Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 2, 2016
Construction of the newest speculative office building in the southeast suburban market is under way in the heart of Greenwood Village. Granite Place at Village Center will bring 300,000 square feet of Class AA space to the Village Center in the first quarter of 2017. Within walking distance of the Arapahoe at Village Center light-rail station, the development will include a 1,000-space parking garage, indoor and outdoor gathering areas and will be adjacent to a new Westin hotel. Granite Properties is the owner and is co-developing the 10-story building with Confluent Development. Granite Managing Director Stephanie Lawrence said Granite Place “will forever add to and alter the Village Center skyline.” “It is spectacular. I think it’s really going to set the standard for office product in the whole Denver area,” she said at a Feb. 17 groundbreaking celebration attended by team members, numerous Greenwood Village officials and others. The building was designed by Open Studio Architecture in Denver and is being built by GE Johnson Construction Co. The project, which Lawrence said has been a very collaborative effort with the city and previous landowner, Koelbel and Co., will give Granite Properties more than a million sf of Class A office product within a quarter-mile of the location. Confluent Development President and CEO Marshall Burton said Granite Place at Village Center will provide a life-work balance that tenants are looking for. “It’s not really the bricks and mortar, the steel and glass that make this project special in my mind. It’s what we’ve learned from our clients over the years and how this project has responded to it. Our clients want to locate in vibrant communities with support of municipalities.” Burton said the Confluent team has developed nearly 8 million sf up and down the I-25 corridor over the last 20 years with a particular focus on southeast Denver. “I can tell you honestly that this project holds the prospect of being the most challenging, the most rewarding, the most fulfilling and the most successful project that we have endeavored,” he said.