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COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 17, 2014-January 6, 2015
Greater Denver
by John Rebchook
The Holland Partner Group
is bringing a Larimer Square-
like development to its luxuri-
ous and sustainable MileHouse
at Belleview Station apartment
community just west of the
Denver Tech Center.
The two-building commu-
nity will have a total of 678
units and most likely a Gold
LEED certification when it is
completed.
Construction on the second
building, known as Block B,
recently began and renters
began moving into the first
building in the fall.
“It will feel very much like
Larimer Square,” Scott Mene-
fee, a senior development direc-
tor at Holland, said recently
about the 69,700-square-foot
retail portion of Belleview Sta-
tion.
And that’s not just lip ser-
vice.
“We took the measurements
of the streets and distance
between stores at Larimer
Square and then mirrored it,”
Menefee said.
“It’s going to be a very pedes-
trian-oriented, small-format
retail format,” Menefee said.
“It’s going to have a very
urban design,” in a very subur-
ban part of the city of Denver,
he added.
And there is an added bonus:
“It’s going to be located at a
light-rail station,” he said.
“This is a true transit-ori-
ented development,” Menefee
said.
Kelly Greene of the Legend
Retail Group is marketing and
listing
the
retail portion
of Belleview
Station for
Holland.
To
have
almost 70,000
sf of new
retail is huge,
he said.
“There is
very little in
this trade area,” Greene said.
“And a lot of people want to be
in this trade area.”
Existing retail includes the
retail portion of the nearby
Landmark
condominium
development, he said.
“Marina Square (in the tech
center) is not really viable
because it will be redeveloped
at some point,” he said.
“There really is an amazing-
ly little amount of inventory
available in this area,” he said.
The demographics of the area
are similar to, if not better than,
the Cherry Creek submarket,
while there is a fraction of
available retailers, Greene said.
Within a three-mile radius of
Belleview Station, the average
household income is $108,701
and the daytime population is
90,844.
“The tech center area has the
highest daytime population
outside of downtown Denver,”
Greene said.
Also, 36,784 vehicles per day,
on average, drive by Belleview
Avenue, while the average
daily traffic count on Interstate
25 is 233,157.
“Because this is so close to
I-25, it has a broader trade area
than you would typically see,”
Greene said.
Indeed, the retail at Belleview
Station needs to appeal to three
distinct demographic groups,
said Eric Hagevik, chief operat-
ing officer at Holland.
The three groups are the
residents at Belleview Station,
where average lease rates are
expected to be about $2 per
sf, among the highest, if not
the highest, along the southeast
corridor.
Then, there are the office
workers in the tech center area
and, finally, the homeowners in
nearby Greenwood Village and
Cherry Hills Village. Cherry
Hills Village, overall, has the
most expensive homes in the
Denver area.
“People who live in places
like Cherry Hills and places
like the Preserve in Greenwood
Village would really like a sit-
down, white-tablecloth restau-
rant,” he said.
“And people who work in
the tech center want a place
where they can grab a quick
lunch,” Hagevik said.
Young professionals and oth-
ers who live at Belleview Sta-
tion will appreciate an urban-
feeling village center where
they can gather with friends,
he said.
Tenants will be a mix of
national and local tenants,
which probably will be a bit
overweighted toward the
locals, he said.
The only signed lease is for
Vino Tinto, a wine shop that
was founded by two local
attorneys.
“It’s the type of wine shop
you find in Denver inner-city
neighborhoods, but which you
don't really find in more subur-
ban areas,” Menefee said.
In addition, Greene said he
has a number of letters of intent
from prospective tenants.
Hagevik said they are being
selective about the tenants at
Belleview Station.
“We don’t just want the
same tenants you can find any-
where,” he said.
Rather, they have to pro-
vide a true service to the three
demographics groups they are
targeting: the residents, nearby
homeowners and office work-
ers.
The demand for the space
is far outstripping the amount
available, Greene said.
“I could lease this many times
over,” based on the demand, he
said.
s
A site plan showing the retail at Mile House at Belleview Station.
Kelly Greene
