment community in the up-and-coming River North, or RiNo, neighborhood.
“Well, I certainly have learned a lot since I did Alexan,” said McFadden, now principal of his own company, Prospect Real Estate.
Duri…
Energy companies drawing construction workers
A construction labor shortage impacting apartment building in much of the Southwest, including the Denver area, increasingly could be exasperated by an unexpected source ⎯ competition from oil and exploration outfits that pay much higher wages than builders.
Jeff Booth, a senior vice president of San Antonio-based Embrey Partners, which has developed more than 40 million square feet of apartments and commercial properties during the past 39 years, highlighted the issue of compe…
Making the case for multifamily
Apartments are the shining star of commercial real estate investments. What do investors, real estate professionals, institutional owners, banks and lenders know? Why choose multifamily over office, industrial, retail and other commercial property types?
In terms of commercial real estate, the stars rarely align in the way they have for multifamily rental properties. Fundamentals are everything, and the fundamentals are strong in every area of apartments. This element gets the ca…
HFF arranges $230 million for Breakers Resort
HFF arranged $230 million in financing for The Breakers Resort, a six-village, 1,523-unit, Class A multifamily community in Denver.
The HFF team worked exclusively on behalf of the borrower, The Bascom Group LLC, to secure a $165 million first mortgage, a $26.25 million mezzanine loan, and $38.75 million of preferred equity. The $165 million first mortgage was a floating-rate loan and included a three-year term with two, one-year extension options. It was provided t…
McWhinney unveils apartment community
Loveland-based developer McWhinney plans to begin construction this month on its fifth multifamily project, Arbour Commons, in Westminser.
The 394-unit lifestyle community is the second multifamily project developed by McWhinney at the Orchard Town Center master-planned community located off Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue.
Arbour Commons will be north of Arbour Square Apartments, a 300-unit multifamily project developed by McWhinney that opened in the fall of 2011.
…
HFF arranges $230 million financing for The Breakers
HFF arranged $230 million in financing for The Breakers Resort, a six-village, 1,523-unit, Class A multifamily community in Denver.
The HFF team worked exclusively on behalf of the borrower, The Bascom Group LLC, to secure a $165 million first mortgage, a $26.25 million mezzanine loan, and $38.75 million of preferred equity. The $165 million first mortgage was a floating-rate loan and included a three-year term with two, one-year extension options. It was provided thr…
Legacy unveils downtown apartment community
Legacy Partners is developing its first downtown Denver apartment community in a decade.
The company’s first project since it opened the Ballpark Lofts in April 2003, is a 212-unit development at 21st and Arapahoe streets in the Arapahoe Square area.
It started construction in March on the five-story, Class A community. It is tentatively called 21 Lawrence. It is scheduled to open in the fall of 2014.
“We’re really excited,” Spencer R. Stuart Jr., a seni…