ECONOMY
Ken Schroeppel, denverinfill.com
Downtown Multifamily Update
A
total of 6,273 multifamily residential
units have been completed within a 1.5
mile radius of the iconic D&F Tower
since January 2010. The historic tower’s
location at 16th and Arapahoe serves as a good
geographic central point to Downtown Denver.
Another 4,556 units are currently under construction.
Assuming most of the units under construction
are completed within the next year and a half, 10,829
residential units will have been added to the Downtown residential market from 2010-2016, with the
vast majority of those (10,609) from 2012-2016. This
represents an average of approximately 1,550 units
per year (2010-2016) or 2,121 units per year (20122016). About 96% of the total are rental units.
Assuming an average of 1.5 persons per household
(typical for Downtown-area neighborhoods from
The Colorado State Demographer’s forecast for
the 2010 Census), the 6,273 multifamily residential
Denver’s 2015 population is 676,282, or an increase
units completed in the Downtown area since 2010
of about 72,000 people since 2010. The State Derepresent housing supply for approximately 9,400
mographer’s data also show that 64% of Denver’s
people. This 9,400 figure is 20% of the 46,000 numrecent population growth has been as a result of net
ber discussed above. Does it seem reasonable that
migration (36% from natural increases), and that the
Downtown might capture 20% (1 in 5) of these
people migrating here are overwhelmingly in the
46,000 new Denver residents? If yes, then we’re not
20-34 age range. Applying the 64% net migration
overbuilding. If no, then maybe we are.
rate to the 72,000 total 2010-2015 population inOf course, it’s not really that simple. There are
crease means that about 46,000 additional people
moved to the city of Denver (presumably needing dozens of other factors involved and my number
housing) during roughly the same time period cov- crunching above is really just a quick, superficial stab
ered in our Multifamily Residential Projects exhibit at putting these Downtown housing numbers into
above. What percentage of those 46,000 newcomers perspective from just one angle. But the anecdotal
want to (or can afford to) live in the Downtown area? evidence seems to suggest that all these new Downnumbers to think about that question.
There are 1,507
proposed units if
you count only
those proposed developments that I
have already profiled on my blog at
Denverinfill.com.
However, there are
many additional
developments “in
the pipeline” that
we have not yet
profiled. These
projects range from
those that stand a
good chance of
happening (but, for
various reasons, we
haven’t yet covered
on the blog) to
those that are at the
rumor stage and/or
are very early in the
development process—and everything in between.
Based on our assessment, these “in
the pipeline” projects total approximately 4,000 units.
People ask me
all the time if I
think we are overbuilding housing in
the Downtown area.
Let’s crunch a few
24 | TRENDS • JANUARY 2016
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