The Mile High City has received recognition from Forbes Magazine as one of 15 U.S. cities with “emerging” or “booming” downtowns, in large part due to the rebounding Denver commercial real estate market.
Location Matters
A critical factor for businesses determining where to relocate or expand is the availability of workers with college educations. Young, educated professionals tend to migrate to urban centers where they can work, shop and have entertainment in one convenient area.
Denver’s Lower Downtown, or LoDo, fits the bill with over 100 restored warehouses and buildings filled with art galleries, shops, restaurants and nightclubs in close proximity to office and residential buildings, Forbes points out.
While the article did not rank the cities, others noted were Birmingham, Philadelphia and Louisville.
As further evidence of the downtown Denver boom, CBRE recently reported that Denver office vacancies decreased in Q1 2013 by the greatest percentage of any of the twelve largest U.S. metropolitan markets. Pent-up demand coupled with limited new supply, as well as the redevelopment of Union Station and other projects in LoDo have resulted in a renewed interest in commercial real estate in downtown Denver