When Walter Isenberg moved to Denver in the 1980s to start Sage Hospitality Group, he read a Wall Street Journal article claiming Denver had the lowest office rents in the world.
“Not just the United States,” Isenberg told The Colorado Sun. “It was a crazy article, but you know, I lived downtown and there were 500 residents in downtown Denver. Monday through Friday, from 9-to-5, it was busy. And then on the weekends, you could shoot a can down the street and you wouldn’t hit anybody.”
In 1984, Denver did have the nation’s highest office vacancy rate, The Rocky Mountain News reported (the WSJ story couldn’t be found). It was pretty bad. Blame the overbuilt office market and an energy bust with oil companies abandoning the city.
“So, this group of business leaders — (homebuilder) Larry Mizel started it — but they came together and just said, ‘Hey, we can’t allow this to happen. This is our home,’” Isenberg said. “We love this place and we need to bring everybody together and really make an effort to change the perception. And you can’t change the perception without changing the reality. You’ve got to do both.”…