Colorado Real Estate Journal -

Luxury apartments natural evolution at Kent Place

Kevin Foltz understands the Kent Place development as well as anybody.

“I’ve lived it,” said Foltz, now the development director for Denver-based Forum Real Estate Group, which recently kicked off the construction of the luxury 300-unit Kent Place Residences rental community at the former Denver Seminary site at South University Boulevard and East Hampden Avenue in Englewood.

Foltz was spearheading the residential development of the site in 2005, when he was with Denver-based Continuum Partners, which had recently purchased the coveted development site for about $12.4 million.

At that time, the residential portion was to include about 300 luxury condominium and townhome units, with no rental component.

Initially, Continuum planned to continue a plan by a previous developer who put the land under contract in 2003, but never closed. That developer envisioned homes priced from $500,000 to $2.5 million on the property.

In 2011, Forum, headed by Darren Fisk, who had put together more than $3.5 billion in commercial real estate funding transactions when he was with Johnson Capital, bought the residential dirt from Continuum.

The real estate market in Denver and across the country made a huge shift to rental properties from condos since 2004.

“It has been a natural evolution at Kent Place,” Foltz said.

“Once the condo market lost its luster, the mind-set of condo buyers had shifted from luxury ownership of properties to luxury rentals,” Foltz said.

Indeed, the renters at Kent Place Residences would be able to afford to buy a luxury condo, Foltz said.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Make no mistake about it. These will be renters by choice.” He noted they are targeting the same demographics they did when Continuum planned the condos during the go-go days of condo developments.

Because of its proximity to some of the richest housing developments in the area, such as Cherry Hills Village and Buell Mansion, Foltz expects a lot of renters will be empty nesters from big homes in the area.

“These are people who want the same kind of resort-style setting and amenity packages with rental units as they wanted when they were going to be condos,” he said.

The renter mix will be somewhat of the inverse of most new, luxury apartment communities in downtown, which primarily court young professionals.

“Empty nesters will be our single biggest component,” Foltz said.

“These will be people downsizing who still want to live in the area,” he said.

In fact, the Kent Place Residences will be the only game in town for someone downsizing who is looking for a luxury rental option in the area, he said.

“We also expect to attract young professionals and couples without children and double incomes,” as well as people moving to the Denver area from out of state who don't immediately want to buy a home.

The rental units will be built to the same quality as planned for the condos, he said.

“If anything – because of the layout of the site, we are going to build the buildings over a podium-style garage with 600 parking stalls – we are going to be able to offer more amenities than when condos were planned,” he said.

Amenities will include an outdoor pool, two outdoor spas, a bocce ball court, rooftop lounge, a fitness center, cyber café and a doggy pet center, called the Lucky Dog lounge.

It will even have a 24-hour onsite concierge service.

Even a lot of luxury rental communities in Denver don’t offer concierge service because of the expense.

“We worked it into our program and we think it is an amenity that our residences will appreciate,” Foltz said.

The community will include three buildings when it opens next year.

The tallest, with seven stories, will have 88 units. The other two buildings, four stories above the parking garage, will have a total of 212 units.

“Our rental range, on average, will be $1,500 to $3,000 a month,” not including a handful of large penthouse units, Foltz said.

The square footages will range from about 950 to 2,800.

“The penthouse units are homes,” Foltz said. “They are really Park Avenue-style units.” On a per sf-basis, the units are less expensive than most new rental communities in downtown Denver, which anticipate charging north of $2 per sf.

“Our monthly rental rates certainly are lower than what you would find downtown,” Foltz said.

Kent Place is one of the few market-rate communities being built in the Denver area that is not in or near downtown or close to a light-rail station “The luxury rental market is really the missing real estate piece for this area,” Foltz said.

“What this site has going for it is its great demographics near so many high-end neighborhoods. It also has great access to downtown Denver, Cherry Creek, the Denver Tech Center and the mountains.” Indeed, residents will have great views of mountains all along the Front Range, as well as Denver’s skyline, he said.

“And to the south, there will be these great views of the Cherry Hills Golf Course,” he said.

In addition to the site and the amenities at the community, residents will be able to walk to the Fresh Fare by King Soopers, an upscale grocery store.

Continuum teamed up with Regency Centers for the retail portion of Kent Place.

Originally, Continuum had planned a European-style grocer on the site called Belle Fare that also was to include a spa and a cooking school.

“Without a doubt, the Fresh Fare is going to be another huge attraction,” Foltz said.

“That filled a huge retail hole for the area,” he said. “It is very popular with people who live nearby, as well as people coming home from their office in downtown. All of the retail ground has been spoken for. Our community is the last piece of the puzzle.”