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River Mile Introduction

[0:00] Most people have no idea what's about to hit the Denver market. There's over $15 billion dollar of investment, over a hundred acres of development in downtown Denver alone. And when I say downtown, I mean right downtown, and five mega projects that are going to be changing the entire city forever. I've been watching Denver evolve for decades now, helping people buy here, sell here, move here. But what's coming over the next decade is on a completely new scale unlike anything I've ever seen before.

[0:29] So, I'm going to show you the top five massive developments that are going to be reshaping Denver here, why they matter, and the wild details that could change where you actually want to live next. Starting with one that I can't even believe is happening, and it's called the River Mile. Currently, it's where Eliches sits right along I25 just south of downtown Denver. And when I saw what they were going to build in this, I was like, this isn't even possible.

[1:01] Like, how is this a thing? Who in their right mind says, you know what, this chunk of the city, I'm going to like, you know, make your city look 20% bigger. But when you look on a map and you look at the buildings that they're wanting to build, holy cow, it's pretty unbelievable. So, this project on a map when you look here, it's this. It's this chunk in the middle of your screen right along the city. And then you've got downtown Denver, Union Station just to the east of it. Like, this is like building another Union Station or uh the Confluent Park just to the north of it. This is right by Ball State Arena. And we're going to we're going to get back to this because this gets way better. But this is the first project, the one project, and they're breaking it down into separate chunks.

[1:50] Okay? So, you've got the banks, the bend, and the headwater. Uh the headwater is going to be the first one. Now, what they're kind of touting on this development is that all the infrastructure is going to be ready by the time they actually start having residences go up. So, the first people to move in, you're actually going to have all these amazing parks, all this amazing access to the river, uh, all these shops that are already going to be in for you instead of being in that really funky construction for 5 years phase, and everything's super annoying.

[2:21] Uh, sure, there's going to be construction still going on, but you're actually going to be able to live a life here from day one of moving in when the project is ready. So, this project is all going to be focused on river access. Uh, and they're spending so much money on actually redeveloping the river. They're digging it deeper. They're cleaning it. Uh, and they're they're making it integral to this neighborhood.

Project Scale & Scope

[2:44] This scale alone is crazy. It's going to be 62 acres, right? 62 acres basically in downtown Denver. Uh, it's going to be one of the largest commercial projects in the region and one of the largest redevelopments in Denver's history. Um, and of course they're, you know, going to be focused on sustainability, uh, arts and education, uh, reclaiming the river, high design, connected, you know, they're going to try to make you feel like you're in your own neighborhood, which is kind of what Riverfront feels like, which is just to the north at Confluent Park. Um, and they have all their renderings and stuff on what it's going to be like, but it's going to be Denver at Denver's best in downtown. And so here's what it's going to look like.

[3:31] There's going to be about 47% office space. About 6.6 million square feet of office space, 41% residential and about 5.8 million square feet of residential. Uh 5% hotels, 3 and 12% retail space. Uh then you got Meow Wolf, which is already a part of it. They're kind of grouping that together there, which if you've never been, like Meow Wolf is pretty incredible. Um 2 and a half% community/institutional at 350,000 ft. But this is where you can kind of see it break down. So this headwaters part, which is right next to Spear, is going to be their first chunk.

[4:05] Then they're going to work on the bend. Then they're going to work on the Banks, which is narrow little strip here that kind of passes under I25. And this is, you can kind of see Broncos Stadium. And we're not done talking about Broncos Stadium either in this video. Um, this is a wild I mean, this is like a dozen blocks of a downtown that they're going to be developing. And so this is a huge focus of it, which is on the river, uh, the South Plat River right there. And what they're going to do here is that they're spending about hund00 million on revitalizing the river, um, restoring its depth, digging it down, the flow, the habitat, and significantly reducing the flood risk here, which it doesn't really happen, but that's just part of the plan. Um, and just making it a huge part of access. You know, Confluent Park did a great job on their uh kind of river rafting and whitewater uh park there for kayaking, but you're going to have that part of the river extended uh cleaned up and just going to be an incredible spot to go hang out, relax, and give you much a much larger section than just the current Confluent Park to the north. And so if we go to Google Maps, just to give you an idea of where this is uh on a map you're used to looking at. So we've got I25 here. We have Kfax and then it's this stretch to the north where this is Eliches. Right here's the stadium. Here's a small stretch. Uh here's where the bulk of it going to be is where it says Elich Gardens right now. And there's parking lots which is right off of I25. I mean the access here is going to be phenomenal. on the other side of the river. Uh this is where you have the aquarium um and you have the children's museum. So not much is going to change on the other side of it uh as far as on the other side of the river, but this entire chunk is going to be changed. And here's Ballerina just to the south. Like you were in the heart of all of it. So what do you want to look for if you're potentially going to be, you know, moving close to this area? Well, it it's going to kind of be secluded from the rest of the city for right now. So, I don't think, you know, there's an opportunity to like buy property close to it because it's going to increase value. They're literally making an entire new chunk of the city. Uh, timewise, you know, this is going to be a 5 to 10 year plan minimally. You know, it might take 15 to 20 years to fully build this thing out, but it's going to be so massive that it's going to change our Denver skyline. And if you are confused about the Denver market and want to make sense of things a little bit more, just feel free reach out, call me, text me, or just get on my weekly email here, scan in this code, and you're going to get the most up-to-date information on the Denver market. And if that development wasn't big enough in downtown Denver, just to the south of it, connecting with it, and actually now they've partnered up, and I believe some of the ownership is the same, we have the Ball Arena development here, which is going to be 55 acres. So, we've got about 110 115 acres in one spot here that's getting fully redeveloped. And this area here just to the south is going to be the ballerina development.

River Activities & Map

[7:15] And so, they're going to be tearing that entire chunk of the city up as well and working with the riverfront part to make what's an even larger part of downtown. So, I I actually just can't believe that this is actually going to happen. And again, it's going to be a 10 to 20 year project, but this is going to be unbelievable for the entire part of town. So, if we look at their website, what's interesting is that because both of these developments are happening at the same time, they're actually going to be working together on roads, on trails, on uh bike routes, and stuff like that to actually make them seamless together.

[7:51] Often times what you have happen in cities is that a development like this happens and it's kind of made in its own little box and then it kind of feels awkward and you're kind of shoving it into a city somewhere um and there's no connectivity because the developer wants to make its own streets and stuff. Well, this is going to be incorporated seamlessly. These two projects are going to be working together here to make sure that it feels like its own place. This development is going to be focusing on open space. There's going to be 10 acres of open space here somehow. Uh five bridges, 10 to 12 million gross square feet of again office buildings, residential, commercial, uh retail space being built in this development by Ballerina. Ballerina is going to stay there and they're incorporating it together. So, this ought to be really, really interesting. Uh Ballerina is where the Nuggets play. Um and they're going to do a mile of bike lanes, right?

[8:46] sticking with the theme of Denver, uh, and incorporated into the River Mile. I can't wait to see what's going to happen here. This exit that you get off at on Spear, um, you know, it's not the most commonly used exit, uh, because when you get off there, you're really going to eliches. Other than that, if you're going to downtown, you usually pick another exit to get off at. Uh, and so I think the access here is going to be unbelievable and it's actually going to do great with traffic in downtown Denver, which already isn't bad. Um, and so I think accessibility here is going to be awesome. And again, if you're looking for what the opportunity is here, the opportunity is really just buying in kind of phase one of their development. Uh, if that's, you know, what you're looking to do and that's the lifestyle you're looking for. But other than that, there's not going to be much real estate that you can just buy around there. that is going to then you know improve naturally because of this massive development going up. Now if we shift our sights just a little bit north every year the National Western Stock Show is one of the biggest attractions here in Denver. And when I moved here I was like what are you guys talking about? Like National Western Stock Show?

National Western Stock Show

[9:52] What is the big deal? You know, I'm from Chicago originally, and so I've been a city boy my whole life. And once I moved out here, I realized like how much ranching country, farm country there is, and how big this country actually is. And part of that is this lifestyle of the West, right? Cowboys, uh, cattle, um, and they come right through downtown Denver. There is a parade of cattle that march right through downtown Denver still to this day that go to the National Western Stock Show. It is the largest stock show in the country. We attract people from all over the country with their pride steer. Um and they still buy and sell cattle here unbelievably. We have these stockards just north of downtown Denver. Now, if you've ever driven through this part of downtown Denver, uh it's pretty shabby.

[10:43] Uh these neighborhoods here, Globeville and Swansia, are you know, they're just not great. They're two of the top worst neighborhoods in Denver. We'll just say it that way without getting into all the crazy details. They all need some work, right? And so there's been a heavy revitalization happening to the stock show which sits right in the middle of it. It's basically this entire chunk here, okay, of town. Like it's again probably a hundred a couple hundred acres. And a few years ago, they started a redevelopment here of the stock shows to revitalize the entire area, parks, um, new buildings, knowing that every year for weeks, like the stock show goes on for what, three weeks, something like that. Um, it is a big deal. Uh, you know, they're building new hotels, new shopping centers, uh, of course, all new arenas, uh, new stockyards, and the amount of construction that's been going on there is actually unbelievable. Now this space unlike the other two that we just looked at Riverfront Ballerina is that there is actually an opportunity here for you know potential investment and that happens in the neighborhoods of Globeville and Swansia to the east and the west uh because as they revitalize that whole area these neighborhoods have been improving slowly but they have been improving and so you can buy houses here for 300s 400s and so if your idea is you know in the next 10 to 20 years you want a potential neighbor neighborhood where there's new builds that have happened uh that are selling for a million dollars plus. Like you might have to rent it out for a while and you might have to go through some slow growth, but eventually like this is one of the larger projects that has already been started and so it's going to be completed in the next 5 to 10 years. And so that's the opportunity here is to look in these two more inexpensive areas. And so if you can handle having tenants for a handful of years, that's where the real opportunity is going to lie in taking advantage of the new National Western Complex. Now, number four on our list [clears throat] is kind of an odd one because the location that it's in, like you've never been into this part of town. Again, super close to downtown Denver, just to the west of I25, just to the south of I7, and it's called Fox Park. And so, right now, there's pretty much just an RTD uh parking lot here.

[12:58] And then there's some warehouse space. When you're driving on the roads, like you would never think twice about this. You've got railroad tracks on one side, but you have this large kind of plot here that's really kind of underutilized. So, in come Fox Park, Denver. And again, it's going to be a massive development, 10, 20 year plan sort of deal. Uh, and this is what the master plan looks like. Huge park, mostly commercial space in Fox Park here. And this is where they're going to build a World Trade Center.

Master Plan Details

[13:34] Okay, so we're talking top tier companies uh that are going to be here in Fox Park. Again, location is unbelievable. And so here's the breakdown. It's going to be about 2 million square ft of office space, about 300,000 of retail, 20,000 groceries. We've got athletic clubs here, uh 3,400 apartment units, so fair amount there. We've got a hotel with 500 plus doors. Um, and then 49,000 ft² cultural, right?

[14:03] Theaters, things like that. Um, and this is what it's going to be. So, here's the the railroad tracks that we were looking at. Here's I25, and that's what we can see right in here. Um, big massive development. Again, dozens and dozens of building. And they're going for the typical Denver lifestyle, right? Liveable, walkable, bikable, um, all throughout. And just for the World Trade Center complex, it's going be 129,000 square ft of office space. 63,000 of creative office, uh 51,000 of manufacturing and tech fabrication space. That's really interesting. 17,000 ft² of, you know, food, beverage, retail stuff. Um 6,100 ft² of double height fitness facility. This is going to be a world-class building here in Denver. So what this is telling me if we take you know what's happening at Fox Park Riverfront and Ball Arena is that there is massive outside investment billions and billions and billions of dollars coming in for the future growth of Denver. Right? We're a a city of about 4 million people for the entire metro area. and to have investment like this so close to downtown Denver. They know that our uh density is not that high compared to Chicago, LA, New York, San Francisco. We still have a long ways to go. Even though people think it's crowded here and that the traffic sucks here and whatever it's just because you have no perspective. If you're from Washington DC, you know our traffic is nothing in comparison, right? If you're from New York, you know that we do not live on top of each other like they do there. Like you can still park on just about any street in the city. Not a thing in New York. If you're from Chicago, you understand that our metro area is not built up nearly as much as other places that have, you know, in the suburbs fourstory buildings with four different families living in them. We don't have that stuff here in Denver.

[16:01] So, we're being picked out on this world stage for massive, massive investment. And speaking of the world stage, because I'm so glad they're finally starting to do good since the sheriff has left town, number five, and this just came out a little bit ago, Burnham Yard, which is also known as the new Denver Broncos Stadium, which is owned by the Walton family of Walmart. Now, remember just a little bit ago how we were talking about Riverfront and Ball Arena right here?

Walton Development South

[16:35] Well, if we go a little bit south, we have a place that they're calling Burnham Yard. This is just south of Domo's, which, oh god, it's one of our favorite restaurants in town. Uh, beautiful. If you ever get a chance to go, like, I would highly recommend it. Uh, they blew up on social media a few years ago and the owner couldn't actually handle all the traffic, but it is an authentic Japanese place uh with just the most lovely gardens. Like, I mean, this is it. This is just incredible. Uh me and my wife went there for our first date. Uh we just went there a handful of weeks ago on an anniversary and it is lovely. Um but I digress. All right. Burnhamard just to the south of Domos, which I hope doesn't get affected by this, but it actually might. This is where the new Broncos Stadium is going to be. Now, this is so new that there aren't even any renderings of it, but locationwise, like we're just a few blocks south of where all the other development is going to be happening over in uh currently Eliches right now, you know, at the ball arena and the riverfront. And this is the current stadium here, and it's going to be moving over here. Now, the current stadium is only like 20 something years old. Uh, so I'm surprised that they're putting in a new stadium, but again, we're being singled out for massive new development here in the Denver area, and this is a part of it. The Waltons believe in Denver, uh, which I don't blame them. There's a lot of pros and good things about Denver that make it attractive to people all around the world. And this is all just factories currently. If you drove by it, it's a very unrecognizable area. Doesn't really have a feel other than kind of commercially. And so it's going to be this entire chunk here. I don't think they're going to the west of uh these railroad tracks here for the development, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be all the way up from 13th here all the way down to about 8th Avenue, maybe a little bit further south. It's going to be this entire chunk here. So what eight blocks north to south, about four, five blocks east to west. And it's not just going to be the stadium, right? Of course, they're going to have parking options there.

[18:36] They're going to have multiple other buildings. Massive new development. Now, their plan on this one is for a 5-year plan on this, which is fast. But if you have the money like the Walton's, I don't know, maybe that is completely possible. And, you know, accessibility is going to be off the charts here. You're right by 6th Avenue. You're right by I25. Easy to get here from just about anywhere. South Denver, North Denver, East, West, like it is going to be so centralized, uh, that they made a right call in their location. Um, now the opportunity lies here in the neighborhood east, Lincoln Park. Okay, there's Lincoln Park. Then we kind of got the Santa Fe South, Santa Fe Art District just a little bit south. But I think Lincoln Park is going to see the biggest adjustment. So when you have a stadium like this, just like Korsfield did a good 30 years ago, whenever that was built, is it revitalize the entire area. So in this chunk of town here, you're going to see a lot of these older rental properties get sold off to developers. We're going to see a lot more new builds go up. We're going to see a lot more small apartment buildings go up. We're potentially going to see a lot more commercial space with restaurants and bars and stuff like that go up. So, if you're looking for an opportunity here to invest again, you're going to have to probably have a rental for a little bit, but Lincoln Park is the place to be looking to potentially store some cash and to buy some property and to wait 5 to 10 years uh until the neighborhood has completely changed just like the Kors Field area did a good 30 years ago. Tons of investment going into Denver here. It's currently at about 15 billion between these projects. I bet you by the time it's said and done, it's almost doubled, right? That's what happens in construction costs. Uh this is the next 10 to 20 years of what Denver is going to be. The skyline is going to change. The neighborhoods around all these areas are going to change. Uh we're going to attract people from all over the world because of this.

Neighborhood Growth Potential

[20:31] And it's still, you know, part of the reason why I love Denver is that we are still moving forward. We're not digressing. uh we still have massive outside money coming in for these developments because they see something in Denver that they don't see in many cities throughout the country. And if you are considering moving here, you know, again, you can just feel free call, text me, be happy to, you know, talk about the craziness in our Denver market or you can scan this QR code and get on my weekly email. Um, but navigating the Denver market isn't so easy and there definitely are some areas, you know, that you should be looking at if you're thinking of moving here, which is why I put together this video on some of the best places that you can live around the Denver metro area.