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MARCH 2017 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 87
PROJECT TEAM
DEVELOPERS:
Granite Properties and Confluent
Development
GENERAL CONTRACTOR:
GE Johnson Construction Co.
ARCHITECT:
Open Studio Architecture
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:
Norris Design
\ Granite Place at Village Center: A New Breed of Office \
OPENING ART:
The Class AA office tower will feature
a slick “corporate living room” on the
ground level.
FACING PAGE:
The 5-acre site of Granite Place at
Village Center, just east of Interstate 25
and south of Orchard Road, offers easy
access to light rail.
Photo courtesy Michelle Meunier Photography
ABOVE LEFT:
The facade features different shades
of precast concrete with a surprising
amount of glass in floor-to-ceiling
curtain walls.
Granite Place at Village Center “will be one of
the premiere office buildings in the southeast cor-
ridor,” says Marshall Burton, managing partner at
Confluent Development. He says the location can
compete with downtown, as “a uniquely dense sub-
urban location right next to light rail.”
Landowner Koelbel “strategically kept this par-
cel open,” says Burton. “For two prior cycles, I had ap-
proached the Koelbels about developing it. They didn’t
think themarket was ready.” In early 2015, “They thought
it was time.”
Confluent inked an exclusive deal to develop it, and
brought in Granite Properties, the multibillion-dollar of-
fice giant with offices in Denver as well as Atlanta, Dal-
las, Houston and Los Angeles. “All of a sudden, there was
a great makeup of a team.” says Burton. “Granite is the horse behind this,
without question.
“The demand has been strong,” he adds. “If you look at the stock of
office buildings in the southeast corridor, a large part of that stock was
built before 1980. It’s increasingly functionally obsolete.”
Because of improvements in efficient design, tenants often can down-
size without down-staffing. “They can get the same functionality in 15 to
20 percent less space,” says Burton. “If you’re gaining 20 percent efficiency,
that allows you to buy into the quality of the space we’ll offer.” Target
Granite Place tenants include financial services, health care and telecom.
Burton’s market outlook for the southeast metro area is rosy.
“I think it’s going to be a good 24 months for the southeast corridor,”
he says. “If you look over the past four years or so, there’s been significant
office activity downtown and in southeast Denver, particularly around
light-rail nodes.” Millennials are looking for a “24-hour, mixed-use en-
vironment,” he adds, and that’s emerging around transit stations in the
south suburbs.
Offices are moving south “because of the gap in pricing,” says Burton,
noting it’s often $15 less per square foot. The demand is there now, he says,
supply is on the way: “There's over 1.5 million square feet of office under
construction in southeast Denver now. We're 300,000 square feet of that.
“They’re all quality buildings,” he adds. “I think they'll all be successful.
Southeast Denver isn’t going to see the headwinds of oil and gas.”
Marshall
Burton
Managing
Partner,
Confluent
Develop-
ment