Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Investors are clamoring for assets, tenants are active, speculative development is under way – there is little not to like in the metro area’s commercial real estate market. Brokers specializing in each commercial product type brought good news to NAIOP Colorado’s July 9 Mid-Year Forecast at the Marriott City Center. The slate included the chapter’s Broker of the Year award winners: Doug Wulf of Cassidy Turley Colorado (office), CBRE’s Eric Roth (land), T.J. Smith of Colliers International (industrial), Brad Lyons of CBRE (investment), and Christopher Burton of Legend Retail Group (retail). “The health of the office market is predicated on whitecollar job growth,” said Wulf. “We’re in the top eight of all major metro areas as far as white-collar job growth.” There have been 14 consecutive quarters of positive absorption, and as leasing activity in the oil and gas sector has slowed, technology and financial services tenants have stepped up to fill the gap. There are no oversupply issues in Denver’s office market, although Denver does have an abundance of functionally obsolete office space, he said. Speculative development is under way with Hines’ 1601 Wewatta building within steps of Denver Union Station, and, according to Wulf, transit has become a huge factor in office leasing. “The first check-off today is, ‘How close am I to mass transit?’ What employers really like is TOD (transit-oriented development) sites allow them to cast the widest net for their employees.” With regard to future trends, Wulf said medical office buildings will consume an increasingly larger share of the office market because of the burgeoning baby boom population and health care reform.