NAIOP Colorado

Mid Year Commercial Forecast - Denver Poised for a Rebound

If you missed the Mid Year Commercial Forecast on July 12th, there was some good news that you will want to know about.  Dennis Huspeni from the Denver Business Journal was at the event and posted a great summary about the information shared by the speakers.  Click here to read that posting.

Annual Economic & Business Forecast

Submitted by: Lea Ann Fowler, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

The Annual Economic Forecast, held on January 11, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton, featured a panel of local experts, including Bruce Alexander, Patty Silverstein, Thomas Wootten and moderating the panel, Leonard Sahling, First Vice President of Pro Logis.

Patty Silverstein, Chief Consulting Economist for Metro Denver Economic Development, opened the program with a presentation on Moving the Economy Forward: Lessons from Driving School, which was an interesting parallel of our local and national economic trends with that of car racing.  Primary highlights discussed in moving the economy forward were (i) "Road Hazards" including minimal job opportunities, duration of unemployment and federal, state and local government budget issues and (ii) "Green Lights" including corporate profits rising (after tax profits up 17% YOY in Q3), consumers spending again, outstanding consumer credit decreasing (down 3.5% YOY in Q3), residential real estate stabilizing, commercial real estate potentially having hit bottom and local infrastructure development activity (DIA, FasTracks).  She stated that while the recovery does feel slow and that job growth will remain slow, with only a 1% expected job growth rate in Colorado for 2011, consumer confidence is actually getting better, evidenced by a decline in spending of only 4.3% in 2010, compared to an unprecedented 11% decline in 2009.  Expected growth industries include the professional services and health care sectors.  Click Here to view Patty's slides.

Industry Clusters Position Region for Economic Recovery

Sixth annual report details the Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region's competitiveness compared to the 50 largest U.S. metro areas

A major step in crafting a region's economic development strategy focuses on the types of industries to target for company growth and retention. Today, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) released its sixth annual Industry Cluster Study, a competitive analysis of industries leading the nine-county Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region's recovery and future job expansion.

The study, completed by the Metro Denver EDC's Chief Economist Patty Silverstein of Development Research Partners, analyzes seven major industries in the nine-county region: aerospace, aviation, bioscience, broadcasting and telecommunications, energy, financial services, and information technology-software. The analysis factors new employment data from third quarter 2009 to third quarter 2010.

Click here to read the full story as well as find out more about the complete study.

MDEDC Reports Commercial RE Market Making a Comeback in Metro Denver

Earlier this month, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (MDEDC) sent out an email sharing some good news for Commercial Real Estate in Denver.  According to data compiled in its recent Monthly Economic Summary for January 2011, the MDEDC reported that the commercial real estate market appears to be recovering from the economic downturn. 

Click here to read the full article to learn more about the trends in vacancy rates and to access full Economic Summary for January 2011.

Commerical Real Estate continues to recover as Vacancy rates decline in Metro Denver

According to the recent Monthly Economic Summary from the MDEDC, vacancy rates in Metro Denver's industrial and retail markets declined in the 3^rd  quarter.  Results of a survey released by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests commercial property investors are returning to the market in many areas, including Metro Denver.  Investors are generally focused on high performing, Class A assets, and some respondents said debt financing is again available.  Respondents also said Metro Denver remains a buyers' market for office property but is on-track for recovery.

Click here to read the full report.

Metro Denver EDC releases 6th Edition of Toward a More Competitive Colorado

This annual benchmark study examines competitve factors related to economic growth.  In this sixth edition, the MDEDC reports its annual benchmarking of Colorado's strengths, challenges, and opportunities for future job growth. 

“Our findings in this latest edition show that Colorado continues its trend toward becoming a weaker competitor for new jobs and investments,” explained Patty Silverstein, chief economist for the MDEDC and author of the report.  “In many respects, the state continues to live off of the investments it made in the past.”

To read the full story and find out how you can get a copy of Toward a More Competitive Colorado, click here.

NAIOP Features Metro Denver's Southeast Market Update

Submitted by:  Bob Blodgett, Principal, R.S. Wells LLC/Clifton Gunderson LLP

NAIOP Colorado’s August 10th breakfast meeting program featured key players in Denver’s southeast market sharing information about current and future projects along the I-25 corridor, projections for office and retail demand, major lease and sales transactions and future trends.  The panel consisted of four speakers with diverse backgrounds in the corridor:  A commercial real estate broker, the new President of the Southeast Business Partnership, the IKEA U.S. Real Estate Manager and the Development Director at the RidgeGate mixed use project.