Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 18, 2015
Simpson Housing, Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Co. broke ground on SkyHouse Denver, a 26-story luxury residential high-rise tower on the corner of Broadway and 18th Avenue in uptown Denver. SkyHouse Denver is a mixeduse project featuring 354 apartment homes ranging from studios to two-bedrooms and includes 6,900 square feet of street-level retail space. The SkyHouse on the top floor of the building includes a clubroom, swimming pool and fitness center. “We are excited to be working with Simpson Housing and Batson-Cook Development Co. to add SkyHouse Denver to the fabric of downtown,” said Jim Borders, president and CEO, Novare Group. JP Morgan and U.S. Bank are providing construction financing for the project, and Simpson Housing, Batson-Cook Development Co. and NGI Investments LLC, led by Jim Borders, and are providing equity. Batson-Cook Construction and Swinerton Builders are the general contractors. The building is designed by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart and Associates. The apartment homes will all have 9-foot ceilings with floor-to-ceiling glass, quartz countertops, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and porcelain tile. In addition to the SkyHouse amenity deck, the SkyHouse Denver will have vehicle charging stations, bike storage, a bike kitchen, a dog walk area and a dog washing station. The sustainable building is being built to Energy Star standards. SkyHouse Denver is the 14th SkyHouse-branded apartment community in the United States following projects in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Tampa, Florida, Orlando and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. The first SkyHouse outside of the Southeast, SkyHouse Denver will generate more than 500 temporary construction jobs and about 50 permanent jobs when finished. It is expected to be delivered in mid-2016.