DOWNTOWN DENVER ECONOMIC UPDATE
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
News & Rankings
Residential development in Downtown and its City Center neighborhoods continues at a brisk pace with 1,946 residential units created in 2014. Recently completed projects include Ten10 Brownstones, 2785 Speer, Legacy 22nd and Lumina. Skyhouse Denver, one of the tallest planned rental towers in Downtown’s history, is under construction and will add 354 new rental units to the Central Business District when the 26-story project is completed in 2016. Another new 34-story rental tower, The Confluence, is also under construction in the Central Platte Valley neighborhood and will add 288 new units when it is completed in 2017. On the for-sale front, there are 119 townhomes currently under construction or planned throughout the Downtown neighborhoods. For more information about development in Downtown Denver, refer to the Quarterly Development Map Updates at www.downtowndenver. com/resources-downloads.
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS PLANNED OR UNDERWAY AS OF MAY 2015 City Center Neighborhood
For-Sale Units
Rental Units
Number of Projects
Auraria
-
-
-
Ballpark
-
169
1
Capitol Hill
-
347
3
Central Business District
-
729
2
CPV/Denver Union Station
-
2,865
10
68
369
5
-
938
4
Highland
24
672
5
Jefferson Park
27
-
1
La Alma/Lincoln Park
-
745
2
Lower Downtown
-
-
-
Uptown
-
372
1
119
7,206
33
Curtis Park/Five Points Golden Triangle
Total
MAY 2015
•
Construction began on 17W in early 2015. When completed, the 640unit apartment and retail project will be home to Downtown Denver’s first Whole Foods Market.
•
Liberty Global announced it will relocate its headquarters from Douglas County to Downtown Denver’s new Triangle Building.
•
Prologis announced it will move its operations headwaters to Z Block, a mixed-use development currently under construction in LoDo.
•
Uniqlo, a Japanese fast-fashion retailer, announced it will open one of its first non-coastal stores in Downtown Denver at the Denver Pavilions.
•
Investopedia ranked Denver as the fourth best U.S. city to become an entrepreneur.
•
Huffington Post named Denver as one of its five must-visit cities for 2015.
•
Denver was ranked the sixth most active city in the U.S. by website BetterDoctor.
•
•
•
Sources: Downtown Denver Partnership, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, Denver Business Journal, Denver Post.
About This Report
A recent analysis by SelfStorage.com’s blog found that Denver is the third best city for tech startups outside of the Bay Area. The ranking looked at number of patents, access to capital, access to educated workers, amount of new tech jobs and wages. Denver is the sixth best city for IT professionals, according to a recent ranking by InformationWeek. RTD began testing of the new commuter rail cars that will run from Denver Union Station to Denver International Airport. The line will open in 2016.
This report includes the most recent quarterly data available and covers economic conditions in three areas. The first and smallest area, the Business Improvement District (BID), is the core of Downtown Denver, The second area, “Downtown,” includes the BID as well as a few surrounding districts such as the Golden Triangle. The third area, City Center Neighborhoods, includes the BID, Downtown, and surrounding residential neighborhoods such as Uptown and Highland. Data in this report was provided by Development Research Partners. For questions or comments, please contact the Downtown Denver Partnership Research Department at 303-534-6161.
DOWNTOWN DENVER ECONOMIC UPDATE MAY 2015 EMPLOYMENT
RETAIL SALES
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
OFFICE MARKET
HOTEL MARKET
This report contains the most recent economic indicators available for Downtown Denver and the Business Improvement District. According to the most recent indicators, Downtown Denver economic conditions continue to improve. Employment growth is strong, consumers are spending at a healthy pace, and the downtown commercial real estate markets reported rising average lease rates and declining vacancy.
Summary
EMPLOYMENT Employment levels continued to rise in both Downtown Denver and the Business Improvement District (BID) between the third quarters of 2013 and 2014, with employment levels rising 3.6 % and 2.2%, respectively. The natural resources and construction supersector continued to report the strongest growth, generating an additional 1,530 jobs over-the-year in Downtown Denver. The Leisure and Hospitality Industry also posted a strong 6.9% over-the-year increase in employment.
3Q 2014
Industry
Share
3Q13
3Q14
Change
3Q13
3Q14
Change
Professional & Business Services
31%
35,991
37,656
4.6%
31,530
32,569
3.3%
Government
18%
23,319
22,511
-3.5%
21,105
20,697
-1.9%
Leisure & Hospitality
16%
18,527
19,813
6.9%
12,822
13,080
2.0%
Financial Activities
12%
14,489
14,694
1.4%
11,374
11,248
-1.1%
Natural Resources & Construction
9%
9,588
11,119
16.0%
9,058
10,277
13.5%
Information
3%
4,188
4,255
1.6%
3,521
3,539
0.5%
Wholesale & Retail Trade
3%
4,058
4,072
0.4%
3,013
2,992
-0.7%
Other Services
2%
2,754
2,809
2.0%
2,244
2,368
5.5%
Education & Health Services
2%
2,695
2,808
4.2%
1,556
1,611
3.5%
Transp., Warehousing & Utilities
1%
1,490
1,535
3.0%
1,397
1,417
1.4%
Manufacturing
1%
862
911
5.6%
112
120
6.5%
Total
117,961 122,181 3.6%
97,733
99,918 2.2%
123,000
Employment Trends Downtown Denver
+3.6%
Metro Denver
+3.9%
Colorado
+3.4%
United States
+2.0%
BID
DOWNTOWN DENVER
121,000
DOWNTOWN DENVER HISTORICAL EMPLOYMENT
119,000 117,000 115,000 113,000 111,000 109,000 107,000 3Q10
1Q11
3Q11
1Q12 3Q12
1Q13
3Q13
1Q14
3Q14
Sources: Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Labor Market Information, Current Employment Statistics; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Development Research Partners; Downtown Denver Partnership.