Denver's Market Station Refinanced For $130M

Continuum Partners, the local developer of one of Denver’s newest mixed-use projects known as Market Station, refinanced the building to the tune of $130M, according to a media release from JLL’s Denver office.

JLL brokers Eric Tupler and William Haass led a team that secured the refinancing on behalf of Continuum and Clarion Partners, which worked together with Continuum on Market Station. 

Market Station is a 336K SF office, residential and retail building that took the place of a decommissioned bus terminal at the intersection of Market Street and the 16th Street pedestrian mall. The project takes up a full block and was completed in early 2021, one of a few downtown Denver buildings that delivered amid the pandemic uncertainty facing urban cores across the U.S.

“It has been gratifying to see the depth of market interest in the Market Station financing,” Continuum founder and CEO Mark Falcone said in the release. “Market Station is a landmark asset, which adds a significant new market driver into the heart of the LoDo neighborhood.”

The refinancing was completed with a 12-year, fixed-rate loan through a life company correspondent lender, according to the release.

Market Station includes 225 apartments split between two brands and about 126K SF of office, which is 70% leased, as well as 52K SF of ground-floor retail. In addition, the development includes 320 parking spaces and fronts the city’s busiest pedestrian corridor.

Although downtown Denver has experienced its share of setbacks in the years since the pandemic began, pockets of the city’s central business district are performing better than others. One of the more successful submarkets coming out of the pandemic is Lower Downtown, or LoDo, where Market Station is located. 

Buildings in this neighborhood tend to be viewed more favorably because they have better access to restaurants, shopping and other amenities than some of the buildings farther south on the 16th Street Mall. 

In addition, local brokers say that new buildings are performing better as leasing slowly returns to the market, with tenants seeking higher-quality spaces where they can provide their employees with a better office experience, providing an incentive to return to the office and using real estate as a lure for talent in a competitive hiring market.

At the time of its groundbreaking, Market Station represented one of the last infill opportunities along the mall and near Denver Union Station, which served as a development catalyst for the surrounding area after its redevelopment was completed in 2014.