Capping off a year of positive momentum, the Downtown Denver Partnership reports that downtown’s pedestrian activity reached 99% of December 2019 levels in December 2025, marking a nine-percentage-point increase compared to December 2024. This strong performance wraps up a transformative year that saw the reopening of 16th Street and the adoption of the new Downtown Area Plan.
December’s robust performance can be attributed to extensive holiday programming and unusually warm weather throughout the month. In 2025, downtown’s average recovery rate reached 90%, two-percentage points higher than 2024 and representing an average of 3,400 more daily visits. 16th Street total visits increased 14% year-over-year, with individual visits up 9% from 2024 to 2025.
The average return-to-office rate in 2025 was 66%, up three-percentage-points from 2024. The office market ended 2025 with a 29% vacancy rate on a flat trend line. While the market saw 700,000 square feet of negative net absorption, downtown recorded 1.7 million square feet of leasing activity across the core, with an average lease term of six years…