October 2015 — Office Properties Quarterly —
Page 17
®
Celebrating 60 Years as Denver’s
Name in Commercial Real Estate.
Proud to still be locally owned and operated.
Stay tuned as we prepare for our next 60 years
with the relocation of our headquarters to the
Denver Tech Center.
(303) 534-4822
Market Drivers
D
enver’s highly educated
workforce is drawing a
steady flow of companies
to the metro area and con-
tributing to an increased
demand for office space. In Denver’s
thriving business community, many
companies are outgrowing their
current leases.
Transamerica Corp., for example,
announced that it will be mov-
ing from the Denver Tech Center,
a business and economic trading
center in the southeastern portion
of the Denver metropolitan area, to
downtown Denver. The company
will lease 121,000 square feet in the
1801 California St. tower. The move
will enable the company to hire an
additional 325 workers, doubling its
local workforce. In
addition, Comcast
will consolidate its
local operations
in an office in the
DTC, increasing its
overall footprint
and workforce.
Overall, employ-
ers in Denver will
add 45,000 jobs
this year, boost-
ing total employ-
ment 3.3 percent.
Total office-using
employment will
advance 2.1 percent, or by 8,000
workers.
The confidence of developers in
the metro remains high amid tight-
ening operations. Several projects
broke ground recently; a good deal
of those are starting with little or
no preleasing. Builders are on the
hunt for transit-oriented areas
along the light rail.
Other construction projects are
build-to-suit, such as the project
for Panasonic Enterprise Solutions,
a subsidiary of Panasonic Corp.,
which will open a new technology
center and business solutions hub
at the Peña Boulevard light-rail sta-
tion near Denver International Air-
port. The facility will be completed
in the summer of 2016, enabling the
company to fill 330 positions.
In total this year, developers are
set to raise office stock 1.3 percent
with the completion of 2 million sf,
compared with approximately 1.1
million sf in 2014. Roughly 3 million
sf of office space is underway. Only
about 50 percent of the total is pre-
leased.
Denver’s economy, favorable
yields and strong operations are
attracting nationwide attention
from investors. Many financial
institutions are easing lending stan-
dards for office properties, which
supplies buyers with more capital
to make purchases as rising compe-
tition pushes prices higher.
The interest from institutional
buyers is prominent near down-
town and the DTC. Well-priced
properties bring numerous offers
Brian C. Smith,
CCIM
Senior associate,
Marcus &
Millichap, Denver
Office construction in Denver from 2011 to 2015
Metro Denver office rent growth from 2011 to 2015
The average price per square foot for office sales in Denver
