Experts Disagree on State of Market at CU Conference

William C. Wheaton, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Economics and a founder of the MIT Center for Real Estate Center, had the most pessimistic outlook for the metro area. "The Denver real estate industry is worse off than the majority of the country," according to Wheaton. "The metro area's sharp contraction in apartments, office and industrial space demand has left new supply wanting. The recent boom in Denver's housing market is now becoming a liability. These is likely to be a four-year correction in that market. Denver real estate was driven by the energy industry in the 1970s. It reinvented itself with the technology industry in the 1990s. Another reinvention is necessary to pull Denver back."

Albert Ratner, co-chairman at Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, was far more bullish. Forest City is developing the former Stapleton International Airport, the largest infill development in the nation near a major urban area. It will have a completed value of $4.5 billion, and it abuts the $4.5-billion Fitzsimons health science and biotech center, creating a $9-billion economic generator, he said.

In addition, there are thousands of acres to develop around Denver International Airport, he noted. While there is a national trend of people wanting to live and work around cities, few urban areas around the country have as much land to develop as Denver does, Ratner said.

Mayor John Hickenlooper was the luncheon speaker and was honored as the CU's Center 2003 Person of the Year. "Nearly every issue that we as a community face is directly tied to our ability to generate resources," Hickenlooper said. "As such, economic revitalization is priority number one. Clearly, smart development and well-executed real estate planning are key ingredients to the recipe for Denver metro area's economic rebound."

Byron Koste, director of the CU Real Estate Center, said that the "downturn in Colorado's high-tech industry has created an extreme challenge four our corporate real estate sector. Combining the vacancies caused by recent corporate downsizing with the emerging trend of off-shoring jobs, Colorado has been littered with vast numbers of vacant and semi-vacant office buildings, call centers and manufacturing plants."