Organizations of both types that may benefit from this exposure include:

_____________________________________________

Next Realty purchased the approximately 35,000 square foot Cherry Creek Square property in Cherry Creek North from Louise Vigoda for $14 million, or roughly $400/SF. Located at 3000 East 3rd Avenue, tenants at the property include Cooks Mart, Paul Garcias salon, Vertu jewelry, Brix and B. Bear Express.

Ceremonies to commemorate the groundbreaking of the NorthCreek mixed-use project were held in Cherry Creek. Located in an area bordered by East First and Second avenues, Fillmore Plaza and Detroit Street, the initial phase of the project will offer five floors of high-end condominiums above one floor of stores and a 240-space underground parking garage. Completion of the Phase I is scheduled for the spring of 2007.  Many units in the condominium building have been pre-sold at prices in the $700/SF range.

The process of attempting to redesign and redevelop the Fillmore Plaza mall continues.  The Cherry Creek North BID and adjacent property owners have engaged Commarts, Inc. of Boulder as a consultant and a meeting will be held on January 11^th to enable members of the community to continue to provide their comments on various alternatives.  The meeting will be held at Bromwell School, 4^th/Columbine at 6:00 PM. 

According to Marc Schtul, CEO of the Cherry Creek North BID, “The City of Denver completed a renovation of the First Avenue median between Steele and University this past summer. The BID and shopping center will be handling the maintenance going forward. When the project was completed, there was $90,000 left over that needed to be spent or lost. There were a couple meetings to discuss options and I had suggested early on (before the current process had begun) that the money be used to make the crossing safer. Well, that is the recommendation that came back from the City - They are proposing to spend $86,000+ to relocate some traffic lights and better delineate crosswalks and stop points for vehicles. Although I believe that our process may result in a complete redesign of the intersection, perhaps this is a good temporary fix given that any dramatic change is likely years off- Nick LeMasters [General Manager of the Cherry Creek Mall] was at the meeting and agrees with the concept.”

Seattle-based Nordstrom, which is scheduled to move into the former Lord & Taylor site at the Cherry Creek mall, is considering enlarging the 120,000 square foot space by 40,000 square feet, thus delaying opening of the store likely until 2007. The proposal is awaiting approval by the city, which wants confirmation that the expansion will not violate parking space requirements for the shopping area.

Plans to redevelop the historic Lowenstein Theater on East Colfax Avenue suffered a major blow as it was announced that The Denver Film Society will not be a participant in the project. The Denver Film Society was to occupy 33,000 to 35,000 square feet of the development, making them its largest anchor. New plans for the development call for two retail tenants to replace the film society, occupying between 2,000 to 7,000 square feet.

The inaugural Post- News Colorado Colfax Marathon will be held on Sunday, May 21, 2006. Dubbed “America’s Main Street Marathon,” it will start on historic Colfax Avenue in Aurora, pass the state Capitol in Denver and finish at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Lakewood.  Race organizers predict that more than 6,000 amateur and professional athletes will participate in either the full or half marathon, or join others in the unique five-person relay.  Proceeds from the race will go to Colorado Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing obesity and promoting fitness and health for elementary-school children.

The Denver City Council voted to approve Main Street zoning for the area of East Colfax between Grant Street and Colorado Boulevard, setting the stage for construction of higher-density, mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly development in the area.  Later the Council unanimously approved a residential development to be located at East Colfax Avenue and Madison Street. The five-story development will host 39 residential units and 4,300 square feet of retail space at a cost of $10 million. The first project to be approved under the Main Street rezoning plan, was resisted by residents of the area for concern the project will cause parking problems.

The 42,224 square foot, 178-unit Workshops building at 4340 East Kentucky Avenue in Glendale was sold to Glendale Workspace LLC for $3.78 million, or $90/SF.

The City of Glendale has agreed to purchase 5 acres of land adjacent to the St. Andrews Seminary at Mississippi/Birch from the Theatine Fathers, a Catholic religious order.  The city intends to use the land as a park.  The purchase price is $4.5 million or $21/SF. Theatine Fathers intends to use the funds from the sale to renovate the Seminary building to house theology students taking college courses.   The city has also announced the purchase of another 1.5 acres nearby to be used for city offices and park maintenance.

Principal Global Investors paid $34.2 million, or $141/SF, for the 15-story, 242,700 square foot office tower at 1290 Broadway and its adjacent half block, which is anticipated to be developed into another high-rise luxury residential tower. Its location is across the street from the Museum Residences, a condo development designed by famed New York architect Daniel Libeskind that surrounds the new parking structure serving the expanding Denver Art Museum.

A local investment group paid $13.2 million, or $255/SF, to BCN Development for the 51,736 square foot retail and office portion of the Beauvallon project at 9th Avenue and Lincoln Street in Denver.

The Wells Fargo Center, better known as the Cash-Register building, is to have 80% of its stake purchased from Maguire Properties by Macquarie Properties and Macquarie Office Trust by the end of the year. Located at 1700 Lincoln Street, the 50-story, 1.2 million square foot building is the 3rd tallest building in Denver and boasts tenants such as Wells Fargo, Newmont Mining Corp., and the Holme Roberts & Owen Law Firm. To be sold for an undisclosed price, the purchase will be the second time this year the property has changed hands, and is part of a portfolio purchase that also includes acquisition of a controlling interest in 5 office buildings owned by Maguire in California.

Page Mill Properties has decided to include the 30-story, 274,581 square foot Lincoln Center office building at 1660 Lincoln Street in a portfolio package that it is putting up for sale. The company purchased the property in August for nearly $36 million. The other properties included in the portfolio are located primarily in the San Francisco Bay area.

A 150,000 square foot residence hall has been announced for the southwest quadrant of the DU campus for the fall in 2008.  Designed with upperclassmen in mind, the five-story facility will house 200 sophomores and 150 juniors and seniors and will include rooms for community spaces, computer labs and libraries, a game room, group study, and grab-and-go food service facilities.  Additionally, a parking structure for the facility is scheduled to open in late 2006 near the southeast corner of South High Street and East Evans Avenue.

The Denver City Council agreed to schedule the first public hearing for the proposed $85 million financing plan for the Gates Redevelopment site for February 6th.  Located south of I-25 between Broadway and Santa Fe Drive, the plan would finance environmental cleanup, demolish existing buildings and improve infrastructure on the property, which is hoped to benefit the city by the generation of an additional $41 million in taxes on future residents and merchants of the development through special districts.

Continuum Partners purchased the former Denver Seminary site for $12.4 million or $25/SF for the 11.5 acres.  Continuum plans a $400 million 3-phase retail, office and residential development named Kent Place because the site was also formerly occupied by Kent Denver School.  The initial phase will include 100 condominiums, 14 townhomes and all of the planned retail and office space – 65,000 SF.  Eventually the project will have 305 condominiums and 45 townhomes in the $500,000 to $2.5 million range.

A 48,000 square foot medical office building is to be located at 7055 Roslyn Street in Stapleton.  To be called the Stapleton Center for Healthy Living, the building will be the first stand-alone office building at Stapleton.  Completion of the building is scheduled for November.

Health-care giant HCA-HeatlhOne has announced that it will pour $250 million into improving three of its area hospitals over the next three years, with the majority of the funds ($111 million) to be allocated to expanding the Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center downtown with a 54-bed hospital for children, an expanded cancer-care and bone-marrow transplant unit, and a 120,000 square foot medical office building. The remaining $139 million is to be split between the Medical Center of Aurora ($60 million) and Swedish Medical Center ($84 million). Improvements at the Medical Center of Aurora include the construction of a 140,000 square foot tower for private patient rooms, expansion of intensive-care cardiovascular units, conversion of current patient rooms to private patient rooms, and creation of a new front entrance. Improvements planned for the Swedish Medical Center include upgrading four floors, remodeling the neonatal intensive-care unit, renovating the parking garage, redesigning the emergency department, and expanding the surgical services.