Colorado Real Estate Journal - August 2, 2017

Belleview Station brings urban to suburbs; more to come

With the first phase of development complete, Belleview Station is becoming the “downtown” of the Denver Tech Center, according to Trey Warren of Front Range Land and Development.

Hundreds of people are living in apartments, more and more restaurants are opening, and companies are settling into the first office building, which is seeing strong leasing activity, according to its developer.

“As more retailers, companies and their employees choose to relocate to this area, real urban synergies are starting to develop,” Warren said of the 51-acre development off Interstate 25 on East Belleview Avenue. “The goal is to set in motion a walkable urban center where residents feel they are part of something and build community.”

Reaching that goal will mean even taller, more compact development going forward.

“Typically, for development projects outside the downtown urban core, the emphasis is on quick absorption and quick sales. This often leads to development projects that are smaller, low-density, with decentralized buildings constructed and sold more frequently off ever-widening tangles of roads,” Warren said.

“We want to achieve densities not yet seen in development outside the urban core,” he said. “We’re not going to do any more five-story, stick construction. It’s going to be mid- to high-rise construction from here on out.”

Belleview Station currently houses two luxury apartment buildings, The Den and MileHouse, with a combined 678 units; more than 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space; and the 318,000-sf One Belleview Station office building. Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Sushi-Rama and other restaurants will open soon, joining more than a dozen other restaurants and retailers, including Los Chingones, Urban Egg, Corvus Coffee, Orangetheory Fitness and more.

What’s missing is for-sale condominiums, which Warren said developers “are still skittish” about building – however, that is starting to change. “I do think the condo market has been so nonexistent for so long that there is a hole to fill,” said Warren, who has seen developers interested in condos and mixed-use office product.

In addition, “I think there’s a need for a nice, boutique hotel in the tech center. It’s something that doesn’t exist here,” he said, noting flexible zoning allows a wide variety of uses within the overall development, with a 5:1 floor area ratio and 220-foot height limit.

The Belleview light-rail station connects workers and residents to other areas of Denver, including downtown, which Warren said allows companies to attract employees from throughout the region. According to the Denver South Economic Development Partnership, seven of the nine Colorado-based Fortune 500 company headquarters are located in the Denver area around Belleview Station, with 227,000 employees working within a 5-mile radius. For some companies, being north of Belleview is important for its recognizable, Denver address, but Warren said what’s “critical” for all companies is being able to attract millennials.

“Companies understand the next couple of years the workforce is going to be 60 percent millennials, and they have a different value proposition. They want to be in areas like this – walk to work, bike to work – and have conveniences immediately available.”

Many millennials starting to think about having families are making the choice to move to the suburbs, and often, “They’re choosing the employer that replicates the urban environment the most,” commented Newmark Knight Frank Executive Managing Director Jamie Gard, who specializes in Denver office leasing and sales. “They’re trying to find something on light rail with walkable retail and hipper, more collaborative space.

“I think Belleview Station is the perfect example – it’s transit-oriented, they’ve brought in the mixed-use nature with the office and the apartments, it’s close to housing, it’s got good freeway access. It’s got a lot of the things that I think would entice a millennial to make that decision to come to the suburbs,” he said.

As Belleview Station evolves, there’s also a transformation going on in the surrounding area, with construction of the One DTC West office building and a $51 million independent and assisted-living facility for seniors underway, for instance.

Also, “Since we really started thinking about Belleview Station and planning it, we’ve seen 1,800 apartment units go in adjacent to us, so we’ve seen a major influx of people, which has been very helpful for our retail,” added Warren.

“I hate to use the term live, work and play because everybody does, and it’s not always really true. But I think what we’re doing here is real transit-oriented development,” where people can live, work and have amenities close at hand, he said. “It’s starting to work.”

Building density means projects will take longer to absorb, noted Warren, who estimates Belleview Station likely will be built out over four phases. Ultimately, the development will have 1,800 residential units, with an equal mix of apartments and for-sale product; 300,000 sf of walkable shopping and dining; more than 2.2 million sf of office; and a hotel.