Economy & Economic Development  August 19, 2020

Report: 43% of Boulder, Broomfield office space leased out to tech

Note: this story previously said in the second paragraph that there was an estimated 13.1 million square feet of occupied office space in the Denver metro. The correct figure is 13.4 million square feet.

A new report from CBRE Group’s Denver office estimates technology companies occupy almost 5.9 million square feet of office space in Boulder and Broomfield counties, making it the most dense areas for tech companies in the state.

The report estimates the 5.9 million-square-foot figure encompasses 43% of those two counties’ occupied office space, compared to an estimated 13.4 million square feet in the Denver metro area that accounts for 13% of that area’s occupied space.

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The city of Boulder itself is the largest home of tech space, with just under 2.5 million square feet, followed by Broomfield, Longmont, Westminster, Louisville and Lafayette.

The report found Boulder has a larger cluster of companies searching for small to mid-size spaces, while companies needing larger footprints have trended toward Broomfield.

An additional estimated 1.4 million square feet in the Boulder and Broomfield area is also leased by tech companies but are classified as industrial or flex spaces.

Northern Colorado’s tech companies occupied about 3.3 million square feet in space, with 83% of that based in flex and industrial spaces compared to traditional offices as the larger availability of land in the area lends itself to hardware production

Fort Collins is the dominant hub for tech in the area, with 84% of the occupied tech space in the region centered there. About 10% of that office space is in Loveland, with Windsor, Firestone and Greeley filling out the remainder.

CBRE attributes those increases to a broader growth in the tech sector from Northern Colorado down to Colorado Springs, estimating a 57% increase in jobs in the industry from 2010 to the end of 2019.

“Major tenants from coastal markets are fond of Colorado and have established many satellite offices in the area, rapidly growing the number of people working in the industry, particularly in the software and hardware manufacturing sectors,” the report states.

That demand has also sent rents soaring. CBRE found that asking rents for office space increased 41% from 2012 to 2020 in the Boulder Valley, which is being filled more often by tech companies with large amounts of cash on hand.

The vast majority of the state’s tech-leased space is occupied by hardware manufacturers and software developers, taking up 32% and 30% of the state’s 21.4 million square feet of tech-related office space, respectively.

Although the prior decade’s growth is likely to be hampered by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for more employees to continue working from home once the crisis ends, CBRE’s report said the Boulder and Broomfield-area market has been slow to show signs of heavy subleasing.

The firm estimates about 370,000 square feet of space is available for sublease at the moment, compared to highs of about 500,000 square feet in 2017 and 2018.

“Strong fundamentals in the preceding decade, plus a tenant roster that includes several of the tech industry’s biggest names, position the submarket well to withstand and recover from downturns,” the report said.

© 2020 BizWest Media LLC

Note: this story previously said in the second paragraph that there was an estimated 13.1 million square feet of occupied office space in the Denver metro. The correct figure is 13.4 million square feet.

A new report from CBRE Group’s Denver office estimates technology companies occupy almost 5.9 million square feet of office space in Boulder and Broomfield counties, making it the most dense areas for tech companies in the state.

The report estimates the 5.9 million-square-foot figure encompasses 43% of those two counties’ occupied office space, compared to an estimated 13.4 million square feet in the Denver…

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