And why? Let’s look at Society Denver, which was written about in BusinessDen, the Denver Business Journal, Colorado Politics, and Mile High CRE this week.
Those of us who wanted to save that Brutalist building, the moneyed people made things happen to find a way to scrape it, and the Denver City Council had no interest in it. (Big surprise.)
At some point we will not have the Denver7 Building, though that will be around while Channel 7 finds a new place to work elsewhere.
But let’s think about Society Denver. The Property Markets Group (PMG) and the Greybrook Realty Partners purchased the site for $35 million. Greybrook is a “Toronto-based private equity and asset management firm,” according to news reports. And the best thing: We will have a 12-story apartment building because there are never enough 12-story apartment buildings. This one will have 600 apartments. (I know this will take time, but I can hardly wait to see the rent schedules.)
PMG has already come up with “Society” names elsewhere. But Denver on that land and Speer Boulevard and Lincoln Street will be the first one with that kind of name; at least they got rid of the “X” when PMG was roaming around in Denver. (It was referring to X Social Communities.)
Dennis Huspeni, a reporter at The Denver Gazette posted on Colorado Politics, added these paragraphs:
“It’s PMG’s first multifamily development in Colorado under its national ‘Society Living’ portfolio – catering to renters’ ‘insatiable demand for reasonably priced rental communities close to urban centers.’
“In addition to traditional one- and two-bedroom apartments, the new development will offer ‘co-living’ or ‘rent-by-bedroom’ units. Other amenities include 14,000-square feet of commercial/retail space, co-working spaces, a gym and communal kitchens.”
At some point the concept of an SRO – also known as a single room occupancy – would have stayed around in Denver because of the low rents. But in fabulously expensive Denver, now has society in its name, though they proclaim they will be “reasonably priced rental communities.”
No hard feelings, but the word “society” has many definitions, as noted by Merriam-Webster. It was way down in the list of this definition of society: “a part of the community that sets itself apart as a leisure class and that regards itself as the arbiter of fashion and manners.” No more needs to be said. Unfortunately, there were no renderings, but we can still hang on to the Denver7 Building… for now.
There are four links below, all dealing with the concept of society… and money:
Chandler in Denver 