Development is about change.
Before new apartments and hotels and offices can go up, the structures they’re replacing must come down.
Here are some of the notable local buildings that were demolished in 2025:
Royal Palace Motel
The 5-story Royal Palace Motel at 1565 N. Colorado Blvd. in Denver was demolished starting in May by Chicago-based Laramar Group, which is replacing it with a 155-unit apartment building.
The yellow-and-turquoise Royal Palace was built in 1969, at the tail end of the golden era of motels along nearby Colfax Avenue. It hung on for decades before closing in 2013.
Carmen Court
The six-unit condominium building at 900 E. First Ave. in Denver, just off Speer Boulevard, was demolished in the middle of the year by Houston-based Hines.
Hines subsequently sold the site in October to Denver-based NexCore Group, which is building a senior living facility.
Carmen Court gained prominence in 2020, when Hines, then under contract to buy the property, signaled it wanted to demolish the building. Neighbors put up “Save Carmen Court” signs and initially asked Denver to name it a city landmark, only to withdraw the request when it appeared they didn’t have the necessary City Council support.
Bonnie Brae Tavern
The former Bonnie Brae Tavern building at 470 S. University Blvd. in Denver was demolished in the spring by Alpine Investments and Revesco Properties.
The two Denver development firms are building an Akin-branded apartment complex at the site.
Bonnie Brae Tavern operated for nearly 90 years before closing in June 2022.
Cherry Creek Sears
The 150,000-square-foot former Sears store at 2375 E. First Ave. in Denver was demolished starting in June by Denver-based BMC Investments.
It’s part of the firm’s redevelopment of the Clayton Lane project in Cherry Creek, which is being rebranded Cherry Lane. An adjacent Crate & Barrel store was also demolished.
The Sears store, which closed in 2015, will be replaced with a 9-story apartment building. A 6-story office building will go where Crate & Barrel stood.
TTEC building
The former TTEC headquarters building at 9197 S. Peoria St. in Douglas County was demolished over the summer.
The 270,000-square-foot circular building was constructed in 1999 and purchased in the early 2000s by TTEC, a call center operator known at the time as TeleTech Holdings.
TTEC relocated to a smaller space in Greenwood Village in 2023, and in November 2024 sold its former headquarters to hospital operator CommonSpirit Health, which plans to construct a medical campus at the site.
Denver7
The former Denver7 building at 123 Speer Blvd. in Denver, on the corner of Speer and Lincoln Street, was demolished throughout the late summer and fall by Property Markets Group.
Denver7, an ABC affiliate with the call sign KMGH began operating in the 5-story octagonal office building in 1969. The station’s parent company sold the site to PMG in 2021. Denver7 relocated to RiNo in 2024.
PMG plans to build an 11-story, 480-unit apartment complex on the site.
Centennial office building
The office building at 9201 E. Dry Creek Road in Centennial was demolished starting in September by Arapahoe County-based Consolidated Investment Group, which plans to build apartments at the site.
The 125,000-square-foot building erected in 2001 was once the headquarters of Arrow Electronics, which is still headquartered across the street. The demolition illustrated the declining demand for office space.
CIG had explored the possibility of converting the building into apartments before deciding it made more sense to just start over.
“It was a tough decision,” CIG Chief Operating Officer Dan Velazquez told BusinessDen in September. “Our founder and CEO (David Merage) hated to see a less-than-25-year-old building come down.”
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