Denver Real Estate News

Consolidated Investment Group is starting construction on a seven-story, 210-unit apartment building on East Colfax Avenue, just a few blocks east of the state Capitol

The Englewood-based company said Thursday that the project will be called Route 40, the U.S. highway that Colfax is part of. The company said amenities will include an elevated pool deck with views of the capitol building, private co-working spaces and a state-of-the-art fitness center.

“We’re excited to begin construction on Route 40 and provide more residential options in an area nestled between Capitol Hill and City Park West,” Dan Velazquez, chief operating officer of CIG, said in a statement.

Velazquez said the company will start delivering units in 2027. The developer declined to disclose the project’s price or details about affordable units included.

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The Route 40 building at 1040 E. Colfax Ave. will be part of an evolving neighborhood. Efforts are underway in Denver and Aurora to redevelop the corridor that is among the Denver area’s most ethnically diverse and affordable, although housing costs have risen.

The city of Denver is building a bus rapid transit line along Colfax to provide fast, frequent transportation, giving area residents more options. The 10-mile line will cost an estimated $280  million and is expected to take nearly three more years to build.

The architect for Route 40 apartment building is Boka Powell and the general contractor is Symmetry Builders. Gables Residential will manage the property.

CIG has ownership interests in more than 7,000 apartment units throughout the U.S.

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It’s not that Intermountain Health refuses to upgrade its Denver hospital and medical clinics so they produce less pollution.

It’s the fact that the health system’s buildings are of different ages and sizes, and one of them — Saint Joseph Hospital — is open 24 hours a day. It’s a facility where lights and room temperature can be a life-and-death matter for some people.

“As you can imagine, a lot of these buildings are really big and there’s multiple meters and they get their energy from multiple providers,” said Natan Simhai, Intermountain Health’s senior energy engineer.

When Denver and then Colorado mandated that commercial buildings in the city and across the state reduce their carbon emissions, the health system tried to figure out how to comply.

It’s one thing to turn off lights and turn down the heat at night in an office building. It’s another to adjust the energy demands of a hospital, where operating rooms have specific ventilation and temperature requirements, and expensive medical equipment runs night and day.

“This is a working hospital and it’s not like an office building,” Simhai said of Saint Joseph. “We can’t just go turn things off at night. We have to be careful about even making small changes.”

Complaints from multiple business sectors led Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency to redo the rules for its Energize Denver building performance policy — commonly referred to as green building rules. Those changes, announced earlier this month, give businesses more time to perform energy audits and develop a plan of action. They also lower fines for companies that fail to comply in time.

The city’s green building rules are not alone in being challenged by businesses.

Last year, four trade associations that represent large building owners sued the state over its policy, adopted in early 2024 by the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission three years after the state legislature mandated it. That case is pending in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, but its fate may hinge on a bill making its way through the state legislature.

The Colorado General Assembly is considering a bill that would bring changes to those green building rules after building owners across the state raised concerns.

House Bill 1269 proposes to create an enterprise board that would collect fees from large building owners and then provide technical assistance to help them comply with green building rules. It also would reset deadlines for building owners to meet goals, adjust penalties for those who fail and allow buildings in Denver that comply with the city’s rules to also be considered in compliance with state regulations.

The clock is ticking on the 2025 legislative session, which ends May 7, but the bill’s backers believe it will pass.

A judge ruled in March that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not present a strong enough case for it to move forward, but she gave them 21 days to file a new complaint. The judge since then has extended the deadline until after the legislative session to see how the proposed bill might impact the lawsuit.

While the city and state policies are not exactly in line with each other, they strive toward the same goal — reducing the amount of carbon emissions produced by large buildings. Both governments were early adopters of building performance standards across the United States.

Denver’s rules required buildings collectively to cut 30% of their emissions by 2030. The amount each building must cut is based on its size and purpose.

Colorado’s green building regulation requires buildings that are 50,000 square feet or larger to reduce carbon emissions by 6% by 2026 and by 20% by 2030. The rules affect about 8,000 buildings in Colorado. That regulation is being challenged by the lawsuit from four trade groups that represent building owners.

An outside air supplier for the HVAC system of an office building in downtown Denver on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) Conflict comes down to money

The conflict between building owners and those who want to reduce Colorado’s carbon emissions to improve air quality and public health comes down to money.

Businesses argue that forcing them to comply will be detrimental to their bottom lines and the state’s economy. They also have said the green building rules don’t gel with the ways businesses plan for capital expenditures.

City and state regulators said they are trying to accommodate building owners’ financial concerns in an uncertain economy while still reaching their goals to reduce carbon emissions.

But some environmentalists who are critical of the recent changes say the planet is in crisis and governments must do everything within their power to stop the pollution that is causing global warming and harming public health — even if it means businesses have to pay for it.

“I’m disappointed in both Denver and the state for wanting to slow down this transition that we desperately need,” said Ean Tafoya, vice president of state programs for GreenLatinos. “A lot of people are just being noncompliant, and now we have to shift the goal posts so people aren’t fined. This kind of environmental goal-shifting happens in a lot of spaces, not just in buildings.”

Buildings contribute carbon pollution through massive energy consumption for heating and cooling, and for powering lights and electronics. In Denver, the approximately 17,000 commercial and multi-family buildings pump out nearly 50% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Those fossil fuels trap heat in the air, which causes Earth’s temperatures to rise. The rising temperatures are causing more severe weather and wildfires.

The air pollution also makes people sick, causing heart and respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease. On Wednesday, the American Lung Association ranked the Denver-Aurora-Greeley metropolitan area as the sixth-worst city for ozone pollution in the nation.

To improve air quality and limit the state’s impact on climate change, Colorado has set an overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and by 100% by 2050. Denver’s goal is to eliminate emissions within the city by 2040. Regulating buildings’ energy consumption is just one step the city and state are taking to get there.

‘You also need flexibility’

When the Denver City Council approved the city’s green buildings policy in 2021, the complaints rolled in.

The city decided the point of the program should be to help businesses comply rather than levy fines on those that don’t, said Elizabeth Babcock, executive director of the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency.

After collecting feedback from 2,000 building owners and businesses, the city made changes to recognize the broader economic factors that are impacting real estate, she said.

Denver was one of the first cities in the country to establish such a policy for reducing energy consumption in buildings, and it has been recognized nationally for its work.

“When you have ambition, you also need flexibility,” Babcock said.

The changes, announced in early April, extend the deadlines for compliance. Deadlines for interim compliance are now extended to 2028 from 2025 with final compliance deadlines moved to 2032 from 2030. Building owners may also apply for extensions beyond 2032.

City officials realized some buildings would need more time to comply because of tenant vacancies and financial distress, said Sharon Jaye, the building performance policy manager. Homeowners associations that manage townhomes and condominiums also were asking for more time so their volunteer boards can save money to pay for energy efficiency projects.

The city also cut in half the penalties, which were based on energy consumption, for those that fail to meet the benchmarks for reducing energy usage, Jaye said. Thus far, no one has been fined because the deadline to improve efficiency has been extended.

Size of fines ‘big and scary’

Stephen Shepard, executive vice president of the Denver Metro Building Owners and Managers Association, said the city’s timelines were too tight and the fines too heavy. His association did not join the lawsuit, allowing him and other representatives to continue talking to the city about reform because they weren’t hindered by legal proceedings.

“The buildings in compliance had started working on their energy reduction and were way on their way before Energize Denver was a thing,” Shepard said. “The fines were really, really big and scary to the industry. It was enough to hinder investment.”

Shepard said he knew of at least one deal on a retail center’s sale fell through because the potential buyers were spooked by the city’s green building requirements.

“In Colorado, the whole state was beginning to lose investment in commercial real estate,” he said.

Those making the rules need to be mindful that buildings have a big economic impact when they consider the amount of taxes paid and all the people employed to provide maintenance, security, janitorial services and all the other jobs needed to keep them open and in good shape, Shepard said.

And as the city and state continue to recover from the pandemic, too many building owners are in financial distress because of lower vacancy rates, he noted. When a building’s occupancy rate is low, its owners will not be able to secure the loans needed to finance big projects.

“They’ve got to tread lightly and be careful of the cost of the achievement because it’s just going to wreck the economy,” Shepard said.

For some buildings, the only way owners will be able to comply is to convert the entire structure to electrical power. But that puts more demands on Xcel Energy to power the downtown grid, Shepard said. That’s another piece of the puzzle that needs improvement.

“It’s all of those kinds of things playing into it. There’s groups with their hearts in the right place, but they don’t understand the reality in place,” he said. “It truly is a property-by-property thing. It’s a big lift and expensive even for consultants to do all the reports to tell you what you need to do.”

Chillers, a heat exchanger and pumps for an HVAC system of an office building in downtown Denver on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) ‘Being a good business leader’

At Intermountain Health, building engineers found an easy solution for one medical office building. It’s only open during regular business hours and medical procedures are not performed there, Simhai said.

Before the rules were enacted, the building’s lights and its heating and cooling system ran all the time. After talking to staff and patients, the health system decided that was not necessary. Staff reprogrammed the computers that run those systems so the lights and HVAC system shut off when people go home in the evening and then turn back on before they arrive in the morning.

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The changes also save money on utility bills because energy usage was reduced by 30%.

“It’s probably ahead of the curve for a lot of buildings in the city and a lot of our other buildings, to be honest,” he said.

Saint Joseph’s Hospital and another medical office building are not as simple, but Simhai said the city’s new rules are more flexible and give Intermountain Health more time to comply.  Some upgrades to equipment will be expensive and will need to be a part of a long-term capital improvement plan.

Still, some businesses are complying out of a sense of environmental responsibility.

Traci Lounsbury, chief executive officer of Elements of Place, a workplace design store in RiNo, said she switched her 32,000-square-foot building’s lights to LEDs from fluorescent bulbs and installed giant fans to circulate air in the remodeled warehouse to help control the temperature. Skylights add more brightness and reduce the reliance on lightbulbs.

But the changes were not cheap and it can be difficult for a small business to spend money on a building when property taxes are so high, Lounsberry said.

“We care about sustainability. It’s part of being a good business leader and a good person,” she said. “I also believe we have to do the right thing for a sustainable future for our world. It’s got to start somewhere sometime.”

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Developers continue to deliver so many new apartments that vacancy rates have reached a 16-year high and the average rent has fallen below levels seen two years ago, according to a first-quarter update Thursday from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. (AAMD)

The average apartment rent in metro Denver fell to $1,819 in the first quarter, down from $1,842 in the fourth quarter and $1,846 in the first quarter of 2023. Had average rents kept up with overall inflation, they should be closer to $1,951 a month.

“This occurred because we had such a strong and large construction pipeline,” said Cary Bruteig, a researcher with Apartment Insights and the report’s author.

Builders have added 20,822 new apartments in the past 12 months, while renters have leased or “absorbed” 14,504. That overhang has helped push up the vacancy rate or share of unfilled apartments to 7% from 5.8% in the fourth quarter, the highest levels seen since the Great Recession.

Douglas County has the lowest vacancy rate at 5.8%, while Denver has the highest at 7.7%. In the most distressed submarkets — southeast Denver and western Aurora — the vacancy rates are above 9%, with some older buildings sitting 20% empty and revisiting rents seen in 2017, said Darren Everett, managing principal at Two Arrows Group, who spoke on a press call hosted by the AAMD.

The lowest average rents are found in buildings built in the 1970s, while some of the highest value for the dollar spent can be found in newer apartments in central Denver, which has seen a disproportionate concentration of new multi-family construction.

“While the average apartment that was built in the ’70s has a rent of $1,497, there are many places that you can lease for under $1,000 per month,” Everett said.

Landlords can handle a 5% vacancy rate and will squirm when it gets above 6%. They take action when it gets to 7% by cutting rents and offering more concessions, Bruteig said. Landlords would rather have more apartments occupied at a lower rent rather than have them sit empty in pursuit of a higher rent.

Given how many new units were being built, Bruteig said he thought the market’s breaking point would have come a year or two ago. Historically, the market has absorbed an average of 5,000 to 6,000 new apartments a year, going back to the early 1980s. In the past decade, the average rose closer to 10,000 a year. It has run closer to 15,000 in the past year, an unprecedented response.

But in their apartment eating contest against developers, renters are finally pushing away from the table and saying too much. The problem is that about 30,000 more apartments are getting cooked up in the kitchen, a process that can take three or four years.

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If the economy holds up, then renters should find favorable conditions for another year or two until supply and demand get back in balance. What concerns Bruteig is that the high vacancy rate and rent decreases now being seen are more commonly associated with the start of a recession.

If job losses increase, then absorption rates would likely fall as renters fail to keep up due to reduced incomes, more households double up and fewer people relocate to the region for work.  Absorbing the 30,000 apartments now under construction in metro Denver would take three years at the recent average, or closer to five or six years using the historical average.

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Colorado homeowners feel the pinch as home insurance costs keep climbing.

According to an Insurify report, premiums will jump by about 11% this year, with the average annual premium hitting $6,630.

• Colorado’s insurance rates are among the most expensive in the U.S., with the state ranking fourth.
• Hail and wildfire risks continue to drive up insurance costs.
• Over 300,000 Colorado homes are at risk of wildfire damage.

Rising costs make it increasingly challenging for homeowners to secure affordable coverage.

According to a ValuePenguin survey:

• In 2024, two-thirds of homeowners experienced increased insurance premiums, with 25% of their insurers dropping them.
• 50% of homeowners worry about their homes becoming uninsurable.
• 44% find home insurance harder to afford than in previous years, and 75% expect rate hikes in 2025.
• 58% shopped for insurance, saving an average of $1,034 annually, while 56% saved an average of $781 by asking for discounts.
• 34% reduced their coverage to save money, and 31% considered dropping home insurance entirely to self-insure.

Homeowners without insurance jump

Despite the risks illustrated by California’s wildfires, a LendingTree study shows millions of homeowners remain uninsured.

Key findings include:

• Nearly one in seven homes in the U.S. is uninsured, totaling 11.3 million out of 82.9 million owner-occupied homes (13.6%).
• Approximately 10% of homes in Colorado are uninsured.
• Home insurance rates in Colorado jumped 76.6% over the last six years.
• In 2025, the average Colorado homeowners’ insurance policy costs $3,331 per year for $350,000 of dwelling coverage, which is 55% more expensive than the national average of $2,151 per year.
• Colorado has higher home insurance rates than neighboring states. Home insurance is cheaper in Arizona ($1,993/year) and Nevada ($1,350/year). In Nebraska, rates are more expensive, at $4,370 per year.
• Where you live in Colorado also affects home insurance premiums. Lamar is the most costly, with an average annual cost of $4,864, while the cheapest, Fruitvale, has an average rate of $1,550.
• In Denver, home insurance costs $4,002 annually, or 20% above the state average. In Colorado Springs, the state’s second-largest city, you’ll pay $4,248 per year on average.

Colorado works for a fix

Colorado is working to lower homeowner insurance costs by adding a 1% policy fee. That would increase the average annual cost by about $32 but ultimately increase competition, enhance homeowner protections, and lower premiums.

The fee would fund state programs to address hail damage and wildfire risk to keep insurance companies from leaving the state.

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The Colorado legislature is considering two bills to enhance homeowners’ insurance accessibility:

House Bill 1302 would create two boards that levy a 0.5% premium fee to fund a reinsurance program for wildfire losses and a grant program for hail-resistant roofs.

House Bill 1182 aims to regulate insurance companies’ use of risk assessment models. It would require companies to inform customers of their wildfire risk scores and suggest ways to lower those scores and costs.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.

Ilan Salzberg and John Cianci are going vertical on their corner lot at the intersection of two Denver neighborhoods.

The developer duo, through their firm SC&P LLC, started construction in January on an apartment building on their half-acre lot at 3301 W. 38th Ave., where the West Highland neighborhood blends into Berkeley. It comes after over six years of changing plans and partners on the project.

“A lot of projects, they’re hitting the hard pause button right now,” Cianci said. “And we’re trying not to do that.”

Cianci and some other partners purchased the site at the intersection of Irving Street and 38th Avenue, formerly home to a Thai restaurant, in September 2018 for $2.6 million. Salzberg joined the project a few years later after other partners exited.

The two expect to complete the building by the summer of 2026. The three-story structure will have 44 market-rate apartments up top and 7,000 square feet of retail space down below. It will be made of steel, brick and concrete. While more expensive up front, the structure will be more durable than the traditional wood frame projects common around town.

The final cost: “Well into the eight digits,” Salzberg said.

The pair, both 48 years old, are “self-performing” developers, meaning they act as the general contractor on their projects. Cianci hails from a construction family and holds master’s degrees in environmental and civil engineering. Salzberg, a Denver native, has a law degree from the University of Denver.

The two have built dozens of projects around town since the early 2000s, from single-family homes to ground-up industrial development. Salzberg estimates that they have completed about a half-dozen projects that cost over $5 million and a “bunch more” between $1 million and $5 million.

“Our operating expenses are less over time, which allows us to be more competitive on rents,” Salzberg said.

The project at 38th and Irving has evolved over the years. When Cianci bought the property, a hotel was planned. But that idea was killed by the pandemic.

He returned to the drawing board and came up with the current proposal, spending the past few years working through the city’s permitting process and securing financing. Last year, he completed “horizontal” work on site, putting in utilities and infrastructure for the building.

“We decided it’s a nice time to go vertical now. There’s a lot of things delivering in Denver, but there’s going to be a gap in a year, a year and a half from now, where there’s nothing being delivered. Nobody’s really champing [at the bit] to start. So it’s kind of a nice time to build,” Cianci said.

The corner lot is not the only development site keeping the pair busy.

Cianci and Salzberg are working through the city approval process on an apartment project at 29th Avenue and Xavier Street near Sloan’s Lake. Plans are also in the works for a residential development at 38th Avenue and Wolff Street, currently a single-family home on a 0.75-acre lot, but that requires the property to be rezoned first.

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That process is no walk in the park.

“We tried to rezone [38th and Wolff] to open space to do an upscale club pool. … We had 100 people champing at the bit to buy membership, but the immediate neighbors flipped out and said, ‘We want affordable housing here,’” Salzberg said.

“Affordable housing is its own challenge, because you have to pre-commit to certain things, and there’s no funding. So it’s a chicken-and-egg cycle,” he added.

So now the developers are back at the drawing board. They hope to do housing at the site, but the form it will come in, townhomes or apartments, is still being ironed out.

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The pressure to save her family’s home squeezes Monica Villela’s chest, her throat and her heart.

All that pressure caused tears to flow as she spoke last week about the looming May deadline that will determine whether she and an army of affordable housing advocates can save the house where she has raised four children.

“I’m so scared,” she said through those tears.

For three years, Villela and her four children have lived in a house in Green Valley Ranch, in far northeast Denver, that her family bought but no longer owns. The home is now owned by an investor who bought it at auction for $23,524 after the neighborhood homeowners association foreclosed over unpaid fines for overgrown weeds and other minor violations.

But a ruling earlier this month by a Denver District Court judge gives Villela a chance to buy the home back. Other qualified buyers could also make offers, depending on what kind of agreement is made between the city and the investor during ongoing court proceedings. Meanwhile, that investor is trying to evict the family.

It’s a tense situation in an ongoing fight in Colorado over the power that HOAs have to foreclose on homeowners over unpaid fines and fees.

Judge Mark T. Bailey ruled April 5 that Welcome to Realty LLC 401K PSP, an investment company owned by Christophe Attard, must sell the house it bought at the foreclosure auction in December 2021 because the company does not meet the conditions of Denver’s inclusionary housing ordinance, which sets affordability covenants on some homes. Those covenants prevent homes from being owned by investors.

Bailey’s order also placed an injunction prohibiting Attard from leasing the house and, because affordability covenants eventually expire, the judge demanded the clock reset to account for the three years Welcome to Realty has owned the house.

Housing advocates believe the ruling will set a new precedent in Denver and could force other investors to sell homes with affordable housing covenants that they bought at foreclosure auctions forced by HOAs.

The judge’s order “would also suggest that every sale at auction of every home in Green Valley Ranch was probably not legal because the auction house, or the county sheriff who’s running the auctions, were not qualifying buyers,” said Zach Neumann, co-founder of the Community Economic Defense Project, a housing equity nonprofit. “And as far as we can tell, most of the purchasers are real estate investors who, by definition, are not qualified buyers. And there’s a lot of potential that all of these sales have been invalid and are potentially reversible.”

Villela’s family bought their home on Netherland Place in 2005 and made regular mortgage payments and kept up with their HOA’s rules and fees. But the family began struggling when Villela and her husband, Gilardo Gonzalez Jr., separated.

Gonzalez continued to pay the mortgage, but Villela, who was living in their house with the couple’s four children, could not keep up with the maintenance required by the Town Center Homeowners Association.

Fines over weeds and leaving a garbage can on the curb multiplied as late fees stacked up. Villela said she knew the family was in arrears, but put those expenses on the back burner because of other struggles connected to her and her husband’s separation.

She said she wasn’t aware that the HOA had put a lien on her house and that a judge had ordered it to be sold at a foreclosure auction.

Then Attard showed up in her driveway in March 2022 with documents showing he had purchased the house.

“As soon as he left, I started crying,” Villela said. “I remember exactly that day started my nightmare.”

Since then, Villela has assembled a team of housing advocates, friends and neighbors to support her fight to get her home back.

Monica Villela, front, and supporters pose for a portrait in front of her home in Denver on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Villela’s supporters are, from left, Zach Neumann, Mayra Williams, Linda Wilson, Lydia Flynn and Kevin Patterson. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Her ex-husband continues to pay the mortgage, taxes and homeowner insurance so his family has a place to live. Neumann said Villela reached an agreement with Attard that allowed her family to stay in the house without paying rent to Welcome to Realty, though Attard has now moved to evict the family.

The Denver Post contacted Attard to ask about how he plans to comply with the judge’s order to sell the property or whether he will appeal. He said, “It’s too early to tell. I appreciate your time. Thank you,” before ending the phone call.

Residents rise up

The ability of homeowners associations to place liens on houses for unpaid fines in Colorado has been an ongoing issue since 2022, when residents in Green Valley Ranch began speaking out against the high number of foreclosures instigated by their HOAs.

In 2021, the Master Homeowners Association of Green Valley Ranch filed 50 foreclosures, accounting for nearly half of all HOA-initiated foreclosures in Denver that year. The Master HOA represents about 4,600 homes, all located south of 48th Avenue.

Between Jan. 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2024, HOAs in Denver foreclosed on 94 homes, according to data from Denver’s Department of Housing Stability. Sixty of those cases were filed in 2022, with 28 of the properties located in Green Valley Ranch. There were zero HOA foreclosures in Green Valley Ranch in 2023 and 2024 after the public protests.

The Department of Housing Stability could not provide the number of houses with affordability covenants that had been sold at foreclosure sales.

Homeowners associations have so much power in Colorado that they can place liens on people’s homes that supersede even the banks that hold their mortgages. That means an HOA could sell a property to collect the money it’s owed and the owner still would be left with mortgage debt and none of the equity they had built.

The foreclosure auctions cause homeowners to lose thousands of dollars in equity. Villela’s family, for example, bought their house in 2005 for $164,200. It was valued at more than $300,000 when it was sold at the January 2022 auction.

In Colorado, homeowners associations operate with little oversight from any state regulatory agency, including the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, whose real estate division oversees agents, brokers, developers, mortgage lenders and appraisers. More than 2.3 million Coloradans — about 40% of the population and about 61% of homeowners — live in communities with HOAs.

The Colorado legislature has tackled HOAs’ unbridled power by requiring written notices about violations in a homeowner’s preferred language, capping fees and limiting the amount an HOA can charge a resident for reimbursing attorneys’ fees.

This year, the legislature is considering two bills: one that intends to protect homeowner equity and avoid courthouse foreclosure auctions, and one that would create an alternative dispute resolution process. Time is running out in the legislative session and both bills appear to be stalled.

‘This is still happening’

Critics say there is more to do, though, to rein in the associations’ ability to foreclose on homes for unpaid fines and fees.

“We’ve found it is still happening even with the laws passing,” said Lydia Flynn, a Green Valley Ranch resident who has become an advocate for HOA reform and one of Villela’s allies. “The HOAs have found ways to skirt them.”

As of Monday, the Denver Sheriff Department listed seven houses on its foreclosure auction list. Five were initiated by homeowners associations.

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• Colorado legislators consider another round of HOA bills to protect homeowners from foreclosure

That’s exactly what happened to Villela, whose Green Valley Ranch home is part of the Town Center Metro District.

Since Welcome to Realty bought her house, Villela has become an outspoken critic of how HOAs operate. She has told her story to multiple news outlets and testified before the legislature. She has also surrounded herself with a support network that includes the Colorado Economic Defense Project and the Redress Movement, a racial justice organization that fights for fair housing policies across the United States.

The fight over the house has taken a toll on the Villela family, and it escalated in March when Attard left an eviction notice on the family’s front door. It was discovered by Villela’s 14-year-old daughter. They have until 10 a.m. May 31 to buy the house or move.

“The girl was devastated,” Villela said. “She couldn’t even talk because she was crying so hard.”

Neumann, the economic defense project’s founder, is helping Villela fill out applications so she can apply to buy the house back from Welcome to Realty. She most likely will meet the income restrictions that will make her an eligible buyer. But she hopes no one else competes for the house.

A group of supporters has come up with $30,000 to offer, Neumann said. That would give Attard a $7,000 profit.

“We want to get this house back,” he said.

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Moye White is going out fighting.

The longtime Denver law firm, which has stopped providing legal services but still exists as an entity, has countersued a LoDo landlord that claimed in February to be owed nearly $4 million.

In the suit, Moye White claims its landlord at 16 Market Square, the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, failed to follow correct procedure when it booted the law firm and its subtenants last year.

The landlord, Moye White believes, was in a rush to sign a new lease with a desirable new tenant: the newly public tech firm Ibotta.

By missing key steps, the law firm claims, its landlord “placed itself in a legal conundrum where it has two tenants who both might have a right to possess the same space.”

A move to RiNo and a decision to dissolve

Moye White’s real estate, and its final months of operation, are a bit complicated.

The firm originally leased space at 16 Market Square, at 1400 16th St. in Denver, in 2007. Moye White expanded multiple times, ultimately taking 52,304 square feet through June 2026.

In January 2022, however, Moye White announced it would become the first major law firm to relocate to RiNo. It moved into 42,500 square feet in The Current at 3615 Delgany St. in 2023.

The LoDo lease was still in effect. Moye White subleased the space to Revenir Energy and INEOS, two oil and gas firms. Revenir took 17,500 square feet, while INEOS took 34,500 square feet, according to Moye White’s countersuit.

But those firms didn’t pay as much as Moye White had been paying, leaving the law firm responsible for covering the difference — about $60,000 a month in base rent, according to 16 Market Square.

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Then came a big announcement. On April 1, 2024, Moye White announced that nearly all its employees, including its managing partner, would be joining Fennemore, a Phoenix-based law firm. The few attorneys who didn’t go to Fennemore landed at firms including Lewis Roca and Frost Brown Todd. Moye White ceased providing legal services that April 15.

Because Moye White wasn’t acquired, no one took over its leases, resulting in an unusual situation. A deal was worked out last summer on the RiNo real estate, owned by Seattle-based Schnitzer West, when Fennemore agreed to lease the majority of Moye White’s onetime space.

Payments stop and Ibotta signs

But things went less smoothly in LoDo. At the same time the firm stopped providing legal services, Moye White acknowledges, it stopped paying the difference in what its subtenants paid and what its lease required.

The firm says in its countersuit it did so “so that it could treat all of its creditors fairly” — and that its landlord was originally OK with it.

“Until Ibotta entered the picture, 16 Market Square did not object to this approach, and worked cooperatively with Moye White,” the law firm wrote.

In May and July of 2024, 16 Market Square sent notices of default to Moye White, which says it rejected the first notice “because no accounting had been provided.” Nevertheless, according to the firm, it pledged its wind-down consultant, Thomas Kim of R2 Advisors, would continue to communicate about the matter.

In October of last year, both sides agree, 16 Market Square sent a letter terminating possession of the premises for Moye White and its subtenants while keeping the lease in place.

Moye White says it didn’t respond. Revenir worked out a deal with the landlord to stay in the space one extra month, until the end of November, according to the law firm. INEOS did the same but stayed through the end of the year.

Moye White says its landlord “acted in hostility.”

“Moye White had not abandoned its space, Moye White had a contractually-guaranteed income stream from its subtenants for the remainder of the term of the Moye White Lease, and 16 Market Square unlawfully terminated this income stream without due process and in breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing,” the company’s countersuit states.

Moye White’s lawsuit says it subsequently made payments to Revenir and INEOS to resolve claims related to the subtenants being kicked out early. The firm did not specify the amounts.

On Nov. 17, less than a month after the possession termination letter, 16 Market Square signed the lease with Ibotta. The rebate app took nearly 97,000 square feet, which included Moye White’s footprint and additional space.

“Upon information and belief, 16 Market Square had to move other tenants or terminate other leases on the 4th and 5th floors of 16 Market Square to accommodate the Ibotta Lease,” the firm wrote.

Ibotta agreed to pay a starting annual base rent of $34.95 a square foot, according to its lease made public in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That rate is less than what just Moye White’s subtenants were paying, according to the firm’s countersuit.

Ibotta is not a party to the litigation between Moye White and its landlord, and neither side alleges any wrongdoing by the company.

Proper process not followed, law firm says

In its countersuit, Moye White says that its landlord failed to abide by a specific clause in its lease. That clause specifies that, if Moye White’s possession was terminated by the landlord, the landlord could relet its space “for the account of Tenant.”

But Moye White alleges that 16 Market Square’s actions were undertaken “for its own account” — the landlord’s, not Moye White’s.

Moye White also alleges its landlord was required by Colorado law to get a court order to take possession of the firm’s space and to send a letter specifically stating that Moye White had three days to pay rent or deliver possession of the premises. Neither of those things occurred, the law firm claims.

Moye White also states that the $3.93 million 16 Market Square claimed in February to be owed is inflated, because its landlord failed to “reduce this amount by ‘the then present value of the then aggregate fair rental value of the Premises for the balance of the term,’” the firm wrote, quoting its lease.

“Because 16 Market Square skipped these requirements, it did not have legal possession of the Moye White Space when it signed the Ibotta Lease,” Moye White’s countersuit concludes.

Attorneys George H. Singer and Timothy W. Gordon of Holland & Hart are representing Moye White.

Landlord’s attorney: Haven’t heard this before

Brandee Caswell, an attorney at Davis Graham & Stubbs representing the landlord, told BusinessDen that proper procedure was followed, and she was surprised to read Moye White’s allegations.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard those assertions,” she said.

Moye White defaulted on its lease when it stopped covering the difference between its rent and what its subtenants paid, Caswell said. That “put those subtenants in a really difficult position,” she said — and they technically could have left 16 Market Square at any time.

“Moye’s default to its landlord was also a default to its subtenants, and Moye could not enforce its sublease,” she said.

Caswell said 16 Market Square took possession of Moye White’s space when it did to mitigate its damages by marketing to companies such as Ibotta and INEOS, which for a time was interested in potentially signing a direct lease. (INEOS, which did not respond to requests for comment, ultimately leased about 37,000 square feet at 2001 16th St., according to a report from the brokerage Savills.)

And if Moye White believes the amount it owes is unreasonable, she said, the firm could have done something different.

“If they had not gone into a state of default, this claim would have been a lot less — $1.6 million,” Caswell said.

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Kroenke Sports and Entertainment has submitted a concept plan for the first phase of a multi-use development around Ball Arena in downtown Denver that includes a 13-story hotel, two 12-story residential buildings and a 5,000-seat performance venue.

Documents submitted to the city Monday by the owner of Ball Arena and the professional sports teams that play there — the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets — are part of a larger plan to turn 56 acres of land that is mostly surface parking lots into commercial and residential properties and open space.

The entire project is expected to include up to 6,000 new housing units, with 18% of those qualifying as affordable housing, as well as a new city recreation center, retail space and a park with walking and biking trails surrounding the sports arena.

The hotel, two residential buildings and concert venue would be bordered by Speer Boulevard on the east, Chopper Circle on the north and west, and Wynkoop Way on the south. The roughly 4-acre site would be just east of Ball Arena.

A two-branched pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Speer would connect the development to Lower Downtown. Each branch of Wynkoop Crossing will be 20 feet wide and the bridge, which would hover 18 feet above Speer Boulevard, is planned to start at a parking lot adjacent to the children’s playground along Speer, said Mike Neary, executive vice president of business operations and real estate for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, or KSE.

Neary said in an email that the bridge’s design aims to evolve the existing arched bridges on Speer through a contemporary interpretation of the arches and “thoughtfully integrating” the color and materials.

The bridge would connect historic LoDo, home to the Coors Field baseball stadium, to the Ball Arena development.

“The redevelopment’s ability to stitch together the adjacent Lower Downtown neighborhoods is contingent on a safe, pedestrian-focused crossing of Speer Boulevard,” Neary said.

Wynkoop Crossing will connect the arena site to downtown and create a new destination in the area, Neary added. “It will also serve as a new iconic gateway and a symbolic and a vital physical connection between downtown and our dynamic new development.”

The hotel would have 244 guest rooms as well as eating and drinking spots, and retail. One of the residential buildings would have 160 units and the other would have 140.

Matt Mahoney, KSE’s senior vice president of development, told BusinessDen, that the company is “going through this submittal process with Denver, and a lot of the feedback that we’ll be receiving over the next few months will really help determine a final outcome.”

The plan says the performance venue would be 173,595 square feet. Mahoney told BusinessDen it would have about 5,000 seats and complement the 20,000-seat Ball Arena.

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The city will have to administratively approve the concept plan before KSE can submit a site development plan, apply for building permits and fulfill other requirements, said Sarah Barwacz, spokeswoman for Denver Community Planning and Development.

The Kroenkes own 80% of the property included in the overall project area. The Auraria Higher Education Center, the Regional Transportation District and Xcel Energy also have interest in the land.

In 2024, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche team president Josh Kroenke signed a deal tying the franchises to Ball Arena and the land around it through 2050. The Denver City Council earlier gave key approvals for a massive redevelopment on the site.

Billionaire Stan Kroenke — Josh’s father — bought the arena, then named Pepsi Center, along with the Avalanche and Nuggets, for a combined $450 million in 2000.

Updated April 22 at 7 p.m. to add comments from Kroenke and Sports Entertainment.

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Todd Gooding expected to spend a year renovating the industrial property his firm bought in 2022 in Denver’s Central Park.

Instead, completion took two years — a delay he blames on the city’s permitting process.

“It is by far and away the worst in the western U.S.,” said Gooding, president of Oregon-based developer ScanlanKemperBard Cos.

Earlier this month, SKB’s lender initiated foreclosure on the company’s 140,000-square-foot building at 8000 E. 40th Ave., which was set to be rebranded as Central Park Foundry. A leasing brochure advertised it for “industrial, flex R&D and creative uses” with suite sizes as small as 4,700 square feet.

But Gooding said the building has no tenants.

“We kind of missed our leasing window,” he said.

SKB bought the building on 4.7 acres, plus a 0.75-acre parking lot across the street, in March 2022. Public records don’t reveal what the firm paid, but do show that SKB took out a loan at the same time from New York-based Bridge Investment Group for up to $23.58 million.

The loan was set to mature in March 2026, according to the paperwork. In filing for foreclosure this month, Bridge said SKB still owed $18 million in principal.

With no tenants, Gooding said, the property has had no income to stay current on loan payments.

“We’ve offered to work with the lender to take back the property,” he said.

SKB also owns York Street Yards in the Clayton neighborhood, which counts among its tenants Rivian, a dog park bar and packraft maker Kokopelli. The firm bought that property in 2020 for $77 million, and got it rezoned last year. (Gooding also expressed some frustrations with Denver during that process.)

SKB initially thought it could replicate its York Street Yards success at Central Park Foundry.

Gooding said he thinks things would have been different if Central Park Foundry had been completed within one year, as originally expected.

“Time would tell, but we did have a lot of tenant interest early on,” he said. “And we couldn’t commit to timing because we didn’t have our building permit.”

In addition to Portland, SKB has done projects in the Seattle and Phoenix metro areas, as well as the Bay Area. Given Denver’s permitting situation, he’s “not sure how involved we’re going to be” in the city going forward, although he added that he still likes the demographics and sees opportunities in the broader region. SKB already does work in other Front Range municipalities.

“We’ve been pretty active in Boulder and Broomfield, and to be honest, Boulder is one thousand times better,” he said.

In terms of Denver’s permitting process, “nobody went out of their way to make our life hard,” he said. But there would constantly be some new issue popping up that hadn’t previously been a problem.

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“The city never got their act together in giving a thorough review the first time. … The site development plan process the city made us go through was brutal. The stormwater detention process the city made us go through was brutal,” he said.

He called the situation “institutional irresponsibility” and the result of a lack of leadership.

Changes could be coming to Denver’s permitting process. Last week, Mayor Mike Johnston announced he is setting up a new city department and pledged Denver will complete permit reviews within 180 days or refund some fees to developers. Local developers have generally voiced cautious optimism.

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A bipartisan proposal intended to draw data centers to Colorado by offering massive 20-year tax breaks has faced a litany of criticisms stemming from the centers’ environmental impact — and questions about whether state incentives are necessary to attract an already-booming industry.

Senate Bill 280 would create a certification system that would grant tax incentives to data center builders if they meet certain benchmarks for investment and water and energy efficiency.

The Data Center Development and Grid Modernization Program would both draw lucrative development to the state and ensure that the additional energy use wouldn’t affect other electric customers, its sponsors said last week during the bill’s first committee hearing. They also noted that it would establish guardrails to minimize environmental impacts.

“Welcome to the future,” sponsor Sen. Paul Lundeen, an El Paso County Republican, said during the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee meeting on Wednesday. “The future that is unfolding all around us — and I mean all around us. It’s happening in pretty much every state except Colorado right now and we’d like to change that.”

Critics worry that if the bill passes, the state will lose out on millions of dollars in tax revenue from an industry that could come to Colorado with or without the new incentives. The large quantities of power and water that data centers require could strain already limited supplies and further derail the state from meeting its clean energy goals, they say. And they view the energy and water efficiency rules in the bill as essentially meaningless.

“As we work to meet our growing energy demand and the federal government continues to roll back climate progress — putting communities in harm’s way while the climate crisis worsens — Colorado must lead the charge to defend our transition to clean energy,” said Paul Sherman, the climate campaign manager for Conservation Colorado. “This legislation threatens to trample our progress toward reaching our ambitious climate goals and lacks sufficient guardrails for communities.”

The bill passed out of the committee on a 6-3 vote and will be heard next by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Data centers provide the infrastructure needed for the internet, cloud storage, streaming, businesses’ computing needs and the growing use of artificial intelligence. Construction of such centers has boomed across the country, but the facilities use large quantities of power and water, which is needed for cooling.

As an example, one medium-sized center proposed in Denver, at max capacity, could use the same amount of water in a day as 16,100 Denverites and as much power as 82,500 homes.

How the incentive would work

To obtain certification under the bill’s proposed program, a data center operator must commit to spending $250 million in capital investment and creating 25 well-paying, full-time jobs; meet certain energy and water efficiency standards; and consult with the state Department of Natural Resources on wildlife and water impacts.

The data center company must also prove that the addition of the center will not “result in unreasonable cost impacts” to other electric utility users’ rates.

In return, the company would be exempt from sales and use taxes for 20 years. Companies could also apply for a 10-year extension when the first 20 years lapse if they met certain additional requirements.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade would oversee the certification system. The state would be required to revoke the center’s certification if it no longer met its obligations under the program, and the company would have to repay the state for the tax benefits it received.

If lawmakers pass the bill, Colorado would join 31 other states that offer tax incentives for data centers, according to the bill’s fiscal note. State lawmakers in 2023 and 2024 considered, but did not pass, bills that would have granted data center companies millions in tax breaks on the purchase of construction materials and equipment.

Data center companies are seeking out the states with competitive tax incentives, company representatives testified last week. The centers create hundreds of construction jobs and fuel local economies, they said.

“Unfortunately, Colorado is missing out on all of that,” said Greg Mikulecky, the vice president of development at Stack Infrastructure. The company is headquartered in Denver and builds data centers across the globe but has no data centers in Colorado.

Lundeen, one of the bill sponsors, said Colorado is receiving only 2% of national data center investments. But that’s proportional, given the 50 states in the nation, pointed out Leslie Hylton-Hinga, the special projects director at the Colorado Office of Economic Development.

A rendering shows the design of a new CoreSite data center proposed for Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. (Provided by CoreSite) “Really unique opportunity”

Colorado is home to 56 data centers, including several new facilities under construction like a hyperscale facility being built in Aurora. A Denver company planning to build a new data center in the city last year decided to forgo a city tax break after facing pushback from the City Council based on the facility’s likely energy and water use, but it will continue with construction.

The tax incentives could help lure data center companies to communities looking for economic replacements for coal, oil and gas development, said Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, a Pueblo Democrat and sponsor. Communities like Pueblo need alternative industries for jobs and to support the local tax base, he said.

“We’re heading toward this cliff and we have some significant challenges — but with data centers, we have a really, really unique opportunity,” he said.

Nothing in the bill directs or incentivizes companies to build in rural or transitioning communities, however. All of Colorado’s data centers are in the Front Range — primarily the Denver metro — and the bill won’t shift that trend, said Caroline Nutter of the  Colorado Fiscal Institute, which opposes the bill.

“Incentivizing development outside of the Front Range could be an efficient way to spend tax dollars, but this bill, as amended, does not do that,” she said.

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It’s difficult to estimate exactly how the program might impact state tax revenues because “there is significant uncertainty regarding the number of data centers that will apply,” according to the fiscal note attached to the bill that was written by nonpartisan legislative staff.

“To the extent that actual investments vary from the assumptions in this analysis, state impacts may increase or decrease proportionally,” the fiscal note states.

Those concerned about the bill — including the head of the state’s utility regulatory body — said it must ensure that meeting the large power needs of new data centers does not increase rates for other customers.

“The stakes of getting this right are enormous, especially for ratepayers,” said Rebecca White, the director of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utilities.

If it passes, the bill mandates a review of the effectiveness of the program in 2031.

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Denver, long known for having a tight supply of homes available for sale, is now a leader among metro areas nationwide for how quickly it is building a backlog of unsold inventory.

The number of homes for sale nationally jumped 28.5% in March compared to the same month a year ago, according to a report from Realtor.com, a listing website. All of the 50 largest metro areas experienced an increase over the past year, with new listings outpacing sales.

San Jose, Las Vegas and Denver all clocked increases of just over 67% or 2.4 times faster than the nationwide average increase. Denver technically had the third largest increase, but the difference amounts to a rounding error — 67.3% vs. 67.9% in San Jose.

“Not only did San Jose, Denver and Las Vegas experience significant gains year-over-year, they are part of the group of 18 metros where inventory levels now exceed pre-pandemic levels,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, wrote in her report.

Hale notes that nationwide, the inventory of unsold homes is about a fifth lower than it was between 2017 to 2019, with northeastern markets a third below. That reflects a lack of new homebuilding in that region. Texas markets with strong construction activity like San Antonio, Dallas and Austin, have seen a sharp rise in their inventories.

Local agents offered a variety of explanations for why the supply is piling up, chief among them a sluggish resale market in condos and townhomes, elevated mortgage rates and economic uncertainty, which have sidelined buyers, and more owners seeking to cash out.

But they also noted the inventory remains short of historical averages and that years of tight supply have distorted perceptions of what is normal or balanced.

Metro Denver’s inventory of homes for sale was at 9,764 in March, which remains below the four-decade average for the month of 13,188, according to counts from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. The record high was 27,309 in March 2006, with the record low of 1,921 for March set four years ago.

Inventories are increasing faster for condos and townhomes, also known as attached housing, because they share a wall or floor. There were 3,567 listings for attached homes at the end of March, compared to 1,905 a year earlier, an increase of 87.2%, according to DMAR counts. For detached homes, the increase was 57.1%, from 3,944 to 6,197. 

A year ago, condos and townhomes represented 32.5% of the inventory available to buyers. Last month, it was 36.5%. But despite the added supply and lower prices, buyers aren’t jumping.

“The entry-level condo market is what is driving the stack up. We are backed up on the condo resale market,” said Keri Duffy, a member of DMAR’s market trends committee and a Realtor with Kentwood Real Estate.

Because they cost less, condos are considered an important product for first-time buyers, an entryway into the realm of homeownership. Historically, they have offered better affordability, but that advantage is disappearing because of rising homeowners association or HOA fees.

HOA fees cover expenses for shared items, such as roofs and exteriors, as well as for common services, like snow shoveling and waste removal. Condo associations also typically take on exterior insurance costs, and those are skyrocketing. After the mortgage payment, HOA fees are typically the next largest expense item, followed by property taxes, which have also been on the rise.

Although median condo prices are down 6.2% over the past year, it isn’t enough to offset higher HOA fees, given that a long-awaited drop in mortgage rates hasn’t emerged. Also, some buyers are doing the math and realizing they can buy a newer detached home for just a little bit more each month than what they would have to pay in repair costs and higher HOA fees to live in an older condo.

Older condo developments that have deferred maintenance can be subject to special assessments. And rising HOA fees can set off a downward spiral that is hard to correct, triggering rising delinquencies among current owners and creating room for more investors to step in and convert units to rentals. Those two things can lead to communities becoming “unwarrantable.” That designation prevents government-backed entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from providing conventional mortgage financing, limiting the pool of potential buyers even more and putting further downward pressure on prices.

About a quarter of Denver homesellers, 24.4%, had to cut the listing price in March, one of the highest rates in the country after Phoenix, Orlando and San Antonio, according to Realtor.com. It was much worse for condo sellers, where 77.2% had to take a haircut in February, according to an analysis from Redfin, a national brokerage.

Mike Bruce, president of DMAR’s board of directors, also attributes rising inventory to what he calls “pent-up” seller demand. New listings are up 29% in March year-over-year, while sales were down 5.1%.

Some sellers have failed to appreciate how much the market has moved against them after years of being able to call the shots and not having to improve their curb appeal or show an adequate amount of “flex” to buyers.

“There are a bunch of people who tried selling and didn’t succeed. They took the home off the market and they are trying again,” he said.

Homes have to stand out from the get-go, or buyers, faced with an abundance of choices, will simply swipe left, agents said.

“During COVID, we showed so many dirty homes,” Duffy recalled. She then shared a thought she wanted to say out loud — “I know you are going to have 40 offers, but please clean the tub.”

Those sellers willing to do the work on the front end are being rewarded even with the higher inventory market, she said.

Homes in prime locations, which are staged well and priced right, and which are turnkey, meaning buyers don’t need to put additional work into them, can still move quickly, said Heather O’Leary, a member of the DMAR board and Realtor with eXp Realty.

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Listings spent a median of 18 days on the market in March, meaning half of the listings went under contract in under that time and half took longer. That is up from 11 days a year earlier, but still fast. The more concerning number is the average days on market, which went from 39 days to a sluggish 48 days.

The homes that aren’t selling are camping out on the multiple listing service for weeks and months, without a taker.

O’Leary said she isn’t concerned about excessive inventory. Supply is back to where it was in 2013, when the housing market was coming out of a genuine glut because of overbuilding and loose lending standards. Metro Denver and Colorado remain attractive destinations for those on the move.

But Bruce has noticed a trend, both among the peers he grew up with and the sellers he has represented. Years of strong price appreciation combined with higher living costs are motivating some owners to sell and move to more affordable housing markets in other states.

“The sellers I am dealing with are moving out of state, or they are moving to a retirement facility,” he said.

His experience is anecdotal, but population counts estimate only a small increase in the past two years in the net number of people moving to Colorado from other states, which could be contributing to the rising inventory.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission declined a request from the Colorado Transportation Investment Office for a two-year extension on a loan used to purchase the Burnham Yard in Denver, approving a one-year extension instead.

The CTIO, formerly known as the High Performance Transportation Enterprise, is an investment arm of the Colorado Department of Transportation. It purchased the Burnham Yard, a decommissioned railyard, from the Union Pacific Railroad in May 2021 for $50 million.

With state funds tight during the pandemic, the CTIO asked to borrow $7.5 million from the state’s Strategic Fund, which is normally used to provide incentives for corporate relocation and other job-creating projects. At the time, the fund had $9.5 million set aside to land a big corporate relocation.

The railyard, with historic old brick buildings, covers roughly 59 acres in the La Alma-Lincoln Park area. Its purchase was pitched to the commission in 2021 as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure valuable land in the heart of Denver.

CDOT said it wanted to reserve 15 acres of the land to straighten out and widen a curvy stretch of Interstate 25 that is prone to jamming up. It also wanted to provide RTD more options in routing its rail lines through the area and see if the Front Range Passenger Rail project could use the corridor as it plotted out a route connecting Fort Collins to Pueblo.

The remaining land would be resold for development, paying off the initial investment. After months of study, CDOT said late last year it doesn’t need any of the acreage and that it planned to sell it to a private developer. The goal for a sale is by May 2026, but the loan made by the state’s economic development office is coming due on June 21.

“The main takeaway was that CDOT determined it really wasn’t going to retain any of the initially identified 15 acres,” Piper Darlington, CTIO head, told the EDC, after detailing how rerouting rail lines and the highway proved more complex than anticipated.

When CTIO’s request for a two-year extension to repay came before the commission, members hesitated in an awkward pause, resulting in commission chairwoman Carrie Schiff saying “No motion, no action.”

The commission eventually settled on a one-year extension after board member Chris Franz emphasized the importance of “protecting taxpayer dollars.”

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As long as the money is tied up, it can be used for state economic development efforts, which could become more critical if the economy enters a recession in the coming months. The land also hasn’t been appraised since the initial purchase, Darlington confirmed. Commissioners wanted to know what the collateral backing the $7.5 million loan was worth and what position their loan held when it came to repayment.

If the CTIO sells the land for less than what it paid, the Strategic Fund, and by extension, taxpayers, could lose money. If it sells for more, a more likely scenario, the fund won’t receive any upside. Waiting around doesn’t benefit state economic development efforts, especially since CDOT isn’t going to use the land that it once claimed it so urgently needed to obtain.

Burnham Yard is considered one of the few developable parcels within central Denver that is large enough to hold a new stadium for the Denver Broncos and it checks many of the boxes that the team’s ownership might require, including tracts of developable land nearby and light rail and highway access.

Burnham Yard also is adjacent to The River Mile, an ambitious redevelopment project proposed by Stan Kroenke, owner of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, and developer Rhys Duggan. The plan would convert the area occupied by Elitch Gardens and the parking lots of Ball Arena into a mixed-use urban neighborhood, with a park buffer along the South Platte River.

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Colorado’s housing market is shifting closer to balance as a surge in housing inventory and new listings gives buyers more choices and bargaining power. However, rising housing costs and economic fears make potential buyers hesitant.

According to the March housing report from the Colorado Association of Realtors, there were nearly 12,500 new listings, up 24% from last year. Active listings are up 27% from a year ago, with 23,213 listings.

The median price of a single-family home statewide is $584,990, up about 2% from last month compared to March 2024. The median price for condos and townhomes is $409,000, up 0.1% from February but down about 4% from last year.

Statewide, the average number of days on market for single-family homes is 64, a 12% increase from last year’s average 49 days. For condo-townhomes, the statewide average is 66 days, nearly 14% from the 50-day average in March 2023.

“All this is to say that we are in a balancing market and buyers and sellers are having to negotiate together more than any time in the last decade,” said Chris Hardy with Elevations Real Estate in Fort Collins.

After a slow start to the year, listing activity in the Denver-metro area picked up, with over 7,700 new listings in March and home prices remaining stable.

“Even if fewer buyers are ready to make a move, real estate markets tend to ‘push and pull’ towards equilibrium,” said Cooper Thayer, a broker associate with the Thayer Group in Castle Rock.

“When more inventory is available and sellers are forced to compete, buyers gain the confidence to enter the market with greater options and negotiating power.”

In Boulder County, prices are flat, and days on the market climbed to 75 in March, while in Broomfield, prices are up 6%, and days on the market are 50.

“Despite many sellers holding off due to low interest rates, the rise in available homes signals more opportunities for buyers. However, ongoing economic uncertainty has kept many buyers hesitant, resulting in a drop in sold listings across both counties,” said Kelly Moye of Compass.

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In Aurora, March was disappointing, said Aurora-area realtor Sunny Banka.

“Typically, a big month and an exciting indicator of what lies ahead, March turned out to be lackluster when it comes to home sales,” she said.

The affordable housing segment is under significant pressure, particularly in the condo and townhome markets. According to Julia Purrington Paluck, an Evergreen realtor, issues like condo insurance and a lack of new affordable options contributed to a 50% increase in inventory and noticeable price drops.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.

High real estate prices typically refer to houses, not places to put your car. But in a few Colorado ski resort towns, and to a lesser degree in downtown Denver, parking spots are now a hot accessory real estate item.

“If you don’t own a condo in the central core of town, it can be very convenient to have a parking spot close to everything,” said Hank Carter, an Aspen realtor. “During the Fourth of July here, it is so crowded. But with a covered spot, you can drive and park, no muss or fuss.”

There are a lot of things to do in Aspen and Snowmass, but you still have to find a place to park to enjoy them all. (Jeremy Swanson, provided by Snowmass)

Carter worked with a buyer in Aspen who purchased a covered parking spot that listed for $415,000, described this way: “Enclosed garage condo parking space for sale – GREAT OPPORTUNITY to own a covered garage parking space in great location one (1) block to the Aspen Mtn. base area Gondola. Keep you [sic] car safe and secure. Elevator access with space for additional storage.”

Based on some online listings, the priciest parking spots are those with access to skiing in mountain resort towns where housing costs are predictably some of the most expensive in the state. These spaces are typically in condominium or mixed-use buildings where they are sold individually like a home, depending on homeowner’s association rules.

As of March 2025, there were no listings for homes in Aspen under $500,000, though there were some in Snowmass Village, a 20-minute drive away. In 2024, a home sold in Aspen for $108 million, breaking a record for the state’s real estate prices.

In Telluride Ski Resort’s Mountain Village, the Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection, opened its new Crest Club in late 2024. The $250,000 lifetime membership (not including annual dues) could be a bargain, of sorts, since it includes parking at this swanky resort with slopeside ski access (along with access to a private lounge, a pool and fitness club, among other benefits). A single parking spot at the Madeline Hotel can set you back $185,000.

For those committed to skiing, that might be a good investment. “There is an abundance of free parking in the summer,” said Madeline Hotel general manager Bryan Woody. “However, in the winter, with peak dates averaging 6,000-plus skiers on the mountain, parking becomes more scarce. (But) there is plenty of parking in the destination, not to worry, with the availability of the Madeline Hotel & Residences valet that allows access to the mountain, car to slopes in under three minutes.”

Interested parties should note that with the membership, there is no appreciation in value since the parking spot is not individually owned.

In Beaver Creek, a parking space in a garage sold for the list price of $250,000 in late 2024. (Provided by Beaver Creek Resort)

In Beaver Creek, a parking space in a garage sold for the list price of $250,000 in late 2024.

The listing described the benefits of this investment: “So your property owners wanted ski-in ski-out but ended up buying outside the resort? Here is your solution. Buy this parking space that has a ski-in ski-out ski locker and parking space in Beaver Creek. This space has quick access as you enter the parking garage. A short walk from the ski lockers and easy ski-in ski-out through Creekside Park. Don’t forget that this parking spot enables the owner to get a Beaver Creek gate transponder so they don’t have to wait at the gate; they drive right through. Priced to sell at the same price as the last two sales.”

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Keep in mind that each of these real estate purchases also includes annual HOA fees and taxes that vary based on the location.

While the most expensive parking spots seem to be located in the mountain ski resort towns, Denver is no stranger to exclusive parking. At 2020 Arapahoe St., parking spots are currently listed for $15,000 each — marked down from closer to $40,000.

The listing reads: “Price reduced!” Downtown Denver Parking Space for Sale! Individually deeded parking space located in the heart of Downtown Denver at the 2020 Arapahoe Skylofts. HOA maintained parking garage covered from the elements and gated for security.”

The HOA fees are an estimated $1,020 and taxes $928 annually for this investment.

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Randy Nichols has put on his dancing shoes, all thanks to a loan buy.

At the end of March, the head of Denver-based development firm Nichols Partnership picked up the Cherry Creek Dance property along Third Avenue — a 0.43-acre corner lot prime for future redevelopment.

“We’re looking at a couple options. One is condos, and one is office,” Nichols said.

His firm paid $7.8 million, according to public records, for the 2625 E. Third Ave. property, which sits at the corner with Clayton Street. But the seeds for the deal were planted about nine months ago, Nichols said, when he bought the loan against the property.

Nichols said he paid face value for the $5.5 million note, which was coming due at the end of last month. He indicated that the previous owners couldn’t pay off the note without selling.

“Since we held the note, we were probably the most logical person to sell to. … Everybody and their brother had been trying to buy it, and we felt like we needed a little more control of the situation,” he said.

The $5.5 million Nichols paid for the loan is included in the total $7.8 million sale price.

Cherry Creek Dance founder Stephanie Prosenjak signed the sale paperwork. Her LLC purchased the property in May 2009 for $5 million, records show. Prosenjak did not respond to requests for comment from BusinessDen. Roche Fore of Roche & Co. represented the seller.

Nichols is familiar with Cherry Creek. His firm is the original developer of Clayton Lane, the retail-and-residential project being redeveloped by Denver-based BMC Investments and partners.

He said he likes that the neighborhood — a hot spot for redevelopment in recent years — has limited sites and high barriers to entry.

“It’s the only market in Denver that works financially right now,” he said.

Nichols said he thinks the Cherry Creek Dance property, which has long been expected to sell — “it was out there for too long,” he said — would have fetched more a couple years ago. But he sees pricing in Cherry Creek returning to more rational levels.

“The pricing over the past couple of years was unrealistic,” he said. “And because they couldn’t repay the loan. That reduced the price.”

A competing broker acknowledged that Nichols’ loan buy gave him the advantage. Phil Ruschmeyer of Ruschmeyer Corp. said he represented a client who offered $7.5 million, but ultimately concluded that Nichols would just top any offer.

“He shows up in extremely unique positions,” Ruschmeyer said. “Remember when he owned the one floor of parking?”

That’s a reference to a deal four years ago, when Nichols turned a forgotten right of first refusal for a portion of the Clayton Lane parking garage into a one-year, 150% return.

Ruschmeyer called the Cherry Creek Dance property “one of the largest, best sites left in Cherry Creek.”

The existing dance building is 10,500 square feet, according to property records. The business continues to operate and will be able to stay until Nichols breaks ground on his new project.

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That project will require rezoning, a process that Nichols expects to take a year or so.

“Our hope is that we end up with the four-story option that the other buildings on the north side of Third have,” he said.

Nichols’ condo portfolio includes Spire, the city’s largest condo building, downtown at 891 14th St. On the office side, the firm developed its headquarters building at 1644 Platte St., as well as the more recent One Platte building at 1701 Platte St., which JLL recently started marketing for sale.

The firm’s most recent projects have been a Moxy hotel in Boulder, which opened last year, and the conversion of the Art Institute of Colorado office building in Cap Hill into a microunit apartment project. That wrapped up in 2023.

Besides the project where Cherry Creek Dance sits, Nichols said he’s also in the early stages of pursuing a condo project along Ford Street in downtown Golden.

“Golden is the only other market in the metro area that is comparable to Cherry Creek,” he said.

Story via BusinessDen

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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston says the city will change the way it approves construction projects by revamping the permitting process to speed up and streamline reviews.

Under Johnston’s first-ever executive order, which was unveiled Monday afternoon, the new Denver Permitting Office will begin reviewing permit applications in mid-May with a promise to process applications in 180 days. If the one-stop shop fails to meet that threshold, developers may be able to recoup up to $10,000 in application fees.

In an interview with The Denver Post ahead of the announcement near Union Station, Johnston said that when he was campaigning for his position in 2023, he often heard complaints about the city’s permitting system, which for years has faced backlogs and delays in review cycles.

“People around the city said, ‘We love Denver and more and more, we don’t build here — or try to avoid building here — because it’s so difficult, so complicated and so slow that it raises costs,’ ” he said.

The new office, he hopes, will make Denver “the best place to do business as opposed to one of the most challenging.”

Johnston announced the changes at the Urban Egg, a new location for the breakfast and lunch eatery at 1550 Wewatta St. Randy Price, the owner of the restaurant, said it recently went through the city’s express permitting pilot program for the 16th Street Mall corridor to build its new location.

“This has been an unbelievable experience for transforming the process of permitting and getting us moving quickly,” Price said. “As an owner and a business founder, all you want to do is get in, get open, hire new staff members, contribute to (the) community and start producing tax revenue for the city.”

Currently, site development plans for large-scale housing and commercial projects pass through seven city departments and can take more than two years to process, according to a city news release summarizing the changes.

The new process will streamline permits from the Department of Community Planning and Development, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, Denver Parks and Recreation, the Fire Department, the Department of Housing Stability, the Department of Excise and Licenses, and Department of Public Health and Environment.

Construction permits are required for new buildings, buildouts and remodeling.

Applicants will also have a “project champion” at the city who helps them navigate the process, the release says.

The office, which will have an in-person counter open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, will be committed to answering any questions on permitting within two days.

If the city fails to meet its accountability standard of 180 days, developers can bring their application to a review board made up of department directors for all the relevant agencies. If that board can’t make a final decision on the permit within 30 days, the city will refund some or all of the applicant’s permitting fees, Johnston said.

“I have no desire to pay anybody back money. So that’s a good incentive for us to get it right,” Johnston said.

Morgan Cullen, the director of government affairs for the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, said its task force has met with city officials and suggested improvements on permit reviews for several years.

In a statement, he said the association “is looking forward to reviewing the steps proposed … to streamline the review and permitting process. Improving permitting timelines is an important priority for HBA members that are actively building in Denver. The permitting process is a significant factor in the cost of building a home, and any improvements to that process will help our members better provide attainable housing in Denver.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston signs his first executive order during a press conference about the Denver Permitting Office at a new downtown location of the Urban Egg on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Photo by Elliott Wenzler/The Denver Post)

Johnston said this is the first time the city has ever committed to a specific timeframe for processing permits. The planning department long has had target review times depending on the type of permit or plan, but at times has missed the mark significantly amid backlogs.

The most recent figures on Denver Development Services’ public dashboard show permit approval times have averaged 256 days for major commercial projects, which include large multifamily residential buildings. Application approvals have averaged 355 days — nearly a year — for major residential projects, including new houses.

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The mayor’s office worked with developers and builders, many of whom have been frustrated with slow approvals, to develop the new approach.

Jill Jennings Golich, the deputy executive director of Community Planning and Development, will serve as the director of the office and will have two staffers reporting to her.

“I look forward to building off our success in 2024 to work collaboratively with all city partners involved in permitting and our customers,” Golich said in the press release.

Johnston’s office reduced some city permit processes by about a third between 2023 and 2024, according to the release.

Event permits will still be processed separately.

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It took Spencer Hanks nearly a decade to buy a house in Littleton.

About halfway through his search, he said, he thought he had landed a place near downtown. At the last minute, an out-of-state buyer came in with fistfuls of cash and dropped $50,000 above his offer. His dream home — so tantalizingly within reach — now belonged to someone else.

“I almost moved out of Littleton,” said the Greeley native, who went back to renting in the city.

Hanks, 32, and his wife did finally buy a house in Littleton a year ago, landing a mortgage — albeit one that’s “definitely a stretch” — to cover the $600,000 price tag of the modest 1,700-square-foot home near Sterne Park. But he knows of so many other young families in his generation who feel “fatalistic” about breaking into the metro Denver housing market.

Colorado’s housing challenge is clearly not a Littleton-only problem. But in recent months, the city of 45,000 has become a reluctant microcosm of the larger battle playing out, in which a shortage of 70,000 houses, apartments and condos in metro Denver has kept home prices high.

The situation has prompted state lawmakers in recent years to pass legislation aimed at boosting density in cities across the state. That, in turn, has led some municipalities to resist such efforts as an infringement of their local control over land-use decisions. Pressure has also come from below, as in Englewood — where an attempt to encourage more density in the city abutting Denver prompted recall elections in 2023.

In Littleton, things came to a boil in January. City leaders, after facing significant resistance, tabled a proposed zoning ordinance dubbed the Neighborhood Housing Opportunities initiative. It would have permitted denser types of housing throughout the city, like duplexes, triplexes and attached townhomes.

Many homeowners saw the measure as an assault on the character of their suburban haven, which is largely made up of tidy single-family homes tucked into leafy neighborhoods.

But the building of more detached homes likely won’t lead Colorado out of its housing woes, advocates of greater density argue. In metro Denver, the median sales price of a home last month was $599,000 — just 3.9% below the April 2022 price peak.

“They feel they’re never going to own,” Hanks said of friends struggling to afford a place of their own.

Shortly after the showdown at city hall, a newly constituted citizen advocacy group that preaches caution on densification sprung up, called Rooted in Littleton (formerly known as Save Old Littleton). The group commissioned a survey from Magellan Strategies, a polling form that last month asked nearly 1,200 residents questions about Littleton’s residential portfolio.

Construction take place on a home addition in a neighborhood in Littleton, Colorado, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

The survey, the results of which were released in late March, found a strong lean toward supporting less housing density in Littleton. One notable result from the survey was a strong preference (among more than 3 in 4 respondents) for a direct voter voice in any future major zoning decisions in the city, rather than leaving it up to the City Council.

That sentiment alone told Joe Whitney, a nearly 30-year resident of the city who helped start Rooted in Littleton, that his fellow denizens felt they weren’t being listened to enough.

“Blanket zoning and blanket density is not the answer,” said Whitney, 64. “It’s like setting a wildfire to do a controlled burn.”

Resistance to state laws

Littleton isn’t just seeing recalcitrance on changes to its land-use code from its residents. Like the rest of Colorado’s municipalities, it is also negotiating directives on housing policy coming down from the state — some of which have triggered a forceful local-control defense instinct.

Littleton’s council recently passed two resolutions staking out positions on housing bills moving through the state legislature this session. It urged a “no” vote on House Bill 1169, the so-called YIGBY — or “Yes in God’s Backyard” — bill that would generally allow religious groups and educational institutions to build housing on their properties, regardless of how the land is zoned.

The Colorado Municipal League has called the bill an “unconstitutional” assault on cities’ and towns’ home-rule authority — and a measure that rejects “sound long-range community planning.”

Conversely, the Littleton council urged a yes vote by the legislature on a construction-defects reform bill that lawmakers are pitching as a way to encourage more condominium construction in a state that has seen little of it in the last few decades.

On April 24, the city will host an open house to discuss how it should comply with upcoming state mandates on housing and related matters that passed in the 2024 session, affecting Front Range communities. Those include laws dealing with allowing accessory dwelling units — including garage and backyard units — as well as parking requirements in neighborhoods near transit stops and residential occupancy limits.

Final votes by the Littleton council on implementing those mandates are expected in June.

At the height of the debate over the city’s proposed zoning measure in January, Councilwoman Pam Grove — who’s co-hosting the upcoming open house — said that during her half-dozen years in office, “never has an issue hit such a hot button.”

“We’re getting pressure from the state, and we have citizens in our city that feel strongly one way or another,” she said. “We can only do so much to fix this.”

A housing study commissioned by Littleton in 2017 projected 15,000 more people would move to the city over the next two decades. That would translate into 6,500 more housing units needed in the city by the 2040s.

So far, Littleton hasn’t joined the growing list of cities that have pledged to push back on state housing laws they see as overreaching. Westminster, Arvada and Northglenn are three metro cities that have indicated they may not fully comply with the laws, Colorado Public Radio reported in February.

The resistance goes beyond metro Denver. Colorado Springs officials said recently that they would take a stand against the accessory dwelling unit mandate passed by state lawmakers last year. Last month, the Lafayette City Council mulled taking legal action against the state over House Bill 24-1313, a law that required cities to allow denser developments around transit stations.

The Colorado Municipal League has mounted challenges against a number of housing bills over the last few years. Kevin Bommer, the organization’s executive director, said some of his member cities haven’t always felt included in the process of crafting those laws.

“When you have a bunch of people sitting in the room thinking about what local communities should do — but when you don’t have feedback or input from local governments — the outcomes aren’t necessarily things local governments can live with,” he said.

And cities, Bommer said, don’t build — “cities plan.”

“That’s what Littleton is doing. That’s what Arvada is doing, and Westminster,” he said. “What they need is the state to be a partner, instead of telling them what to do.”

What do Littleton’s residents think?

At the same time, Littleton’s city officials are facing pushback from residents exercised about potential changes to their neighborhoods. The Magellan survey, which was sent to 1,197 registered voters by text March 6-11, showed a strong lean among respondents toward prohibiting — or tightly controlling — density in the city.

The survey, conducted by a well-regarded Colorado polling firm, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.79 percentage points.

A majority of respondents felt that denser housing in Littleton would not lower home prices, would not alleviate traffic congestion, would not reduce wildfire risk and would not reduce homelessness. When asked if they supported or opposed policies that would increase the housing density of some city neighborhoods, 54% came out in opposition, versus 44% in favor.

But there was a notable difference between age groups. Among respondents 18 to 44, support for more density outpaced the opposition, 53% to 45%. In the 45 to 64 cohort, however, increased density in the city lost by a wider 61%-to-34% margin.

And renters, who tend to skew younger, urged more density in Littleton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to the poll.

Councilman Stephen Barr said he’s not surprised by the numbers, especially when it comes to the age breakdown. Barr, 38, moved to Littleton in 2018 and rented before buying a unit in a quadplex three years ago — the very kind of “missing middle” housing that Littleton’s 2017 housing survey said was needed to absorb the city’s projected population increase.

Having lived in a 400-square-foot accessory dwelling unit over a detached garage in California before moving to Colorado, Barr was the only person on the council in favor of adopting the Neighborhood Housing Opportunities initiative. He called the measure a “reasonably equitable step in starting to tackle this question.”

“If you’ve had economic security for 30 or 40 years, then we’re coming from different places,” said Barr, who graduated college just as the economy was cratering in 2009 amid the Great Recession. “As a renter, as someone who has lived in an ADU, as someone who lives in a quadplex — it’s hard to hear that the ways in which I’ve lived are unwanted.”

Whitney, with the Rooted in Littleton group, conceded that the high barrier to entry for younger people looking for a starter home in the metro area is something to pay attention to.

“It’s a valid claim,” he said.

Single-family homes line a neighborhood street in Littleton, Colorado, on April 10, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

But when it comes to making sometimes-drastic changes to someone’s neighborhood, most people see the largest investment they will ever make — their home — as sacrosanct, he said. It becomes “such an emotionally charged issue for people” — and one that is much bigger than one city alone.

“It’s a nationwide problem we have in terms of affordability,” Whitney said. “I don’t think it’s Littleton’s job to solve it for America or for Colorado.”

“It was a good policy,” mayor says

Littleton Mayor Kyle Schlachter has reservations about how the Magellan survey was conducted and how the questions were worded. He took the survey and determined that the results should be “taken with a grain of salt.”

He feels there is more sympathy for the city’s efforts than the survey results revealed, he said.

“I think it was a good policy. It was a good ordinance,” Schlachter said of the Neighborhood Housing Opportunities initiative. “But there were threats of lawsuits, threats of referenda and threats of recalls.”

Approving it, he said, would have been “one step forward and two steps backward” in the effort to make Littleton more affordable. City officials need look no further than next door to Englewood, where two years ago a similar focus on density led to recall efforts and lots of consternation in the community.

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Four of seven council positions were subject to a recall election in the fall of 2023, an effort that ultimately failed.

While Littleton has tabled its rezoning ordinance indefinitely, that doesn’t mean residents are a hard no for any type of effort to bolster density in the city. Where that type of housing is located seems to matter a great deal.

A question on the survey that asked respondents whether they supported increased housing density within two blocks of busy Santa Fe Drive, Broadway, Mineral Avenue or Littleton Boulevard lost 52% to 44%. But when that distance was reduced to one block, respondents came down 48% to 47% in favor of higher density — though that’s within the margin of error.

South Metro Housing Options, Littleton’s housing authority, has been busy building several projects geared toward offering more affordable options in recent years. In 2024, a project called Overlook at Powers Park opened with 51 income-qualified apartment homes for seniors 62 and older.

And this summer, groundbreaking is expected on the 50-unit Montview Flats project near downtown Littleton.

Another crack at a citywide zoning ordinance is not expected again this year, said Littleton deputy city manager Kathleen Osher.

Hanks, the 32-year-old new Littleton homeowner, said curtailing and limiting efforts to improve the chances of securing affordable housing in the city could mean it never happens.

“My fear is that the scope would be so narrow that it would be easy to shrink it to where it is ineffective,” he said. “At some point, you’re going to have to pass that torch.”

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Five years after COVID-19 pushed Denver’s real estate market into overdrive, home buyers and sellers continue to navigate a continually evolving landscape.

According to the March monthly trends report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors:

• The median home sale price in March was $599,000. That’s down 3.9% from its April 2022 peak, but it still shows a 6.92% annual appreciation over the past five years.
• New listings for the first quarter of this year (15,529) more than doubled compared to the first quarter of 2020 (6,666).
• Despite increased inventory, sales haven’t kept pace. The metro recorded 1,061 closed sales for the first quarter of 2025. That’s up 7% from 988 in 2024, up 22% from 870 in 2023, down 8% from 1,147 in 2022, and up 20% from 885 in 2021.

Pandemic shocked housing market

Amanda Snitker, chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, said the pandemic triggered a need for change for home buyers.

“Whether it was a need for home offices and a place to school children or a yard for the kids and dogs who could no longer access school and park playgrounds, a place with a home gym or a detached home without public access points and elevators – this sudden urge was almost primal, a need to access space that felt safe,” Snitker said.

Demand and low interest rates created a surge, leading to a peak median sale price of $616,500 in April 2022.

Now, the market is balancing. Snitker said buyers no longer feel the same urgency to buy, so sellers must create that urgency by presenting a beautiful home at an attractive price.

“The good news for buyers in this current market is that the pricing rebalance has allowed the drastic value jump to even out,” she said.

“Sellers are in a different position than in 2020-2022; buyers are pickier and looking for homes that have been well-maintained, require minimal updating and, of course, are priced competitively for the current market conditions.”

Keri Duffy, a member of the market trends committee and a Kentwood Real Estate agent, said that during peak pandemic buyer demand, when remote work eliminated commute concerns, buyers chose homes in the foothills and the countryside.

“Buyers overlooked poor locations and outdated homes just to get their foot in the door,” she said.

Now, buyers will wait for the right home and show little interest in homes that need updates or are overpriced.

“For sellers, strategic pricing is more critical than ever,” Duffy said. “Homes that are move-in ready and well-presented still command strong offers, while those needing work may linger.”

Spring market trends

Colleen Covell, a market trends committee member and Milehighmodern agent, said Denver’s busy selling season starts in March and winds down in late May.

In March, the $1 million-plus market experienced a significant increase in inventory. But buyers were cautious, which led to more sales at lower prices, Covell said.

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“Does this mean we are in a full buyer’s market for the $1 million segment? It depends,” Covell said.

“The lower-priced detached homes in this segment are still very competitive, with only about three months of inventory. But sellers of higher-priced homes will face a challenging market.”

In the $2 million-plus market, detached homes have six months of inventory and attached homes nine months of inventory.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.

Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse have written a letter to the interim director of the U.S. General Services Administration questioning the proposed termination of nearly 20 federal leases in the state.

Especially worrisome, the three Democrats said in their joint letter, was the reduced wildfire protection that could result from the closure of U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service offices in Fort Collins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife office in Grand Junction and a Bureau of Reclamation office in Durango.

“As federal agencies, states and local communities work to prepare for heightened wildfire and drought risk during the warmer summer months ahead, we are extremely concerned about the risk that the closure of the USFS or Department of Interior (DOI) facilities in Colorado could result in a decrease of our state’s wildfire preparedness, ability to respond to drought conditions, and react to other threats to public safety,” the three wrote acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian on Monday.

Those four offices are among 19 lease terminations covering 350,000 square feet proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency in late February and early March.

The three highlighted the Supervisor’s Office for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest in Fort Collins, which serves as a base for dispatch and incident command in those forests, two out of 12 federal forests located in the state.

The three wanted to know if and when the offices will be closed and what will happen to the employees working there — are their jobs being terminated or will they be moved to another facility?

The office closures also seem to conflict with a presidential order requiring all remote federal workers to return to the office, which would, on the surface, seem to require more space, not less.

Initially, the DOGE list cited termination via mass modification as the status of most of the leases. A few of them have since changed with a description of “soft” termination or “true” termination as in the case of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office in Grand Junction.

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The letter also expressed concerns that staffing cuts at the GSA, which serves as the federal government’s landlord and leasing manager, could mean that the proposed terminations were not done with the proper oversight and coordination with the agencies involved.

The three also requested to be notified in advance and briefed in person on any federal leased office closures or federal property sales within the state.

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Denver homes, like houses in 16 other major metros, listed in late May sold for an average of 1.6% more, typically around $5,600, compared to homes listed at other times of the year, according to a Zillow report.

Zillow research also indicates that listing your home on a Thursday can lead to a quicker sale and a higher price.

Homes listed on Thursdays tend to go pending faster than those listed on any other day, as buyers are eager to view new listings over the weekend.

In comparison, homes listed on Sundays generally stay on the market longer, with Saturday and Monday listings also taking more time to sell than those listed on Thursday.

However, a national analysis by Realtor.com shows that the ideal week to list a home is April 13 to 19.

Historically, homes sold during that week in April sell for prices 1.1% higher than the average for the entire year and typically 6.7% higher than prices at the beginning of the year.

If 2025 follows the seasonal patterns of previous years, the national median listing price could exceed the average week by $4,800 and be $27,000 higher than at the start of the year.

Buyers put down bigger downpayments

The median down payment in Denver was $84,427 in December, or 15% of the home’s purchase price, according to Redfin data.

That’s 13% higher than the previous year. Homebuyers are paying more upfront to reduce their monthly payments as mortgage rates remain near 7%.

Redfin reports that nationally, the median down payment increased to about 16% of the purchase price, up from 15% a year ago.

The average amount rose by around $4,000 to more than $63,000, due to escalating home prices.

Buyers who make a down payment of at least 20% can avoid the additional expense of private mortgage insurance.

More cash downpayments

About 27% of homebuyers make all-cash down payments in the Denver metro, Redfin reports.

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A Redfin survey also reveals that younger buyers use cash gifts from family for their down payments.

The report shows 36% of potential millennial or Gen Z homebuyers receive cash gifts from family to use for their down payments. About 16% of millennials and Gen Zers plan to use an inheritance to help buy a home.

Pending sales canceled

One in seven or 14% of pending home sales were canceled nationally in January, Redfin reports.

In the Denver metro, 15% of pending sales were canceled in January. That’s up from 14% in January 2024.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.