How Disruption Is Good For The Denver Market

Since when is disruption a good thing? When it makes for a greener, more efficient, more profitable industry. Tech and other forces are disrupting the Denver commercial real estate market, the speakers at our Denver Disruption event agreed, and while there are growing pains, on the whole the industry's better for it.

One of the primary disruptions is where work gets done, with a blurring of the work and home environments, our speakers explained. Technology has allowed a workplace that accommodates aspects of home and vice versa. Successful office space acknowledges this reality, and understands it's about giving employees choice about where to be more productive—in open space, or with a connection to the outdoors, or in more traditional workspace—and gives them amenities as well.

Snapped: OZ Architecture principal Rick Petersen, who also moderated, Forum development director Kevin Foltz and Apto CEO Tanner McGraw.

There are ways of measuring how effective space is, our speakers noted. Asking employees is one way, though answers tend to be subjective. More objective are measurements of productivity. The goal in office design is to blend collaborative space with other kinds of space, aiming for happier users and thus higher productivity.

Here's another take on disruption from our speakers: Denver itself is a disruptor. Its space can be every bit as good as in San Francisco, say, but it's a lot less expensive, as is the cost of living. That combination is going to lead to some disruption for higher-priced markets.

DLR Group associate Casey Kent, FORMATIV CEO Sean Campbell and NAVA president Brian Levitt.

One panel focused on Peña Station NEXT, a sizable development that's distinctive in more ways than one. It's a massive public-private partnership encompassing 400 acres at Peña Station on the A Line, and owned by four entities, including DIA. Planning for it has taken years, including the detailed study of development near comparable airports, with an emphasis on the major employers who located near those airports. Panasonic is putting its US sales and engineering hub at Peña Station NEXT.

Snapped: DIA CEO Kim Day and Panasonic VP Jarrett Wendt.

With a solar energy collection and battery storage system, network of programmable LED street lights and video analytics technology, Peña will be one of the most sustainable developments in the country. But that wasn't the only reason Panasonic was interested, our speakers said. The location's connection to transit on the new A Line was absolutely vital in the company's site selection process, not only because can you take a train to the airport (office-to-airport), but you can reach the rest of the world from DIA (office-to-globe).

Here's Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck shareholder Carolynne White, who moderated, L.C. Fulenwider Inc president Cal Fulenwider III, and City of Denver city-wide manager TOD Chris Nevitt.