Amid economic turmoil, Denver’s appeal grows

He’s a true believer

Milton is no mere civic booster but a committed devotee, as he explained: “As a matter of fact, I just recently relocated,” he said. “I grew up here, but I moved away, and I brought my wife here, I don’t know – 10, 11 years ago. The lifestyle, the outdoors, the beauty, drew her so much that she said every year from that moment, we have to figure out a way to get to Denver. So we relocated in 2020. And I think that draw to quality of life – particularly if there was something about the pandemic that was positive – it was the recognition for folks to be able to move and be where they wanted to be so that they could be in places that were outdoors, places that were thoughtful and intentional about quality of life.”

Moderator Spencer Levy noted the growing number of environmentally conscious construction that has only added to the city’s appeal at a time of greater focus on the environment. “If I haven’t given enough love to Denver, let me give you one more little piece of love here,” he said. “Because about three years ago, I wrote a piece, or I was involved in writing a piece, called CBRE’s Green Building Adoption Index, and the number one city for office for greenest buildings in terms of LEED and Energy Star and stuff was Chicago and Washington, DC. But the number one city for multifamily was Denver, but it was still a relatively small percentage of about 7%, which is shockingly small when you see offices like 70% — including the building that we’re sitting in right now.”

How big is green a part of the Denver growth story?

Krueger sees the green focus as part and parcel of its growing appeal. “I like to think of Denver as having this overarching atmosphere that’s this unique, pro-business, environmentally focused place that sort of makes you feel like you’re combining Texas and California,” she said. “And I think that this is a great way to articulate how we kind of come together.”

But it wasn’t easy becoming green, Krueger added. Rather, the status has come along after thoughtful effort among various stakeholders: “In 2017, the business community and the environmentalists worked together for 18 months to develop Denver’s Green Building ordinance,” she said. “And what it put in place is all buildings over 25,000 square feet have a number of choices to advance their green initiatives.”