Denver-based developer breaks ground on Milwaukee Place office building in Cherry Creek

Denver’s hottest office market has another new building on the way, although groundbreaking came later than expected.

Denver-based BMC Investments, led by CEO Matt Joblon, is breaking ground on a seven-story, 94,000-square-foot office building on a 0.43-acre site at 242 Milwaukee St. in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood.

Brue Baukol Capital Partners is a partner in the deal.

The building will have 10,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a showroom for TileBar, according to BMC. The tile and bath brand currently has three showrooms between New York and Washington, D.C., per its website.

Back in 2022, when he submitted plans for the building, Joblon hoped to have it done by the end of last year.

“It took us longer than we hoped to see enough leases in place to make us feel comfortable,” he told BusinessDen Wednesday.

Cherry Creek is a bright spot in an otherwise moribund office sector locally. The submarket was 13.4% vacant at the end of the second quarter counting sublease space, according to CBRE. That compares to 36.8% in downtown Denver and 27.8% in the metro area.

Joblon, who is Cherry Creek’s most prolific developer, said Milwaukee Place is about 65% leased — lower than usual for his groundbreakings.

“The three other buildings we built we were able to 100% pre-lease them much faster than it took us to get to 65% here,” he said.

Joblon doesn’t necessarily see it as a sign of demand in Cherry Creek softening. Things have picked up in recent weeks with the news that construction would be starting, he said, and he now has more letters of intent for space than actual remaining space.

“There was so much uncertainty on a macro level … but now it seems people are re-engaged in a much more energetic and aggressive manner,” he said.