real estate wealth

By Trey Warren and Brooke Maloy
Front Range Land & Development Company,
developer of Belleview Station

If you saw the front page of the Denver Gazette a few days ago, you couldn’t help but notice Denver Nuggets’ mascot Rocky rappelling down the side of building to support the Cancer League of Colorado. The building was the Kimpton Claret Hotel and the location was Belleview Station.

So what’s Belleview Station you ask? It’s a 51-acre mixed-use development at the intersection of Belleview Avenue and I-25, and it’s booming!

As Downtown Denver businesses continue to flee the urban core, suburban locations are reaping the benefits of lower office vacancies, new retail and restaurant openings and renewed interest in hospitality and multifamily residential development. Smart tenants that used to office in B or C class space have taken the post-Covid office downturn as an opportunity to lock down right-sized A class space at once-in-a-lifetime rates. All of a sudden, folks are looking around and finding there isn’t much of the good stuff left.

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Belleview Station was officially launched in 2012 and today has three residential buildings totaling more than 900 units, three office buildings totaling more than 800,000 square feet of space and nearly 130,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The development team projects Belleview Station will have 3,300 residential units (both for lease and for sale), 2.8 million square feet of office space and 205,000 square feet of retail by the year 2036.

Most recently, construction started on two new apartment towers, adding 21-story and 22-story buildings to the community. The towers, being developed by PCP / Voyager, will provide an additional 634 residential units. Both towers will include rooftop pools, unencumbered views of the Front Range, and will be connected by a large parking garage that is wrapped with other units. The top of that parking garage will feature garden amenities like a sports court and dog run that residents of the towers will share.

Belleview Station has enjoyed steady success based on the team’s original vision, its location in the heart of southeast Denver and the popularity it has achieved among businesses, retailers, restaurants and people in general. The companies that have invested here or have chosen to move here are realizing tremendous gains, and the people who live and work here have achieved a healthy live-work balance. This is a place where people and businesses want to be.

Belleview Station, a Transit Oriented Development, revolves around its LRT station and has found a solid foothold in south Denver– and is reaping tangible results:

• Existing office space is 99 percent leased, with buildings that are home to some of Denver’s largest corporate headquarters: Vectra Bank, Western Union, Newmont Mining, Others include, the international engineering firm Jacobs, Cerity Partners, Fortis Bank, Eide Bailey, Philips 66, and Pulte Mortgage.
• Multifamily development includes residential projects owned by Equity Residential, Trammell Crow Residential and the two new towers by PCP / Voyager.
• The opening of several new restaurants and retail shops, bringing the development to near 100 percent occupancy (some of the new retailers include Peckish Pizza and Wings, Halo, Saverina, Tifa Gelato, Pur Luxe Beauty Bar and Pur Artistry). The current restaurant and retail mix includes Playa Bowls, Crisp & Green Ambli, Belleview Beer Garden (BVBG), Corvus Coffee, Le French Bakery and Café, Los Chingones, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Tap & Burger, Urban Egg, Yampa Sandwich Co., A Line Boutique, Barre3, Matthew Morris Salon, Movet, Porchlight Real Estate Group, Western Union, Charles Schwab, Belleview Dentist Office, First Tech Credit Union, The Nest Nail Spa, Orangetheory, Restorative Injectables, Waxing the City and YogaSix
• The opening of a new, 190-room boutique Kimpton Hotel Claret that features a rooftop bar and music venue with a sweeping view of the front range and a ground floor high-end restaurant.

Belleview Station’s 51-acre footprint is the last of a larger parcel, much of which was originally acquired in the 1860’s and whittled down over generations. The original acreage, purchased on agriculture speculation, spent much of its early years farmed as winter wheat. The farm was divided and reduced in the 1950’s by Eisenhower’s interstate highway act and then again in the 70’s with the introduction of I-225. Smaller inefficient parcels were sold off over time for housing and parks, including a portion of the original Denver Technological Center (DTC), and the remainder converted to a golf course. TREX, the last major highway expansion and introduction of Light Rail beginning in 2000, reduced the golf course from 18 holes to 9, and foretold the eventual rezoning and current development.

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Getting Belleview Station to the point it is today took a great deal of work and planning. The development team created Metro Districts to provide water and sanitation services, an owner association to set and preserve the vision, a public improvement company to organize the parking, and delivered its first full scale development in 2012.

In addition to the foundational work, the development team focused a great deal on architecture and urban design. A 46-page design criteria document provides applicants who want to develop at Belleview Station with specific procedures to help ensure the continued quality and appeal of the development.

In addition to high quality design, the development team also emphasizes regular, proactive communication with tenants, residents and building owners. Monthly owner meetings are held to share ideas, concerns or just good news in general.

Today, after surpassing the ten-year mark in time, Belleview Station has much to celebrate and even more to look forward to in the years ahead.