Cushman & Wakefield Tapped to Lease Major Denver Redevelopment

Cherry Creek West. Rendering courtesy of East West Partners

Developer East West Partners has tapped Cushman & Wakefield as the office leasing broker at Cherry Creek West, an upcoming mixed-use transformative redevelopment project in Denver. Vice Chairmen Nicholas Pavlakovich and Michael Pavlakovich, along with Executive Managing Director Matthew Gautreau, will spearhead the leasing efforts.

Cherry Creek West will rise on 13 acres near Cherry Creek Shopping Center, formerly occupied by a parking lot. With construction slated to commence in late 2024, the materialization of this development is expected to take about 10 years. Project partners include Taubman Realty Group and the Buell Foundation, while Design Workshop and Gensler are in charge of the design.

The community is set to encompass seven buildings—ranging from eight to 13 stories—which will feature 750,000 square feet of office space and 90,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space, along with 600 residential units. Cherry Creek West will cover the area from University Boulevard to Clayton Lane and from the 1st Avenue to the Cherry Creek waterway.

With a focus on sustainability, the project will create pedestrian-friendly outdoor areas. The buildings will be constructed using sustainable materials, aiming to attract tenants which prioritize employee well-being and a people-centric approach.

Navigating the Denver market

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s research, by the end of 2022 office vacancy in metro Denver reached 21.8 percent, marking a 70 basis-point increase quarter-over-quarter and up 190 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Leasing activity in the metro rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2022, with over 1.2 million square feet of commitments signed, following a slowdown in the third quarter. Leasing volume increased by nearly 68.1 percent quarter-over-quarter and brought the total leasing activity for 2022 to approximately 7.1 million square feet.

Cushman & Wakefield also reported that during the fourth quarter of 2022, new construction activity in Denver was limited, with no new buildings breaking ground or being delivered. As a result, the under-construction pipeline remained at just over 2.1 million square feet.

With construction activity concentrated in the urban core, Cherry Creek was the only suburban submarket that continued to have an active construction pipeline, likely due to the area’s low vacancy rate and limited supply. The rising cost of capital has made it challenging to obtain debt financing, indicating that the office construction pipeline in Denver may remain lean in the near future.