Forest City Breaks Ground on 188-Acre Town Center

(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

WESTMINSTER, CO-Forest City officially broke ground today on the Orchard Town Center. When it is completed, it could have as much as 1.2 million sf of space. The Orchard Town Center, 188 acres of a 215-acre site Forest City is taking down from the City of Westminster already has about 460,000 sf leased, John Tindall, project developer of Forest City Commercial Properties tells GlobeSt.com.

Anchor tenants so far include Foley’s, which will be open as a Macy’s; J.C. Penney; a 12-screen AMC Theatre that is expandable up to 16 screens; and a Super Target.

Tindall admits that Forest City is not alone in bringing new retail to the northern corridor where much of the Denver-area’s growth is expected. Orchard Town Center is located at West 144th Avenue and Interstate 25. “There is a lot of stuff on the boards,” Tindall tells GlobeSt.com. “But I think there are a couple of things that set us apart. If you look at the site up the street at local developer Jordon Perlmutter’s development, they’re a power center and were a town center.

“We are a totally different tenant mix. We’re going to have some big-box tenants, but we’re going to have some high-fashion anchor stores, too,” Tindall says. Although the development is much smaller than the $4 billion Stapleton redevelopment, it ultimately will have many of the same characteristics, he says.