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Every reporter on our staff has covered Colorado commercial real estate news for more than a decade, through the highs and lows in the commercial real estate cycle.

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University of Colorado wins real estate challenge

2 May 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Boulder County & U.S. 36 Corridor
A team from the University of Colorado won the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge with its development scenario for a block within Boulder’s Civic Area. The student competition is put on by NAIOP Colorado with sponsorship by Land Title Guarantee Co. The city of Boulder was this year’s project sponsor. CU’s “Boulder International Center” included plans for an Andaz Boulder Hotel, a 108,302-square-foot Class A office building, a community events cen…

Springs rental rates continue to rise

1 May 2013 | Posted in Multifamily, Colorado Springs & Southern Front Range
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 $…

Successful property tax appeal

29 April 2013 | Posted in Property Management
This week, property owners across Colorado will receive their updated notices of value from the county assessor. Emotions will range widely. Some owners will accept their value as fair; however, if the value doesn’t match expectations, the likely reaction will be surprise, shock and perhaps dismay. If you fall into the latter category, we offer three important “pillars” for a successful property tax appeal. Colorado’s property tax rules are unique. Owners…

Madden rolls out new high-design tower

29 April 2013 | Posted in Office, Denver Market
Developer John Madden is ready to roll out his new masterpiece – a $100 million office tower in Greenwood Village. Madden aims to start construction of the 360,000-square-foot LEED Gold building by August for occupancy in summer 2015. Like his last office building, Palazzo Verdi, Palazzo Verdi II will be something to behold, with sculptures of three life-size giraffes welcoming tenants and guests to its lobby. Read the entire story in the May 1-14 issue.

Conscience Bay acquires third industrial building for $8.8m

29 April 2013 | Posted in Industrial, Boulder County & U.S. 36 Corridor
A Boulder private equity firm acquired the final piece of an industrial property strategically located near the city’s new transit village. Conscience Bay Co. paid $8.8 million, or $88 per square foot, for the 100,000-sf industrial building on five acres at 3825 Walnut St. The building is 100 percent leased to the Denver Newspaper Agency, Grainger Industrial Supply and eTundra, a restaurant supply company. It the last of three buildings that DPC Development Co. owned in Fo…

Group pays $160.67 per sf for Cherry Creek office building

29 April 2013 | Posted in Office, Denver Market
A local investment group, in its second recent acquisition, paid $160.67 per square foot for a Cherry Creek office building. PIII Properties acquired the 26,930-square-foot building at 3400 E. Bayaud St. in Denver for $4.3 million. The building was 100 percent occupied. Derek Vanderryst of Miller Frishman Group represented the buyer. The listing brokers were David Tilton and John Torp of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. “We achieved a pretty high price per square foot,&rdquo…

Apartment vacancy rates falls to 4.6 percent

29 April 2013 | Posted in Multifamily, Denver Market
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…

Denver sees 10 percent increase in lumber costs

28 April 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Construction, Design & Engineering
According to the latest construction cost report from property and construction consultant Rider Levett Bucknall, the construction industry is recovering from the worst effects of the Great Recession and should experience modest growth throughout 2013. RLB cites the strengthening of the Architectural Billings Index, prepared by the American Institute of Architects, as just one sign of the recovery. The index rose to 54.2 in January from a mark of 51.2 in December. Overall constr…

Work begins on new commercial development in Gunnison

28 April 2013 | Posted in Retail, Mountain Towns/Gambling Towns
Construction has started on the first new commercial development in Gunnison in years. Denver-based Drake Real Estate Services recently acquired a 4.8-acre site fronting State Highway 135 and accessible from Van Tuyl Circle where it is developing the Blue Mesa Shopping Center. The Blue Mesa Shopping Center will comprise approximately 40,000 square feet and be anchored by Tractor Supply Co. on one of the four pad sites that make up the development. “It’s huge for Gun…

Senior center planned for Centennial

27 April 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Assisted Living/Senior Housing
Denver-based MorningStar Senior Living and Haselden Construction, recently formed a joint venture and broke ground on a $20 million, 84-unit assisted living and memory care community 14301 East Arapahoe Road in Centennial. MorningStar and Haselden believe the site is ideal for an assisted-living center, based on demographics showing that the senior population in Centennial is anticipated to grow much faster than in the overall Denver area. The new center is called MorningStar at…

Value-add apartment deal a winner

27 April 2013 | Posted in Multifamily, Denver Market
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.        

Brixmor adding Neighborhood Market

27 April 2013 | Posted in Retail, Denver Market
New York City-based Brixmor Property Group plans to bring a 55,669-square-foot Walmart Neighborhood Market to its Villa Monaco shopping center in southeast Denver. The Neighborhood Market will replace a former King Soopers as the anchor tenant in the center on the southwest corner of South Monaco Parkway and East Evans Avenue. “The new Neighborhood Market will be in the old King Soopers building, but the building might be reconfigured for the Neighborhood Market,” sa…

Denver projects detailed in President's 2014 budget

26 April 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Construction, Design & Engineering
The U.S. General Services Administration recently announced major public building construction and repair projects outlined in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. The budget proposal calls for common sense investments in the nation’s public buildings managed by the GSA. “By investing in our public buildings, a smaller federal footprint and improved border crossing stations, GSA will not only create savings for the American people, but also assist in prov…

ULC's W line investments will create 500 jobs

24 April 2013 | Posted in Multifamily, Denver Market
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…

White Lodging to build first dual-branded Hyatt in Denver

24 April 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Hospitality, Economic Development
White Lodging Services will build its first dual-branded Hyatt hotel near the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. The 21-story building at the southeast corner of 14th Street and Glenarm Place will combine a Hyatt Place hotel with White Lodging’s first newly constructed Hyatt House. The company will operate the 346-room hotel under a franchise agreement. Read more in CREJ's May 1-May 14 issue.

EDCC awards its 2013 awards for excellence

23 April 2013 | Posted in Economic Development
The Economic Development Council of Colorado recently awarded its 2013 awards for excellence in the field of economic development in Colorado.             This year’s recipients were chosen from seven categories:             Volunteer of the Year – Commissioner Jill Repella of Douglas County             …

Rosemont Realty buys World Trade Center

17 April 2013 | Posted in Office, Denver Market
Rosemont Realty LLC, a commercial real estate investment company with approximately 18 million square feet of commercial office space valued in excess of $1.8 billion, has acquired the two-building Denver World Trade Center office towers in downtown Denver. Rosemont Realty purchased the Class A, 770,221 square foot office complex from I&G Denver WTC, LLC. The sales price was not disclosed. The complex includes two Class A, LEED Gold-certified towers. Tower I is a 28-stor…

Westin Hotel planned in Greenwood Village

16 April 2013 | Posted in Denver Market, Construction, Design & Engineering, Hospitality, Economic Development
Greenwood Village City Council has agreed to sell 3.54 acres of property at the Arapahoe at Village Center Station (on the east side of Interstate 25) for construction of a Westin Hotel. Greenwood Village Hotel LLC, a development group consisting of Waveland Ventures, Jackson Street Holdings and Arrival Partners, expects to begin construction in the fourth quarter. Preliminary plans for the hotel include 200 guest rooms and suites; a signature restaurant and bar welcoming both …

Forum plans apartments at Kent Place

16 April 2013 | Posted in Multifamily
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

15 April 2013 | Posted in Multifamily, Denver 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…