CREJ

12 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / September 2020 ADVERTISING: Lori Golightly lgolightly@crej.com SUBSCRIPTIONS: Jolene Wollett jwollett@crej.com ART DIRECTOR: Heather Lewis hlewis@crej.com 1600 Stout St., Suite 1330 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 623-1148 www.crej.com www.crej.com/buildingdialogue/ Publisher’s Note W hile it would have been naïve to think we would have put COVID-19 behind us in time for the fall issue – I had hoped, as I amsureweall hadhoped. Alas, itwill be a fewmoremonths or evena year before life resembles themore “normal”we’d all like it to be. So for now, it’s time to look for the silver lining. It seems like people and industry are adapting. While there hasbeenloss,realloss…therealsoisarenewedspirit.Inwatch- ing CREJ’s livestream conference series last month, it was easy to see that panelists were genuinely happy to be in the same room as their colleagues, even at 6 feet apart. And while much of the news shared was what we would expect to hear, some brighter days are also in view: that long-awaited, reimagined re- tail space we’ve heard about the last couple of years will be here sooner than later; the industrial market is doing Herculeanwork as a commercial real estate market segment; the open office de- bate may (finally) come to an end as we come back to center, in- stinctively knowing that moderation is key here, as it is in most realms of life.. Yes, some of this issue is dedicated to how we are adapting in this pandemic – for starters, safety considerations for air quality aswe return to theworkplace aswell as design options forwork- ing together again, albeit socially distanced. As for those bright lights, though, Josh Gould enumerates five reasons why metro Denver will emerge from this moment as a winner, noting that, “metro Denver has a decades-long track re- cord of civic leadership where business, nonprofit, and govern- ment leadershavefocusedonadvancingtheessential ingredients that make a region great, balancing quality of lifewith economic prosperity.” Gillian Johnsonposits the less-is-more theory, sort of, that could be a win-win for everyone: the hub, a concierge-driven, ameni- ty-rich, programmatically diverse, culturally infused variety of touch-down spaces. Since construction was allowed to continue throughout the pandemic, we do have a fewbeautiful projects to share: 6900 Lay- ton, the Prime West office project at Belleview Station; Avanti’s newdininghall digs inBoulder; theCurtisHotel’s renovated “hap- py camper” lobby in downtown Denver; the Lakehouse, the first multifamilyproject inColorado topilot, pursue andearnprecerti- fication under theWELL Building Standard; TheMae, an inspired multifamily development in Colorado Springs; the old-is-new W Aspenhotel and residences; and somuchmore. And aswe domore fromhome, we still need connection. While the emphasis of these COVID-19 times may seem to be all about isolation, actually, theyearning tobe together iswhatwill sustain us. Mayeachof youstayhealthyuntilwemeetuptodialogueonce again inDecember. Kris Oppermann Stern Publisher &Editor kostern@crej.com