{"id":330,"date":"2025-05-29T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/existing-provider.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2025-05-30T10:28:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T10:28:50","slug":"downtown-denver-at-a-crossroads-as-offices-sit-empty-buildings-go-into-default-and-safety-concerns-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/existing-provider.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/downtown-denver-at-a-crossroads-as-offices-sit-empty-buildings-go-into-default-and-safety-concerns-persist\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Denver at a crossroads as offices sit empty, buildings go into default and safety concerns persist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic turned Downtown Denver from the place to be to a place to flee<\/a>, derailing two decades of momentum overnight. Five years later, downtown’s recovery continues to lag behind most other cities<\/a>, and the delay is costing Denver and the region.<\/p>\n

“We can wait 10 or 15 years and the market will correct. It historically always has,” said Kourtny Garrett, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership<\/a>. “But what will we lose in the meantime?”<\/p>\n

Tens of millions in tax revenues<\/a> are no longer collected each year. Large office towers that cost billions to build and maintain sit mostly empty, a wasted resource decaying over time. Denver’s reputation as a vibrant city is dimming, making it harder to attract businesses, tourists and residents from other places.<\/p>\n

READ THE FULL PROJECT:<\/strong> At a crossroads: Downtown Denver is waiting for its rebound<\/a><\/p>\n

Downtown covers just 1.8% of Denver’s land area, but is home to three in 10 of its jobs, 4.6% of its population and a fifth of its taxable property value, according to the Partnership. Before the pandemic, it accounted for 13% of the city’s property and sales tax revenues. Today, that share is closer to 8%, representing $45 million a year in lost revenue.<\/p>\n

What happens to downtown matters for the city, state and region. <\/p>\n

Density fell out of favor during the pandemic, as people sought less crowded living arrangements. Employers shifted to remote work<\/a>, reducing the need for office space. Social unrest and rising crime<\/a> boosted perceptions that central business districts should be avoided.<\/p>\n

No downtown has found a fail-proof answer to the larger trends the pandemic unleashed, Garrett said.<\/p>\n

Time alone hasn’t healed the deep pandemic wounding, the federal government won’t ride to the rescue as it has before, and no magic wand can be waved<\/a> to return workers to their cubicles, circa 2019.<\/p>\n

A renewed sense of urgency has emerged under the administration of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston<\/a>, among city planners, and civic and business groups such as the Partnership and Visit Denver.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been through this before. We need to get the old Denver way back, which is having a chip on our shoulder,” Bill Mosher, Denver’s Chief Projects Officer, told a crowd gathered for the Partnership’s “State of Downtown”<\/a> breakfast in April.<\/p>\n

Denver last decade was “like a little darling child” that the rest of the country allowed to ride a “gravy train” coming out of the Great Recession, he said. Everyone thought Denver was cool, but the free ride that popularity provided<\/a> is over. Denver needs to stop being so precious<\/a> and call on the scrappy brawler that allowed it to survive past crises, he continued.<\/p>\n

“Guess what? We’re still cool. And guess what — we can do better, but nobody’s going to help us. We have to help ourselves. So I need all of you to get engaged,” Mosher urged the crowd in a bootstrap call to action.<\/p>\n

Mosher spearheaded the revival of the Union Station neighborhood<\/a>, now an oasis of strength within a larger distress zone. Johnston recruited him late last year to oversee urban development projects<\/a> for the city and to supervise the Downtown Development Authority<\/a>, a widened version of the taxing district that helped finance Union Station’s restoration.<\/p>\n

Voters in November overwhelmingly approved expanding the authority’s territory<\/a> to cover most of downtown and funnel an estimated $570 million towards renewal efforts, from funding attractions and activities, improving infrastructure and green spaces, and converting tired buildings to new uses.<\/p>\n

Public funds could be leveraged three to four times against private investments, Garrett said, bringing billions of dollars to bear.<\/p>\n

A roadmap for that spending and other priorities will be contained in a revamped Downtown Area Plan<\/a>, which is focused on improving transit, refreshing public spaces like Civic Center<\/a> and Skyline parks, and attracting new businesses.<\/p>\n

There is a plan, there is a pot of money, and Mosher said courage and creativity need to replace paralysis and negativity so downtown can get back on its feet and move forward.<\/p>\n

\"Downtown
Downtown Denver on Friday, May 2, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Defining the distress<\/h4>\n

Downtown streets have tended to carry about a fifth less foot traffic than they did prior to the pandemic, although that gap improved to 15% less traffic last month, according to statistics gathered by the Partnership.<\/p>\n

Placer.ai<\/a>, which tracks cell phone traffic, estimates that Downtown Denver office-related visits in March remain 42% below where they were in March 2019. Things are improving, but Denver’s increase over the past year was among the weakest of the larger cities studied.<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a>
Click to enlarge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the architectural firm Gensler surveyed downtown visitors<\/a> last fall, 55% described having a “great” experience, compared to 2021 and 2023, when 70% used that term. People’s perceptions are worsening, not improving, reflecting both safety concerns and the disruptive renovation of 16th Street.
\nOriginally slated to run two years, remodeling the 13 original blocks of 16th Street will take more than three years, and the heavy construction has crushed a long list of retailers along the corridor.<\/p>\n

Completion of 16th Street, set for late fall, is considered key to attracting new retailers and more visitors, especially when coupled with improvements in public safety. Unless people feel safe, other efforts to improve downtown will be stifled.<\/p>\n

\"People
People walk around continued construction on 16th Street in Denver on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Above the quieter streets, another big problem is hidden — lots of empty office space. Denver had the fifth biggest percentage increase in its downtown office vacancy rate since the end of 2019 out of 78 cities that Moody’s examined<\/a> in November 2024. Only San Francisco, San Antonio, Austin, and Raleigh fared worse.<\/p>\n

CBRE puts the total vacancy rate<\/a> for downtown offices in the first quarter at 35.3%, up from 34.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 34.2% in the third quarter. Add in space marketed by current tenants looking to sublease, and closer to 40% of Downtown Denver’s office space<\/a> is available, estimates the London-based real estate firm Savills.<\/p>\n

Vacancy rates are starting to retreat in places like Manhattan, Houston and San Jose, but they continue to rise in Denver, reaching levels not seen since the oil and gas bust of the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n

The 1980s downturn was an economic disruption so severe that the region set new records for bankruptcies and foreclosures. Colorado even lost population one year, recalled former Denver Mayor Federico Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

His recovery strategy focused on everything — revitalizing downtown and the city\u2019s neighborhoods, preserving historic buildings, cleaning up parks, reducing air pollution, curbing crime and bringing in Major League baseball. The odds stacked against it, Denver even pursued a new airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a community whose back is against the wall, everybody comes together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former Denver Mayor Federico Pe\u00f1a poses for a portrait in front of Union Station on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time, a bad economy and large-scale layoffs aren’t driving downtown’s struggles. To the degree the larger community doesn’t perceive a wider problem, it is harder to rally support and easier to wait for the recovery to take hold on its own.<\/p>\n

Downtown’s office vacancy rate is nearly four times above the low of just over 9% reached in 2017, per CBRE’s numbers. And it rose sharply despite downtown employment counts that are 30% higher than last decade.<\/p>\n

“Denver presents a stark market paradox: office-using employment remains robust — with more than 35,000 white-collar positions added since early 2020 and employment levels holding just below the mid-2022 peak — yet the physical office market continues to deteriorate,” said TJ Jaroszewski, director of Mountain Region Research with the real estate brokerage JLL in a research note<\/a>.<\/p>\n