April 20-May 3, 2016 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 43
Buchanan said. Tryba had been
hired by the seller of the prop-
erty, Amcap Properties. The
property was listed by Mike
Winn and Tim Richey of CBRE.
“We’ve also working with
Davis Partnership, another
local firm,” Buchanan said.
“We are working with Britt
Probst, one of the principals at
Davis. He is a very knowledge-
able and a very good archi-
tect. And we have also hired
Gensler, a firm that we have
worked with in many cities
and are very happy with the
work they have done for us in
the past.”
The three firms are not each
assigned certain tasks for Clay-
ton Lane.
“No, we firmly believe in col-
laboration on the design front,”
Buchanan said.
“One of our core philoso-
phies is to hire the best and we
often work with multiple firms
on a single project. We have
found that really helps the cre-
ative process.”
He noted that OliverMcMil-
lan had been looking for a
mixed-use development site in
Denver for several years.
In fact, it had previously bid
for the former University of
Colorado Health Sciences Cen-
ter site at East Ninth Avenue
and Colorado Boulevard.
“We pursued that a couple of
years ago,” Buchanan said.
“Unfortunately for us, we
came in second to (Denver-
based) Continuum (Partners).
Fortunately, we were successful
with Clayton
Lane.”
One of the
big questions
about
the
r e d e v e l op -
ment is what
is going to
happen
to
the hugely
p o p u l a r
Whole Foods
on the site.
“Whole Foods is a wonderful
tenant in the project and will
remain a tenant in the redevel-
oped site,” Buchanan said.
“We have had some discus-
sions with options with them
and expanding their presence
on the site,” he said.
Another key element will be
to make the redevelopment
extremely pedestrian friendly.
“That is one of our strengths,”
Buchanan said about making
the site, which is now domi-
nated by large, surface parking
lots, walkable.
“Connectivity to us is very
important,” he said.
“We want to connect to the
nearby Cherry Creek trail sys-
tem and all of Cherry Creek
North,” Buchanan said.
“Cherry Creek North already
is very walkable and we think
it will become even more walk-
able over the next five years or
so as our site is developed,” he
said.
The Clayton Lane site also
will include a number of new
retailers, including some that
are new to the market, he said.
“There already is a great line-
up of tenants at Clayton Lane
and we will build on that,”
Buchanan said.
“We have relationships all
over the country with leading
retailers and their key decision
makers and we definitely want
to bring some first-to-market
tenants to Clayton Lane,” he
said.
At the other end of the spec-
trum, he said the redevelop-
ment also likely would include
some local tenants, such as
chef-driven restaurants.
Under the zoning, the tallest
buildings on the site can be 110
feet tall, which equates to an
eight-story building.
The tallest buildings likely
will be apartments, not condos.
“I think it will more likely
be rental at this time, although
there is a market for both, as
250 Columbine has demon-
strated,” Buchanan said.
The nearby 250 Columbine
mixed-use center is being
developed by the Western
Development Group.
OliverMcMillan, however,
does have experience with
developing for-sale units.
“We have done for-sale
condominiums in the past,”
Buchanan said
“Our Honolulu project, for
example, has some very high-
end condominiums that have
been very successful,” he said
As with all developers, how-
ever, the risk of litigation is
a concern when it comes to
developing condominiums.
“The construction defect risk
factor is still a pretty big issue
in Colorado, although there are
ways around it,” he said.
OliverMcMillan also is look-
ing at some offices at Clay-
ton Lane, “although that will
not be a leading program for
us. Janus, for example, has its
headquarters at Clayton Lane.
Although Janus was not part of
our purchase, if down the road
they needed to expand their
presence, I think our property
could be a great opportunity
for them.”
One thing that is not in the
cards, at least during the initial
development, is a hotel.
“We’re not pursuing a hotel
at this time,” Buchanan said.
He noted that several hotels
are under construction in the
area “and our friends own
and operate the JW Marriott at
Clayton Lane, although that is
not part of our project.”
However, OliverMcMillan is
a long-term owner of its devel-
opments, so it is not inconceiv-
able that years down the road a
hotel could be appropriate for
the site, he noted.
He said it is difficult to com-
pare other OliverMcMillan
developments that would be
similar to Clayton Lane.
“You know, every develop-
ment is different and we tailor
each one to the site and the city
we are in,” Buchanan aid.
“But in Atlanta and Houston,
and one underway in Nash-
ville, we have dense, urban,
complex projects.”
s
Clayton Lane
Eric Buchanan
A map showing Clayton Lane
