Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Fulenwider, headed by Cal Fulenwider III, co-developed the 42-unit Emerson Lofts apartment building in the heart of Governor’s Park with a firm owned by Cal’s son, Chris. “Next year, L.C. Fulenwider celebrates 110 years of being in business in Colorado and over that time it has done a little bit of everything,” said Ferd Belz, who joined the firm in May 2012. “In fact, Cal holds the No. 1 real estate license in Colorado, which was first issued to his grandfather, Cal Sr., and passed on to his father, Cal Jr.,” said Belz. L.C. Fulenwider has a lot of “firsts” in real estate development in Colorado. In 1950, it developed the first industrial park in Denver, the 200-acre Mile High Industrial Center. In 1963, Fulenwider developed the first residential condominium high-rise in Denver; in the 1970s it developed the 30-story Larimer Place in downtown; and it also d e v e l o p e d the 50-story Chase Building office tower at 1125 17th St., as well as condominiums and homes in Polo Club North. In the 1960s, it also completed the development of Greenwood Acres, which later was renamed Greenwood Village. “The Fulenwiders also were the original partners in Copper Mountain,” Belz said. “It is true in recent years they have focused much of their energy on developing their land holdings around DIA,” Belz said, an effort that is continuing. Belz, who had been subleasing office space in what is now the Chase Building for more than 15 years, said one of his roles as second in command at L.C. Fulenwider is “to look at niche, urban, unique properties.” The Emerson Loft property at Emerson Street and East Eighth Avenue had already been purchased when Belz came on board. “Chris (Fulenwider) actually found that,” as well as designing the building, which has been leasing quickly since it opened in late July. Chris Fulenwider is principal of CF Studio Architecture + Development, the co-developer of Emerson Lofts. “Cal told all of his kids that you are welcome to join the family business, but first you have to go out and get some realworld experience on your own first,” he said. He said Chris worked for a boutique architectural firm in New York City before returning to Denver. Emerson Lofts represents everything the company is looking for in a site, Belz said. “There really isn’t any land to develop in Governor’s Park, so that creates a barrier to entry,” Belz said. “It is so close to downtown that you can easily walk there,” he added. “Many of the young professionals who have moved into Emerson Lofts don’t have cars. And Chris did such a nice job designing it, with more of a loft-style residence, that it really stands out from the competition.” Emerson Lofts is an important addition to Denver’s urban fabric and allowed him to accomplish his goals as an architect and developer, according to Chris Fulenwider. “We want to make Denver a better place to live and work by utilizing responsible urban design,” Fulenwider said. “Emerson Lofts is a great example of turning a vacant lot into a vibrant and cohesive project in one of Denver’s storied neighborhoods.” Monthly rents range from $1,225 to $2,375. Only about a dozen of the units had not been leased near the end of August and often four or five are rented each week, he said. Cornerstone Apartments is managing Emerson Lofts. Cornerstone is the largest apartment management company in Denver with nearly 80 properties. Cornerstone also will provide advisory services for the acquisition and disposition of properties. “We’re not looking to do the 250- to 300-unit developments,” Belz said. “We’re looking to do more 40- to 80-unit developments.” Buildings that size, he said, will lease quickly in hot markets, such as today’s, but also should weather downturns in the economy without too much problem, given their relative small size, he said. “We’ve been poking around all of the usual suspects,” but haven't yet pulled the trigger on a second site, he said. “We’ve poked around the Uptown area, we’ve poked around the 18th Street corridor, we’ve poked around Sloan’s Lake and we’ve poked around Highland, but there is quite a bit of product coming on line in Highland.” Belz, whose career doesn’t span more than a century like L.C. Fulenwider’s, also is illustrious. Some of the highlights of the career of Belz, who is the immediate past chairman of the Downtown Denver Partnership, include: • Successfully negotiating against Donald Trump in Aspen to develop a hotel; • Helping develop Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels around the world; • Heading Cherokee Denver LLC, which spent years trying to redevelop the Gates Rubber plant off Broadway and Interstate 25 before it was halted in 2009 because of the Great Recession; • Being part of the team that redeveloped the former Mercy Hospital site at East 17th Avenue and Fillmore Avenue; and • Helping develop the Tabor Center and the Pepsi Center. Belz also continues in his role as part of the Union Station Alliance team that is building a luxury hotel on top of Denver Union Station. He is involved as both a developer and as an equity investor with Team USA. Other members of the USA team at Union Station include Sage Hospitality, Larimer Associates and McWhinney. In addition to more infill apartments, Belz also could see L.C. Fulenwider doing hotel joint ventures with Sage Hospitality down the road, although nothing is in the works at this time. “You know how Denver is,” Belz said. “We are all very collaborative. I’ve known Walter (Isenberg) at Sage for a long time, as well as the guys at Larimer Associates.” If L.C. Fulenwider develops hotels with Sage, Chris Fulenwider would not be the lead architect, at least at first. “Chris certainly would be at the knees of whoever the lead architect is,” Belz said. Designing hotels, Belz said, is extremely complicated and specialized because it is so important to make them as efficient as possible. “You know, hotels are just different than designing any other kind of building,” Belz said. He added that Cal Fulenwider has developed hotels in the past near DIA.