Spec Is On The Table
Could Toronto office developer First Gulf Corp go spec at its newly announced Lodo tower? (And what will come first: that or a sequel to Gravity?)
We spoke with First Gulf Corp president and COO John MacNeil on his company's plans for 1401 Lawrence St, on the edge of LoDo at 14th. With the help of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Jeff Castleton, John says First Gulf would like to pre-lease a portion of the tower to move forward. "We're actually talking to some tenants," he says. But that doesn't have to be the case as First Gulf could finance the tower 100% spec. "We are undecided on that particular point."
With vacancies headed down and rents going up, John feels Denver is ready for office. What about multifamily? "I think that ship may have left the harbor. I think right now there's some digestion [of multifamily] that has to happen in the Denver market place before our group would move forward with residential." John wouldn't totally abandon the idea of multifamily, but says it's "on the back burner. What I would like this to be is the first of many projects in the Denver area for First Gulf."
