Jason and Ellen Winkler never meant to stay in Denver, and they certainly didn’t expect to change a whole neighborhood.
Jason Winkler
“We didn’t say, ‘If we do X, Y and Z, other people will build things and all of the sudden River North will be this growing, crazy, awesome neighborhood. We did what we thought was the right thing. We thought, ‘People will like this, people will benefit from it. We’ll bring people together and help their companies grow,’” said 44-year-old Jason Winkler.
Known for their catalyst RiNo development, Industry, the Winklers came to Denver to open a satellite office for their Jackson Hole, Wyoming, company, which produced events for big-name lifestyle brands – Red Bull, Oakley, Quicksilver and others. In Jackson Hole, they were losing employees who couldn’t afford the high cost of living, plus they had a child with physical issues who was starting school. “We just thought Denver would be a really good foundation for him, and for us to know what he needed. But we only came to Denver thinking it was for 18 months,” said Ellen Winkler.
Except for Taxi, which didn’t quite fit their needs, they couldn’t find “cool” office space that worked for their company culture, however. “Everything was incredibly vanilla. It was just very uninspiring, and we couldn’t have these lifestyle clients visit us in the office between an accounting firm and a legal firm,” Jason said.
So they teamed up with The Public Works, an Evergreen firm that wanted to expand to Denver, to buy what Jason called a “crazy, dilapidated, spray-painted, tree-growing-out-the-side” building at 621 Kalamath St. with “homeless people living in it, and needles and broken bottles all over the place.” They called it Battery 621.
Ellen Winkler
“We thought the location was brilliant because it’s right at the entrance to Sixth Avenue, so it is literally the fastest shot out to the mountain for all of us,” said Ellen. “We just looked at this place and said, ‘This could be so cool. It’s perfect for all of us.’
“We just started building this facility that – we had no idea what we were building. We were building it for us and how we wanted to work and what we wanted to be able to do. We didn’t think about rules,” said Ellen, who created the company’s Jackson Hole office.
The 30,000-square-foot Denver building had way more space than they needed, “So what we did is we invited our friends. We invited all the companies we knew in Denver who we felt were the best in breed in action and lifestyle sports”: Icelantic, Spyder Clothing, Jiberish, CompanyBE and others. It was like putting together “a great dinner party.”
“Battery was this crazy success we never dreamed of. We were full. We had a wait list,” said 45-year-old Ellen, recalling that, within only a few months, the mayor and governor wanted to host events there. Developers and bankers were calling and walking through. Realizing what they’d done could be profitable, interesting and fun, Ellen began to look for another building.
We couldn’t afford anything nice. We kind of really loved the grittier areas. We knew that our demographic, the people who were going to come into our building, never minded any of that.”
“We couldn’t afford anything nice. We kind of really loved the grittier areas. We knew that our demographic, the people who were going to come into our building, never minded any of that. So we started looking north of the city because that was the only thing we could afford. You have to remember the Source wasn’t here. The only thing that was up here was Taxi.”
She looked at around 100 buildings before walking into a former grocery warehouse at 3001 Brighton Blvd. that was three times the size of what they were seeking. “I walked in and was like, ‘Jason, I found the promised land. This is the greatest building I’ve ever been in.”’
That was Industry.
Raising money from family, friends and others, they bought the original building for creative, shared office space and restaurants, and assembled surrounding properties to add office space, parking and apartments. They went into the community and found what they considered some of the best like-minded companies in Denver: Uber, Roximity, Zenman and Booyah.
“Those four companies, when I tell you they got it, they got it,” said Jason. “You’re halfway through the conversation and they’re finishing your sentences, and you know you’re talking to the right people.”
The building filled as quickly as it could be readied. The Winklers now are starting construction of the 152,000-sf Industry RiNo Station, planning a second Battery and looking at markets outside Denver.
They’re part and parcel of Denver. Ellen visited Europe with Bike Denver last year, helps chair Denver Moves and co-chaired the Greenway Foundation’s annual fund-raiser with Jason, a passionate member of the foundation’s board. “Part of the reason Denver is succeeding and doing so well as a city is that in both the private sector and public sector, it’s open arms. If you have a great idea and you have energy and passion, you’re received with open arms, and they want to hear what you think. They want you to contribute,” Jason said.
The Winklers credit Mickey and Kyle Zeppelin with pioneering RiNo, and the city and county of Denver for helping spur the neighborhood’s transformation.
“I don’t think we ever thought about it while we were doing it, and now all of the sudden it’s this crazy freight train up here that is still going pretty strong.”
“I don’t think we ever thought about it while we were doing it, and now all of the sudden it’s this crazy freight train up here that is still going pretty strong,” said Ellen. “I think we’re really proud of its and I just hope that people can look at what we did, look at a beautiful old building that we kept, and I really wish that people could look at what they’re deciding to build – the architecture, the design – and try to stick with what the heart and soul of this neighborhood is.”
“I think that above all pro forma and using conventional metrics to measure the success of a project, we try always, always to say, ‘Will we be proud of this thing in 10 years, in 20 years?’ And if the answer is no, I don’t care how much money it’s going to make, we’re not going to do it,” Jason added.
A “place-maker” more than developer, Jason always thought he’d be a doctor – until he took a year off before medical school to ski in Jackson Hole, turned pro, fell into TV and event production, and met his wife, who was visiting from New York, on the dance floor of Jackson Hole’s Mangy Moose Restaurant & Saloon.
He’s big picture, she’s task-oriented, and without one another, Industry may not have happened.
“People thought every single step of the way, even the people who supported us, that we were absolutely off our rockers. I don’t think there was a single person who told us this was a good idea. If we didn’t have each other to be grounded and centered, we would not be able to keep the smart path,” said Jason.
Although Jason may stay in development, Ellen, a former engineer, event manager and now designer, said, “I’ll change and do something totally different and reinvent.”
With children Georgia, 13, Jagger, 11, and Jett, 7, along with two dogs, a lizard and a fish, the Bonnie Brae family keeps “a lot of plates spinning,” said Jason. “Even not sleeping a lot, I don’t get done almost ever what I wish I got done in a day.”
Yet, “I think for two parents who work as much as we do, we actually spend more time with our kids than almost any other couple that I know.”
They prefer skiing, biking, getting away to Winter Park and traveling the world to living in a huge house.
“When our kids are out of high school, we’re going to have a humongous rock-‘n’-roll RV, and we are going to literally hit the road and travel with a Jeep towed behind, and bikes and surfboard and skis and every other toy imaginable to man on top of the Jeep and on the back of the RV,” Jason said.
“But we’ll always have a home in Denver,” Ellen added.
