DENVER-Westfield Co. recently opened 1800 Larimer St., the first high-rise office building constructed in Denver’s central business district in 25 years. According to a release, 1800 Larimer is also “one of the largest office buildings begun and completed in the US since the commercial real estate market crash started in 2008.”

Developed by Westfield and designed by international architectural firm RNL, the 500,000-square-foot glass-clad building offers LEED Platinum design and a next generation business environment, utilizing innovative advanced air flow and lighting systems. At completion, the 22-story building is 80% leased and will be the headquarters for Xcel Energy, Frederick Ross Co. and Westfield Co.

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, Xcel Energy signed a 330,000-square-foot prelease commitment in May of 2008, taking up 14 floors of the 22-story building. The deal also included expansion rights. The company’s lead broker for the transaction, Barry Dorfman of Staubach, told GlobeSt.com at the time that Xcel was drawn to 1800 Larimer in large part because Westfield is vying to have one of the first office buildings in the nation to achieve the US Green Building Council’s highest certification level, known as LEED Platinum, for its core and shell. “Xcel wanted to get most of their people under one roof to promote culture while also being environmental stewards,” Dorfman said to GlobeSt.com at the time. “There were really nine options, eight of them being new construction, all of them Downtown,” and most of them needing an anchor tenant like Xcel to take to the bank to get their construction financing.

At the time of Xcel’s prelease commitment, Westfield Development’s Rich McClintock said that its lease commitment is the reason the estimated $190-million development was moving forward despite economic conditions. The lease for 66% of the building makes the building 75% preleased, giving the lender, Wachovia, confidence that Westfield will be able to generate the cash flow to obtain permanent financing and take out its construction loan, he said at the time.

According to the prepared statement, the building ushers in “a new class of technologically-advanced 21st Century corporate office tower, using under-floor air and sustainable designs.” McClintock, Westfield’s CEO, says that “1800 Larimer represents a next generation office building, offering systems and amenities not available in other buildings today, but which will come to be expected by tenants in future class A projects. Westfield is proud to have successfully completed this development in such a difficult market and economic environment--on time, on budget, and substantially leased,” he adds.

The project only has space on the top five floors remaining to lease with unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains. “This is very special space for a select group of companies who want the prestige offices in a cutting edge project with premier headquarters amenities and productivity advantages,” McClintock says.