DECEMBER 2014 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
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Creative Content
While only one example, it may be safe to say that for busi-
nesses and nonprofit organizations focused on creative capital,
the days of the isolated office park are long gone. Whether
you’re developing a campus, public lobby, co-working space or
commercial office building, a shift is occurring in Denver that
requires proximity, collision, accessibility and, most important-
ly, collective vision.
With Denver’s influx of millennials (the city was the No. 1
destination for millennials in 2013 according to the Brookings
Institution) and the SBA’s 2014 report that almost half of the
state’s private workforce is employed by small businesses, in-
cluding start-ups and sole proprietorships, cooperative compe-
tition has never been more relevant.
Changes in Denver’s economic and creative climate have
manifested themselves in both subtle and overt examples
throughout the city’s downtown; one doesn’t have to look far
to recognize initiatives such as Denver StartupWeek as well as
the city’s eruption of co-working spaces, incubators and mul-
titenant buildings. (If you haven’t visited the Brighton Boule-
vard Corridor in a while, be prepared for the massive 9.5-acre
development “Industry,” mixing life and work with a massive
co-working facility, residences and a slew of urban amenities.)
These developments and opportunities for cross-pollina-
tion shed light on the idea that sharing information, resources,
and even real estate amongst competitors has become more
lucrative than the model of separate buildings, missions and
methodologies.
But in the same way that Lennon andMcCartney eventually
split to pursue solo careers, the question I’d pose to the reader
is whether co-opetition is a phase in the arc of a generation’s
maturity, or a new
modus operandi
for Denver’s economic and
creative climate? Will this sea change in business, focused on
empathetic leadership and an “open source” approach to the
market, sustain itself once Denver’s startups grow and mature
into larger companies?
Speaking as a millennial, my hope would be that the collab-
orative nature of our generation will continue to push sharing
and supplementing resources across industries as a means of
continuing to improve and redefine Denver’s physical, virtual
and economic environments.
Perhaps only the maturation of the millennial generation
(and their businesses) will tell, but, in the meantime, I can’t
help but enjoy riding the byproducts of businesses that are as
invested in community as they are in capitalism.
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Industrymixes life andworkwith amassive co-working facility,
residences and a slew of urban amenities.
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