CREJ - Office Properties Quarterly - July 2015
Denver’s growing population, strong in-migration of millennials and positive market fundamentals is spurring the redevelopment of mature and ripe communities into a modern mosaic of urban neighborhoods. Union Station, River North and Lower Highlands are recent examples of this trend. The metro area’s next hot spot is South Broadway, dubbed SoBo. Located along Broadway, between First Avenue and Interstate 25, SoBo incorporates the Denver Design District and includes office, retail and residential uses, as well as the city’s most central multimodal hub and transit-oriented development. SoBo, in part because of its existing eclectic mix of shops, bars and restaurants, is emerging as Denver’s next iconic place due to the promising future of the Denver Design District. Originally defined as a general development plan by the city of Denver, efforts for a long-term plan are being formulated by local area developer D4 Urban, a real estate development company focused on urban, infill and TOD opportunities. To date, the DDD is anchored by the Broadway Marketplace, the Denver Design Center and The Collection properties. This assemblage of manufacturers, showrooms, designers and learning centers encompasses the main parcel of the 75-acre area located in the heart of the midtown location. The development’s vision is to revitalize the property assemblage and evolve the collection of tenants. Currently, cutting-edge office and some medical office uses, which include Quest Diagnostics, establish a significant daytime population at the DDD, coupled with an infusion of residents at the new Denizen multifamily project to ensure 24/7 activity in a live-work-play environment. An active transitoriented environment, with light-rail stations bookending the site on both sides, provides the lynchpin to the emerging urban infill neighborhood, creating almost immediate access to downtown, the Denver Tech Center, Denver International Airport (in 2016) and many surrounding communities. The location commands place recognition with its proximity to Broadway’s Antique Row, downtown Denver and the Broadway light-rail station, and its distinctive, articulated wall sculpture – originally designed by Herbert Bayer – is recognized as one of Denver’s landmarks. The I-25 light-rail station is the second busiest in the metro area, with more than 14,000 riders per day. The additional daily traffic down Broadway, I-25 and Alameda ensures constant activity. Nearby, an impressive roster of office tenants reinforces the area tenancy at 900 and 990 S. Broadway. Many are early office tenant adopters of the neighborhood. The redevelopment of the former Gates Rubber Factory eventually will offer synergistic neighboring SoBo opportunities. Now owned by Frontier Renewal, the brownfield development specialist posted plans for the 41-acre site that will include repositioning for future development with a heavy emphasis on TOD and community uses. The overall DDD area, with 67 acres under common ownership, represents one of the largest consolidated property ownerships within Denver’s mid-urban core. D4 Urban’s latest project is Denizen, a 275-unit multihousing apartment and townhome development at Alameda Station. Denizen follows the completion of the Dakota Outfall Project, an “enabling works” infrastructure project that connects Denizen to the grocery-anchored Broadway Marketplace, South Broadway corridor and surrounding neighborhoods. Visionary office tenants, able to recognize the opportunity in this landmark neighborhood, can find space in an existing 60,000-square-foot structure at 575 S. Broadway. The property is being redeveloped to attract quality office tenants looking to put their stamp on the urban footprint and make headlines as a neighborhood trendsetter, much like Denver’s well-known, forward-thinking advertising agency Karsh and Hagan, just down the street. Partnering on the planning is ValleyCrest Design Group, an urban design/landscape architecture firm, which is tasked with creating a framework plan for the development. As the neighborhood unfolds, tenants and residents likely will see thoughtful, planned infrastructure improvements, walkable and bikeable corridors, and connections, paths and parks embellishing the light-rail route. Other improvements will include well-appointed public space adorned to outdoor livableliving room standards, art gardens, intentional throughways, intersections and wayfinding signage. Creature comfort and security are the focus of the planning for increased density. The term “interstitial spaces” will come into play as the neighborhood’s future image of its visual exterior urban form evolves to complement the relation of the community’s natural setting. The visionary planning combined with the location and existing neighborhood grit, nestled between the esteemed Baker and West Wash Park neighborhoods, puts SoBo on Denver’s upand-coming destination mosaic neighborhood map.