‘There is so much demand’: Joblon plans Cherry Creek office project

This article first ran on BusinessDen.com, a BizWest news partner.

Matt Joblon is not sitting still.

Last week, the developer was issued a certificate of occupancy for the six-story building his firm BMC Investments has been building at 240 St. Paul St.

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Also last week, he submitted a development proposal to the city for a parking lot he owns two blocks away.

“There is so much demand for office in Cherry Creek North,” Joblon said. “It’s incredible.”

The latest proposal is for 235 Fillmore St., a 0.44-acre lot that Joblon purchased in 2019 for $12 million. The concept plan submitted calls for a seven-story structure with about 90,000 square feet of office space and 9,500 square feet of retail space. There would be two levels of underground parking.

Joblon — repped by Newmark brokers Peter Staab, Jamie Gard and Tom Lee — said he’s close to signing letters of intent for the whole building, “basically one tenant per floor.” He hopes to break ground in the first quarter of next year.

It’s a dramatic turnaround from the future Joblon envisioned in late April 2020, when he and other developers told BusinessDen they felt the coronavirus pandemic had forced the end of a development cycle.

“I was absolutely wrong about it,” Joblon said Tuesday. “I had no idea we would recover this fast. I was preparing for much worse.”

The pandemic has actually been something of a boon for Cherry Creek, according to Joblon, who has largely developed in the neighborhood.

“The amount of office tenants that are coming from downtown is remarkable,” he said.

Joblon attributed that in part to Cherry Creek’s smaller office buildings, which feature less shared space and can be more easily managed for COVID compliance. And then there are other differences between the two office districts, some of which have become exacerbated by the pandemic, like homelessness.

“Crime down there is an issue for a lot of people,” Joblon said of downtown.

“Cherry Creek has wider sidewalks and a great pedestrian experience,” he added.

The 240 St. Paul St. building that Joblon just completed is fully leased, and set to be anchored by gym chain Equinox. It broke ground last June.

Cherry Creek now has one major office project under construction. Denver-based Broe Real Estate Group broke ground on its eight-story project at 200 Clayton St. last week, saying it had tenants for 50 percent of the building’s office space.

Elsewhere in the city, Denver-based Nichols Partnership continues to build its five-story One Platte project, which broke ground in February 2020, just before the pandemic began. In RiNo, Schnitzer West broke ground on a 12-story project in the spring, but multiple other office projects that were originally expected to be started last year remain on hold.