LoDo parking lot eyed for Unico development hits market instead

This story first appeared on BusinessDen.com, a BizWest news partner.

Unico’s parking lot at 1420 Wynkoop St., as well as the adjacent brick office building at 1430 Wynkoop St., is listed for sale.

A development firm that considered building an eight-story project at the edge of LoDo is looking to sell the property instead.

Seattle-based Unico Properties has hired JLL to market 1420 Wynkoop St., an approximately 0.6-acre parking lot that is adjacent to the Cherry Creek bike and pedestrian paths, with frontage on both Wynkoop and Wazee streets.

Unico planned for years to develop the parking lot. The company submitted plans to the Lower Downtown Design Review Board in 2016, then battled a lawsuit filed by nearby condominium associations and the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association, according to court records. Unico went back before the design board in 2020 after the litigation wrapped up, proposing to build a mix of office and residential space.

Two years later, however, Unico is no longer planning to undertake construction itself.

“Unico has always believed in the opportunity this site brings to deliver a much-needed development on a key infill site along the 5280 Trail and in the heart of Lower Downtown,” Unico Senior Asset Manager Kris Hansen said in a statement. “We have partnered with JLL to market the development site for sale and we look forward to seeing the property’s unique potential unfold in the future.”

A listing for the property on JLL’s website as of Tuesday also included the adjacent four-story office building at 1430 Wynkoop St. as part of the offering. But Hansen said the company no longer plans to sell that.

“We will retain ownership of the adjacent office property and remain committed to the Denver market and the Lower Downtown neighborhood,” he said.

JLL’s marketing materials do not list a price. The 44,045-square-foot office building is partially leased through November to law firm Messner Reeves, according to the listing.

Unico owns a number of buildings in and around Denver. In recent months, the firm has sold the Cherry Cricket property in Cherry Creek and purchased two office properties in LoDo only to sell one of them months later.

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