Page 2
— Office Properties Quarterly — September 2016
CONTENTS
Letter from the Editor
W
hile working on the cover
story, I learned some inter-
esting tidbits about Denver
that help put into perspec-
tive our growth and chang-
ing national reputation.
Laura Brandt is the economic devel-
opment director with Metro Denver
Economic Development Corp. She’s
been in her position for more than 12
years and has done economic devel-
opment for more
than 30 years. She’s
seen firsthand how
our reputation has
changed as she
leads conversations
with prospect com-
panies considering a
move or expansion
to the area. Metro
Denver EDC tracks
activity through the metro area and
Northern Colorado, which includes
Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield,
Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer
andWeld counties.
Whenever a company calls and says
it wants to be in Denver, Brandt has
to first ask the caller what exactly
Denver means to him. In some cases,
it means the city and county, for oth-
ers it means right downtown, while
others think it represents the whole
region – from as far north as Chey-
enne,Wyoming, to as far south as
Colorado Springs, she said.
Referencing Denver is beginning
to reflect something similar to what
references to Chicago, London or Los
Angeles might evoke. “You think of the
region, you don’t really think of the
specific municipality,” she said.
During my interviews, I often asked
what threatens to hamper all this
activity the market is enjoying – think-
ing that if this is a boom, there must
be a potential bust.While my sources
acknowledged upcoming challenges
– escalating costs, maintaining our
strong workforce and remaining more
desirable than our sister cities – one
statement stood out.
When companies from the coasts
are considering a noncoastal expan-
sion, often they’ll look at Phoenix, Salt
Lake City, Portland, Oregon, or Austin,
Texas, in addition to Denver. Alex
Hammerstein with CBRE told me that
Denver is probably winning over SLC,
Phoenix and the like because of our
labor base. And we’re winning over
the Austins and Portlands of the world
because our of lower cost of doing
business, which takes into account
Denver’s real estate costs and cost of
living.
While it’s always important to be
aware of the competing cities, Ham-
merstein seems confident in Denver’s
future, citing that Denver is one of the
fastest-growing cities in the U.S.
“The labor pool isn’t going any-
where,” he said. “It’s getting better. It’s
getting stronger. I think there’s always
a threat of being more expensive than
some third-tier cities, but when it
comes to labor base, we win that every
day.”
Hammerstein works mainly with
tech companies, but I believe his com-
ment transcends the one industry, and
here’s to hoping this optimism can be
applied to our entire market.
Michelle Z. Askeland
Founded in 1953, Unico Properties LLC is a real estate investor and
full-service operator of office andmixed-use assets. Unico’s Colorado
portfolio consists of more than 2 million square feet of commercial
property in Denver and 1.4 million square feet in Boulder.
Local Commitment. Shared Goals. Superior Execution.
Austin Kane
VP, Regional Director
303.832.1660
