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— Retail Properties Quarterly — August 2016
CONTENTS
Letter from the Editor
A
s you flip through this issue,
you’ll notice an important
common theme – Colorado’s
retail market is strong. Rates
and absorption continue
to rise as vacancies decrease due
to limited new supply and pent-up
demand. And as
long as the real
estate adage that
retail follows roof-
tops remains true,
contributors to
this issue are opti-
mistic about the
retail future as our
demographics con-
tinue to grow.
I wanted to take a moment to look
at one specific retail location, the
16th Street Mall, which accounts for
36 percent of the total sales tax col-
lected in downtown Denver. With
close to 200 retailers and restau-
rants, the mall is the most popular
shopping and entertainment desti-
nation for visitors to metro Denver,
according to a Downtown Denver
Partnership fall 2015 report.
For all these reasons, the mall
must be “safe, welcoming and inclu-
sive,” said Tami Door, DDP president
and CEO, at the partnership’s 61st
annual meeting in late July.
During her presentation, Door
mentioned several new initiatives to
address safety on the mall as well
as maintenance, mobility, infra-
structure and activation.
Safety on the mall is at the fore-
front of many conversations about
16th Street Mall recently and was
mentioned by most of the speakers
at the breakfast.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock
said the wind was knocked out of
him when he saw some of the vio-
lence captured on video. He said
that while these challenges are real
and he won’t pretend they aren’t
happening, the city has seen and
faced worse. As a result of the prob-
lems, the mall now boasts three
times the number of police officers
as there were patrolling the mall at
the end of the winter, he said.
The DDP’s comprehensive Down-
town Security Action Plan, which
contains 240 items, is being imple-
mented. In addition to increasing
officer presence, the partnership
already has master permits to con-
trol seven alleys, has replaced light-
ing in nine alleys and contracted
with a new security firm that starts
this month.
Several other initiatives for the
retail area also were mentioned.
One is The Mall Experience study,
which sets out to define a clear
vision for the future of the mall and
is being conducted in collaboration
with the city and county of Denver
as well as RTD.
The partnership also is working
to develop a strategic plan for eco-
nomic development for the mall to
emphasize retail and development
opportunities while taking into
account amenities that support visi-
tors, workers and residents.
If you have work within a specific
submarket of commercial retail real
estate that is active and newswor-
thy, please reach out and tell me
about it. I value your feedback.
303-623-1148, Ext. 104
designing
excellence
creating
value
developing
opportunities
full service architecture and engineering
denver | fort collins | colorado springs | 303.692.8838
Denise Leal | 303.407.6724
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