You never count chickens before they hatch, but when Mayor Hancock and his team climbed off a plane from California early this month after a state-led trip that included the governor, the Chamber’s Tom Clark and others, they were feeling pumped about what’s ahead for Denver, business-wise.

Economic Development Director Paul Washington in Civic Center Park. “Anytime there’s a crane in downtown Denver is a good thing,” he said.

“The broader business community views Denver with tremendous excitement,” said Paul Washington, the mayor’s new Economic Development director. “They see us having a strong tech base and a strong cadre of young people with tech backgrounds.”

Colorado – ranked in a recent Forbes survey among the top-5 most inviting business climates – has good reason to prospect for leads in California (ranked 39th). But that has less to do with getting companies to pack up and move, says Washington, than with conveying what an unusually fertile place this is for a new business to grow.

“We weren’t there to poach companies,” Washington added. “There is no need for Denver to be Silicon Valley; we have our own strengths. It’s great to have companies relocate, but we’re more focused on retention, particularly on small business.” Rather than wait for the phone to ring, the most productive approach is to nurture along expansions that Fortune 500 companies already have in Colorado – and to create a place where entrepreneurs, some coming out of those very companies, will launch their own start-ups.

With that in mind, the team talked not only with Bay-area giants Google, HP and Oracle, all of which already have Colorado ops, but also Plug and Play Tech Center and its founder Saeed Amidi (they create incubator spaces for start-ups, with one already open in the DTC). When those companies look at Denver, they’re very much focused on human capital, particularly tech skills — software engineers and designers, among others. On that front, Washington notes, Denver has advantages.

The first is the education base – something that provokes debate here, but that’s respected nationally for its output of tech-oriented grads. That includes University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, and CSU in Fort Collins; linked to labs like NREL and NCAR that draw on their resources; as well as other schools that turn out trades in business, hotel management, hospitality and other specialties.

The other advantage, Washington says, is the allure of the Denver-Boulder lifestyle – something that’s capturing the imagination of young workers nationally. “Denver is already the number-one place to live among 18-to-34 year olds,” Washington noted. “It’s attractive to highly educated people who specifically want to live close to where they work and play.” What they see in walkable neighborhoods like Highlands, Wash Park, Park Hill and Boulder is enhanced by infrastructure investments over 20 years – the nation’s most advanced airport; about to link to downtown’s Union Station expansion via commuter rail; plus T-REX and light rail. “Infrastructure is super critical,” Washington added…and makes for an easier job to target some industries that are top priorities to nurture: aviation/aerospace, clean technology, health and bioscience, telecom, fossil fuels, information tech, and finance.

Washington is particularly focused on the latter. “Our biggest weakness is losing venture capital funds located in Denver,” he says. “But we’re being proactive; it’s early and the dynamic is going well.”

His team is also digesting results of a trip to Beijing, Chongqing and Denver’s sister-city Kunming, where Washington and Chinese-speaking policy advisor Abdul Sesay discussed development opportunities including a possible trade mission to Colorado. Will DIA and its long runways ever land direct flights from Asia? “International flights are a chicken-and-egg proposition — we want more flights to attract companies, but companies will attract flights.” The outlook, however, is positive, says Washington: “DIA is situated in the middle of country; you can get to both east and west coasts in a short period.”

-END-

Homeowner Lori Gregory (left) and her Realtor Debbie Zucker show off her remodeled home near Golden’s newly popular downtown.

- Niobrara is the oil-gas formation that wraps Colorado along the Wyoming/Nebraska borders, including newer surveys east of Denver. The difference in unemployment between North Dakota (3%) and Colorado (8%) hinges in part on how those prospects pan out, not just geologically, but politically. Shale oil recovery requires lots of water and chemicals to ‘frack’ deep layers, already drawing environmental ire; but the economic impacts are potentially huge.

– Boulder and its Turnpike Corridor linking to Denver and Broomfield are a perfect fit for any technological ventures coming from California, where costs are higher and skilled workers can’t find affordable housing. Will more of those companies relocate to Colorado to take advantage of homes and building sites?

- Inventory of homes around Denver is the lowest in eight years, as condos and lower priced homes disappear with little homebuilding to replace them. Low supply is typically good – but will homeowners follow suit by marketing their older places, overcoming their anxieties in exchange for a more lucrative deal on a move-up?

– Downtown Denver has been a good-news bad-news story in 2011 – condo sales in more expensive ranges sluggish, but dining and entertainment still displaying the renaissance of the past 20 years. Will buyers return to luxury downtown properties and absorb the final condos?…and will new employers and builders move in to take advantage of makeovers on 14th Street and Union Station?

– Mid-priced new-built homes are where builders have shown great creativity during the down market, offering MUCH more space, features, and neighborhood flair than three years ago. Will buyers reach for those $350,000 to $500,000 homes Westminster, Castle Rock and Southeast Aurora to take advantage of that pricing?

– Highlands with its walkable shopping areas, stayed popular as other areas dropped off. Now surrounding areas like Berkeley and Sunnyside show the same phenomenon, but the market for expensive custom-scrapes and pop-tops is still well off the mark.

– Retirement homes have been a bright spot in the housing scene, as some 55-and-older ranch projects showed decent sales. Will swelling ranks of retired baby-boomers reach for those opportunities, or will they stay in their aging 2-stories?

– Infrastructure is a major lure to Denver – likely to be enhanced with Light Rail expansions toward DIA…while the mountains are badly in need of higher speed transportation to serve resort areas and to pull loading off aging tunnels and passes.

– Mountain resort properties show some signs of stronger sales, as prices of ski homes and condos drop well off the mark. Will buyers reach for those opportunities, or will they wait?

– Small towns such as Golden and Littleton took advantage of the bad times to sharpen their downtown appeal with new restaurants and walkable attractions. Will buyers reward those areas by pushing up prices for homes in their historic neighborhoods?

– Master-plans like Stapleton and Lowry were some of the nation’s most creative projects as the boom market came to a close. Will those areas with their ‘new-urban’ lifestyle (and higher prices) retain their appeal to younger families?

– Schools weigh immense in buyers’ decisions, many of whom do internet research before picking neighborhoods. Denver Public Schools has many first-rate elementary schools, but loses out to newer suburban areas that show better performance at middle and high school levels. All schools need to keep the quality high, to attract relocating companies from California and back east.

Silvio DeBartolomeis and Cheryl Harpt in the kitchen of Pioneer Hills 3-bedroom show home. That model sold…around the corner from a 1,494-foot home on sale for $239,900.

When you have nice single-family homes, sooner or later you have kids who grow up and leave…empty nesters who want out of shoveling snow…people changing, needing newer spaces. Most of those people still want to stay in the same neighborhood, with its trails and Cherry Creek Schools; and Colonnade reaches to them with a neighborhood that has a secluded feel, big pool and cabana, parks and trails.

“People get tired of taking care of larger houses,” says Silvio DeBartolomeis, who can show you the home by appointment. It has two bedrooms and 2-1/2 baths…including a luxury 5-piece master bath, a great room with fireplace, basement and 2-car attached garage.

The price of $239,900 is a huge discount from its original list — $80,926 off. You can also see a few other homes of the same floor plan at $250,000; and some bigger 3-bedrooms with over 2,000 feet, all at huge discounts, $50,000, $60,000 or $70,000 off.
Needless to say, this will work even if you don’t live in Piney Creek, just taking advantage of the federal tax credit (it requires a contract by April 30 and closing by June 31… Any of these homes qualify, even allow you a little time to pick custom colors on some.

Buyers are already moving on the prices. All of the Phase-I ranches are gone, and Thursday the model home went under contract (it was the most expensive in the community). You can walk the trail over a footbridge to Pioneer Hills Shopping Center, with its “Grind’ coffee shop with free wi-fi; a half dozen other restaurants and taverns including Jason’s Deli, Purple Orchid, T.G.I. Friday’s and more.

“This is a new urban concept,” DeBartolomeis added…walkable to two dozen stores, Home Depot and Wal-mart beyond, with Light Rail five minutes away at Parker and I-225. To the west is Cherry Creek State Park, including its off-leash dog park and Cherry Creek Trail. The sale runs through Feb. 28, open today 10-5; take Parker Road south from I-225 or north from Arapahoe to Chambers; turn north 1/4-mile to the entryway.
-
WHERE: Pioneer Hills, 2- & 3-bedroom 2-story townhomes, Phase-I inventory close-out; pool and trails that link to Pioneer Hills Shopping Center; call for showing. 15097 E. Crestline Pl.; take Parker Road south from I-225 3.6 mi. to Chambers Rd. and turn left, quarter-mile to entryway on left.

PRICE: From $239,900
PHONE: 303-995-6363 WEB: ColonnadeCommunities.com

Why is Denver being ranked as a national market (perhaps THE market) most likely to lead a real estate recovery? In part for the excitement buyers and developers are finding in the city’s core urban neighborhoods…highlighted by Cherry Creek, where new upscale stores, exclusive restaurants, are emerging right now, this year.

Developers David Steel (left) and Roy Kline show off the Paris-inspired courtyard of NorthCreek, where residents have their cars valet-parked.

“Everybody’s trying to mimic Cherry Creek,” says Roy Kline of Western Development Group, overseeing the metamorphosis of an entire block of Cherry Creek North into NorthCreek, a medley of residential offerings that have already lured a complement of stores to the street level….including Hermes (famous Paris accessory house that opened in April); Eileen Fisher; Loro Piana, Marmi…all of them either a flagship, or making a singular appearance.

What you WON’T find are restaurants. Early on, developer David Steel says, NorthCreek buyers expressed a preference for keeping the hubbub that goes with popular eateries at arm’s length. When you tour NorthCreek’s blend of flats and brownstones (by appointment only), you’ll see Pekoe Tea House downstairs; but the rest of Cherry Creek’s thirty-odd dining spots are either up the street or around the corner.

You’ll visit plush offerings for any size preference. When Western took over the site from another developer, first thing they did was upsize the homes in NorthCreek’s Tower Residences (75% of them are now closed, one at 11,000 feet!), while decreasing the unit count. They also upgraded finishes: “This is a very narrow bandwidth of buyer,” Steel said, showing me one flat (from $1.2 million) with views to downtown, where the budget for showerheads exceeds $4,000.

You’ll find the same quality in the Brownstones (around 2,700 feet, from $2.7 million), with entries facing NorthCreek’s private, Paris-inspired courtyard, where residents drive in for valet parking and where their party guests do the same. The one place the developer has made no assumptions about finish is in some Courtyard Flats (from $3 million) with huge terraces, where finishes are left to buyers.

The set attracted to this, Steel says, include more than a few Aspenites. (“I see the mountains every day,” one told him. “I want this to be a city feel.”) But however you finish, adds Steel, don’t expect to find this waiting three years from now. “There’ll never be this location, this access,” he says. “When they’re gone, they’re gone.”

-

WHERE: NorthCreek, medley of luxurious urban flats and brownstones with exclusive concierge services, created for a full block in the heart of Cherry Creek North. Information Center 2800 E. Second Avenue, between Detroit & Fillmore, Cherry Creek. Residential tours by appointment only.

PRICE: From $1.2 million; Brownstones from $2.7 million

WHEN: Tours by appointment only

PHONE: PHONE: 303-270-0101 WEB: NorthCreekDenver.com

Within a block are venerable Abe’s Café (40 years of sandwiches), the old city hall (now a theater), 5-star rated Opus fine dining, JaJa Bistro, a couple of spas, Pinon Fine Art, Iris Gallery and a half dozen other galleries and antique shops. Two blocks west is Melting Pot in the old Carnegie library; and two blocks east, the train into Denver.

This isn’t LoDo. ”It’s ‘LiDo,’ Littleton downtown,” says Michelle Donahue with Classic New Home Sales, agents for Nevada Place. “People have been waiting for this project, some ever since it first hit the planning commission.”

The sales center was once the First National Bank; and as we chatted, Jayne Barth walked in to invite us next door to watch her cut the ribbon for her new wine bar, “Kate’s”…with a Sinatra soundtrack and vintages that are stored in the bank’s old vault under the shops.

Nevada Place is banking on bright plans that have top-rated finishes, secured parking, and big outdoor spaces (some patios are 40 feet long; decks are dining-sized and plumbed for gas grills) to lure buyers. Right now you can pick from a wide range of 2-bedroom plans, along with a 1-bedroom-plus-den ($329,900)…and a few luxury units sized 1,700 or 1,800 feet. The storefront’s at 2509 W. Main; take Main west into downtown (or Alamo east) to Nevada.
-

An exceptionally snowy winter and the low dollar are adding to the allure of Grand County to purchasers from the British Isles, who have long favored Winter Park.

“Winter Park has always appealed to the British,” says Denise O’Connell, Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties, who was part of a team of local real estate specialists who flew to London several years ago to present at a travel exhibition.

Now, O’Connell’s newest buyers for a custom home in Grand County are British. “They’ve had fabulous packages on Winter Park travel for years,” she says, adding that those opportunities have only become better as United has begun offering London-DIA non-stops in competition with British Airways; and as the dollar’s fall has made a vacation to the U.S. something akin to the way Americans view travel to Mexico.

Some Winter Park bed-n-breakfasts have long catered to European visitors…but the airlines’ extra baggage charges ($147 for a pair of skis), says O’Connell, are prompting Brits to wonder whether they’d be better off to own a place and keep the gear here. She adds they like the funky style, including the ‘pub’ life; and after a year of exceptionally heavy snows, they’re carrying home great stories about the skiing, too.

Custom home on 35 acres ten miles southwest of downtown Grand Junction is on market at $1.45 million

“We’re maybe down a little now, but we’ll have a good year,” says Sharon Vaughn, who along with husband Larry are part owners of Coldwell Banker Home Owners Realty in Grand Junction. A major factor fueling recent growth—oil, gas and shale oil production in the region—is likely to keep bringing relocations, including to Grand Junction itself, where some employees are willing to commute 45 minutes up the valley to Parachute near many of the energy industry ventures.

Just as on the Front Range, Vaughn says showings and sales saw a noticeable drop last fall that continued through the mid-winter months…but appeared to reverse in February as spring activity picked up. “We have more inventory now than we did a year ago, particularly upper end, over $400,000,” she adds. The extra listings are visible at prestigious Redlands Mesa Golf Club…but not at Chatfield, a single-family project listed by Coldwell Banker in the southwest part of the city, from the $280s, attracting energy employees among others.

Coldwell Banker, meanwhile, is set to open a second branch office near St. Mary’s Hospital, undergoing a 10-story expansion that will draw patients from a 2-state area, as well as employees qualified for higher priced homes. The Vaughn Team is at (970)242-5505.

So, where in the metro area did Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony plop down a reported $12 million last year for a 16,000-square-foot Tuscan-style pad on a sprawling, gated estate? Was it Cherry Hills Village? Franktown? North Boulder County?

Actually, Littleton. Polo Reserve is off Platte Canyon Road, designed around a polo field for a Parade of Homes in the early ’90s.

The Parade was in The Farm at Polo Reserve: giant customs clustered around the field created for the Denver Polo Classic (300 yards long and equaling nine football fields…as backyard open space goes, very open indeed.)

Carmelo’s place is in there (it’s behind two gates). Next door is The Sanctuary, with acre/2-acres; and north of that, The Meadows at Polo Reserve, half acre-one acre, including a home for sale now.

Realtor Karen Brinckerhoff grew up riding at stables in Denver and says she doesn’t recall going south of Alameda Street until she returned home from college. Now she’s an advocate for Polo Reserve and its Littleton lifestyle…and lives in the Meadows.

What you get here, Brinckerhoff told me, are amenities to exceed what buyers find in fancy areas east of the Platte River. Those include the field (residents have purchased it from a private interest that had been staging outside events); and nice stables…linked into area trails, including the Platte Greenway that passes directly by.
Also Columbine Country Club and golf course, with a new chef recruited from Del Frisco’s, so close that Polo Reserve residents consider it to be a fixture of the neighborhood lifestyle.

After the 1980s real estate bust (worse by far than anything we’ve seen the last two years) Old Littleton was looking down at the heels. Now, downtown has Light Rail, trendy new dining, and a bright outlook, one that Brinckerhoff says is a great match for Polo Reserve itself – attracting an unusual number of east-coasters and Midwesterners, who feel at home with the clubby lifestyle here.

She also gives high marks to the public Littleton Schools. The traditional 5-bedroom house at No. 1 Arabian
Place is 3,415 sq. ft. on a half acre and has a nicely finished basement. Brinckerhoof has a web site where you can learn more about the listing at karen.brinckerhoff@coloradohomes.com.

-END-