BMC Investments’ Matt Joblon isn’t taking bets on timing of the company’s newest development in Cherry Creek North, but he does expect it to be one of the last Class A office buildings to be built in the neighborhood for some time.
With limited sites remaining, BMC is one of a select few developers looking to add to the Cherry Creek office market. Its planned 100,000-square-foot building at 235 Fillmore will have six floors of office space over 9,540 sf of ground-floor retail.
“If you were to stick a pin in the center of Cherry Creek North, it would probably be at this location,” commented Pete Staab of Newmark Knight Frank, who is marketing the building for prelease. At least prior to the pandemic, the building was seeing interest from financial and real estate companies looking for space in what has been a tight submarket, especially for new product.
“If a decent-size tenant wants to be in Cherry Creek, their options are quite limited and have them looking at new construction,” said Staab.
Even before coronavirus came into play, Joblon said he would not build the building on a speculative basis and, therefore, didn’t have a construction timeline. “Once we sign a lease with an anchor tenant, we could probably get a shovel in the ground in about 10 months and build it 14 months from when we start. I just don’t know when we’re going to get that lease signed,” he said.
In addition to BMC, Broe Real Estate Group and DZMK 2nd and Adams LLC are planning office buildings in Cherry Creek.
“Cherry Creek is a pretty exciting 18-square-block area,” said Brian Wagner, who manages DZMK 2nd and Adams. The group is seeking city approvals for a 60,000-sf Class A building at Second and Adams streets. “We were excited about the opportunity, and the vision and experience that we had, so we jumped in,” he said, adding there is continuing demand for AA office space in the area.
“We’re in conversations with several potential tenants. Our hope is that we have some leases signed by the time the permit is issued. We had anticipated going spec with it and still might, but the current economic and market conditions are changing daily, hourly, by the minute, so we’ll have to see how that settles out.”
Broe Real Estate Group hopes to break ground on a 75,000-sf office building with first-floor retail at 200 Clayton St. in late summer. A second phase could add another 125,000 sf of office or, depending on market conditions, multifamily development.
BREG CEO Doug Wells described the development as a “legacy” project that Broe intends to own long term.
“Planning for the development of our 200 Clayton project continues as scheduled,” said Wells. “We are long-term believers in Denver and the Cherry Creek North submarket in particular. While the current health crisis is introducing uncertainty into all business plans which may ultimately necessitate adjustments to our anticipated project schedule, our commitment to proceed is unchanged.”
BREG is working with The Beck Group on the first phase.
DZMK hopes to obtain a building permit for its Second and Adams project by the third quarter and complete the building in late 2021. “There’s been a lot of demand, and we’re having a lot of conversations with tenants and remain hopeful that we’ll be able to have a couple of leases signed by Q3 and be able to proceed,” said Wagner.
“We’re just focused on doing a AA office building, doing it well and getting the right tenants to add value to Cherry Creek.” The five-story building with first-floor retail and below-grade parking is being designed by 4240 Architecture. A concept plan is under city review.
BMC Investments’ building at 235 Fillmore will have full–height glass, wood accents, modern colors and materials, and protected mountain views. A 3,500-sf patio will be available for the third-floor tenant, and floor plates will be 12,290 sf. Below-grade parking will provide two spaces per 1,000 sf.
“We’re planning to park the building 100% valet,” said Staab, who is marketing the building with NKF’s Jamie Gard and Tom Lee.
Open Studio Architecture, which Staab said has been “on the front end of design,” is the architect for the project.
