Downtown Denver Is Seeing a Supply Shortage

Downtown Denver is suffering from a significant office supply shortage. For tenants looking for space over 50,000 square feet, options are limited. The shortage is tightly linked to the recent boom in apartment activity, which has driven population growth in the Downtown area and attracted new industries.

“At a high level, a lot of what is driving our Downtown numbers is the residential inventory that has been constructed in the last 10 years,” Dave Johnson, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, tells GlobeSt.com. “Employers know it. One of our danger points is that our cost of living continues to increase. Cities that we have historically competed with, like Phoenix and Austin, are more affordable. I don’t know where the breaking point is or when it becomes cost prohibitive.”

According to a recent report from Cushman & Wakefield, there are only three available spaces over 50,000 square feet. That segment of tenants is most impacted by the shortage. “Our Downtown market is seeing a shortage of inventory. I am currently doing a search for a 75,000 to 150,000-square-foot tenant that wants to be in lower Downtown, and there are very few options for them,” says Johnson. “There just isn’t a lot of inventory. There is a flight to quality, and companies are chasing labor.”