Loft Project Pitched for Tech Center

DENVER-Local developer David Friedman plans a 122-unit, $25-million loft project in the heart of the Denver Technological Center, the metro area’s premier office park. Friedman already has pre-sold 80 of the units in the project, mostly to young professionals, many of whom work in the nearby 9-million-sf Tech Center.

Units in the Village Lofts are priced from the $150,000s to the $300,000s. That makes them the most affordable new product in the Tech Center, Friedman says.

The four-acre site where he will build his Village Lofts projects is zoned to handle offices, housing or retail, Friedman tells GlobeSt.com.

”It can handle anything,” Friedman says. ”Peter Culshaw (president of the Tech Center) is a big supporter of this project. He really wants to bring housing in all price ranges to the Tech Center.”

With new restaurants and retailers in the Tech Center, it has become much more than just an office park, Friedman says.

”They have the type of amenities that you used to have to go to LoDo or Cherry Creek to find,” he tells GlobeSt.com. ”Now, the Tech Center is much more of a destination.”

Downtown developer Charlie Woolley, a former partner with Friedman, says he hasn’t totally familiarized himself with Village Lofts, but he likes the concept.

”Every real estate conference or gathering of real estate people pushes the idea of New Urbanism or smart growth,” Woolley tells GlobeSt.com. ”This is a perfect example of that. It makes sense to provide high-density housing near high-density office buildings.”

While the units will have a minimum of walls — and optional walls — to bring the loft concept to the Tech Center, Friedman also will offer typical suburban amenities, such as a swimming pool and health club at the Village Lofts.