Denver Tech Center, Centennial, and Greenwood Village: What’s the Hype?

"John Wilkinson (00:02)
Hey everybody, welcome to Living Colorado's Getting Real Estate podcast. I'm John Wilkinson. This is Kenda Ruck And we are here at the Village Workspace in the Denver Tech Center, DTC, recording our podcast today and excited to talk about the Denver Tech Center and the surrounding neighborhoods. Yeah, I Denver Tech Center, everybody calls it the DTC. And I remember when we first moved here, somebody had mentioned something about the DTC this, the DTC that, and I'm like, John.

I don't want to look silly, but what is the DTC? Can you please help me? So tell everybody what you told me.

DTC Denver Tech Center was started as in the seventies as kind of this alternative to downtown Denver corporate living, And now it's kind of this mixed use community, has townhomes, a bunch of things. It's part of Centennial, Greenwood Village, and also part of Arapaho County. So it's kind of like built into this kind of living working environment. Yeah, when I was driving in, I was

just looking around because it's really my first time out here. I've been to Centennial but not to D T C and I was looking around and there's all these big work buildings, but it's not like what we experience with downtown Denver with the tall high rises. Right. It's a little bit different. And I also noticed that s there's a lot of restaurants and they're putting like also condos in this area too. So it's

A pretty cool area. Yeah, it really is. And Kimpton has a hotel right here that has an amazing rooftop bar. has you know obviously faces west. Everyone wants to see the mountains. you know, bad side is west so that when it's hot outside, you know, being up there is a little hot, but real hot. But you can be inside, still get great views. But they're building all of these great things. there's there's new apartment communities as well, obviously making it a great blinding spot for people who are relocating.

to Denver, not sure where they want to live potentially, but yeah, there's a lot of growth happening here for sure. When we first were talking about moving here, you know, having never been to Denver before, we talked a lot about should we rent or should we just go ahead and buy. Right. And I know that's a big question for a lot of people. We ultimately decided to buy, but this DTC area has op opportunities for both.

And what do you think about the rent versus buy question? Yeah, that's a great question. A lot of people when you're moving to a new area, you don't you're not sure where to move. I've talked to people who are actually moving to Austin from Denver and they asked me, you know, where where should I live? And you give them all of the insight that you can, but it really is a personal decision. When we moved to Denver, we looked at, you know, downtown living, we looked you near near DTC.

just to see kind of where we wanted to be. Ultimately, we w knew we wanted to be near East High, because Hayden, our son, was gonna g go to school there. And that was a big push. Denver is a choice in you can kind of choose to go to whatever school you want, but there's a wait list. And so in order to be for sure in a school, you're kind of confined by that. So I guess it's a it really is a personal choice. If you have kids, you know that school is gonna drive a big part of that. But if you don't, you're moving here, either you're downsizing, you're single, or you're you're married, no kids.

You know, renting is a good option because you kind of get a feel for the different areas. And as we've talked about in previous episodes, you know, certain neighborhoods have certain vibes. Right. Yep. And you've got to know which one fits you. Right. Because they're very different. Very different. And I think DTC is probably one of the most unique places that I have been to. They're all very unique, but this place is so unique because it it brings a lot of

professional people in. So I think what we're seeing when we did our research was we're seeing a lot of medical personnel, a lot of tech people. So people who are in tech, this is like, do you think it's kind of like the Silicon Valley Yeah, of Denver. Of Denver? Probably. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's d that's definitely a focus for sure. And I think too, you know, people moving from out of town or different places, you know, if they they're looking kind of for more of that

suburban feel but close enough to downtown. You know, talking about you know food and restaurants and things like that, you know, DTC has, you know, a lot of the nationally recognized restaurants like, Del Frisco's Grill, Eddie V's, which was actually started in Austin, great restaurant, and Ocean Prime. Those are like great steakhouses that are can be found in other major cities. And then obviously Shanahan's, you the coach, former coach of the Denver Broncos.

they all have their unique vibe. but it's a great addition to the area if you want something close and you have great restaurants, you have great food, great entertainment, you know, that's a great part of DTC. I noticed when I was reading a little bit about DTC that the restaurants that they have here are really starting to follow a lot of the dining trends that we're seeing in de in Denver as well, which is very advanced dining trends. And they're not quite

all the way there was what I was reading, but they do offer some opportunities for some really cool dining. But if you want something super trendy, you just jump in your car and you go to Denver, right? Because it's how it's like 11 miles from here. It's not it's not far. Or the light rail. I or the light rail. Hop on the light rail. There's three stations here in DTC to get you to Denver or really anywhere in the metro area. Union Station's great they've got you know great restaurants there. You know there's View House here which is

You know, next to Coors Field as well, but here it's a little bit more it's a little more upscale, I guess, but has you know great, you know, it's kind of like a a a very casual eatery, amazing views. Del Frisco's grill, my favorite thing at Del Frisco's Grill are their slightly dirty martinis. Ooh, so good. And their appetizers are great. They have this this basically a flatbread pizza and it's on the appetizer menu, it's not expensive.

But it's good enough for one person. Yeah. So it's a great cheap way to get into Del Frisco's Grill. Enjoy a great martini and and have a good I don't know if you could say it's a cheap way, but it's a little bit cheap way than getting a steak Right, exactly. Exactly. one thing you just mentioned was the light rail. Yep. And you know, I live out in the boonies. I don't have access to that kind of transit. but I think that's one of the benefits of DTC is you can just

They're selling it as a walkable town. I don't know that I would say it's walkable. Sure. I think you still have to have a car. But you can jump on the light rail. You can get to the Denver Broncos, the stadium to watch football, baseball, ball arena. You can get yep. You can get into downtown pretty easily from the light rail here. Yeah. That's a big benefit. Yeah, I think it's car optional, right? So like I would say you definitely need a car, but there are options

Here in D T C, especially around, you know, where the Kimpton Hotel was built, there's a lot of like kind of mixed use apartments and then lower you know, retail coffee shops, you know, nail salons, et cetera. So in that environment it's very walkable. But if you want to get to like Coors Field, right, or Mile High Stadium, then getting on a train at Arapahoe station here from D T C there to Union Station is super easy. So easy. And then you just walk.

coursefield and watch the Rockies. Right. That's fun, which we both have experience with. Yes, yes, yes. Not the light rail. I haven't tried the light rail yet. we were gonna try it the last game, but it's just not it just for us doesn't make sense coming from Littleton because if we could just jump on somewhere, but we all already have to drive halfway into downtown. So it just didn't work for us. But I would like to try yeah the light rail at some point. I know you said Joel tried it, so that's pretty, pretty fun.

The other thing is if you live here, are there fun things to do? And I know when I was driving in, I saw the giant nets. the golf. What is it? Top Golf Top Golf Yeah. Yeah, Top Golf is is great. Obviously it's a nationally known kind of pastime, you know, for people. we went to Top Golf, I think it was maybe in March, and we had one of these freak snowstorms that came in and

Hayden was off of school and we're like, let's go. And so we went to top golf, which is snow, you know, outside you're covered and it's got heat. You know, but it was so fun to sit there and and you know have some food, some drinks and and hit some golf night. What a great memory. That was a very Denver thing to do. Yes, it was a very and I'm sure you were not alone. Maybe you were. I don't know. It was pretty packed up. Yeah, that's pretty fun. I mean, did not deter us. That's a great experience. And I know there's a giant

bowling alley here too. It's like fifty five thousand square feet of like games and bowling. So do you know any have you been there yet? Yeah, so I've not it's Pindustry, I've not been there yet. But yeah, it's definitely entertainment venue in this area. and obviously it appeals to the happy hour crowd, obviously you know, like if there's like the corporate stuff, but also friends, family that that come to town or you want to you know entertain folks.

it's an easy thing to do. and and it's really just a resident-facing entertainment district for for people to experience here in the DTC area, which is really cool to have. Can you help me understand like how Centennial and Greenwood Village and DTC is Centennial and Greenwood Village part of the DTC or is it adjacent? Yeah, great question. So DTC is part of

Centennial, Greenwood Village, and really unincorporated Arapahoe County. Okay. it ex it's kind of expands into all of those areas. And with that, you can obviously l choose to live in like the landmark, which is a condo development here in DTC. but then you have choices like Greenwood Village, you know, Centennial, and all of them have different price points. Okay. it just depends on kind of what you know people are looking for, obviously what budgets, you know, they are, but if they wanna

If they have a job here in the area, they want to live close but not in DTC, Centennial Greenwood Village are great options for them to choose from. And there's you know obviously differences in those price points. And the landmark condominiums, do you have any idea what the prices are? So landmark is gonna be very so you can look between five hundred thousand and up. Okay. but you know those are gonna be for a smaller condom. Right and little studio or one bedroom. Yeah, yeah.

If you had a $700,000 budget, could you afford DTC? Yes. Yeah. Less square footage for sure. obviously you get a better walkability score in DTC. It's close to light rail. you could also get a townhome in Centennial. you get more space, yard for the money, but it's still, you know, a reasonable commute into DTC. And then, you know, the trade-off, I guess, between all of that is gonna be.

walkability versus price per square foot. And you really have to like we do when we work with buyers is figuring out what are their priorities. Right. Right. And you know, you've got this budget, you know, whatever kind of leeway they have on it. And it just depends on kind of what their priorities are. Now Greenwood Village, you we're good we were looking at prices the other day and we're gonna find a much higher price point in Greenwood Village. and then Centennial, I think you're gonna get

you know, bigger yards a little bit and more price per square foot in Centennial than you would in Greenwood Village is just a a more high end community. Is that my understanding about that? Yeah, because you know, Greenwood Vill Village is like moving from, you know, Park Hill or North Yeah, Park Hill to Cherry Creek. Right. So the price points, you know, definitely higher in in Cherry Creek.

Cherry Creek. you know, I think it's it's median price in Greenwood is like one point six million. Okay. but you have strong appreciation year over year. Okay. Larger lots. It's kind of like, you know, like the bigger lots, bigger homes, you know, more space to kind of to spread. whereas Centennial is like where you've been you're moving up, but you're priced out of Greenwood Village. You still have a great

lifestyle but it's just gonna be a little different. Right. It's it's a little smaller lot than Greenwood Village. Homes are a little bit smaller, price per square foot is less than than Greenwood Village. But yeah and then also in Centennial it you still have decent proximity to downtown Denver, right? Because better than Littleton. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, Centennial, you know, like so there's lifetime s lifetime fitness in Centennial is huge. You've got

Not only the fitness facility and and for those that know Lifetime it's it's big, right? They have big gyms, pools, et cetera. But in Centennial they also have a tennis academy or tennis section. I think they have twelve indoor courts and twelve outdoor courts. Wow. Yeah, it's it's big. But Billy will go from on Thursdays, you know, from our house and it's a twenty five minute drive. Okay. Down, so it's not terrible. You know, it's depends on I twenty five traffic to hit, you know, because indoor courts are are

hard to get into. Yeah. Yeah, in Denver. obviously 'cause the weather it's summer doesn't really matter, but Well it's either hot in the summer or it's super cold in the winter or it's windy in the spring. So Right. Totally, totally. Yeah, so I think it's it's just you know, Centennial's definitely easy to get to. I mean listen, Denver is big but it's not huge. Right. It just depends on the traffic. 'Cause I we've done it's Colorado's growing. Yeah. you know, and and traffic is is part of that, just like it was in Austin and Cabo and

And everywhere. It's a it's a the price you have to pay for growth for sure. the other thing I want to mention about Centennial and Greenwood Village is I am a huge Broncos fan. Now I wasn't until I moved here, but now I'm all in for the Broncos, you know. We went to a bunch of games and it was just so fun. And I think it's a great way to form that connection and those that grounding and those roots to be able to get in and cheer for the sports team. Yeah.

So, but the other thing that I noticed when I was driving through Centennial is Centennial is the home of the Denver Broncos gigantic sports facility, the year-round facility. And they have indoor stadiums, they have an outdoor stadium for practice, practice field. And and if you live in Centennial, you can just like go to the the Broncos training camp and just kind of watch them, sit in the stands and watch them.

work and a lot of the Denver Broncos players actually live in Greenwood Village because it's so close to the training facility. Did not know that. Yeah, that's kinda fun, right? Yeah. That's great. Yeah. So if you live in Greenwood Village, you might be living next door to, you know, one of the Denver Broncos. Nice. Players or coaches. Free tickets, maybe. There you go. Just to like make make yourself friends and get in there and get yourself some free free tickets. So yeah I thought that was kinda cool. Yeah, that is really cool. You know, that's one of the things I think that

I love too is just Denver feels very community focused, right? And it does. And even though there's there are these different vibes in different neighborhoods, you can find some really great things about the neighborhoods. We were at Perdida in Wash Park and Bo Nix was there with his family having dinner and you know, it was

Cool with people going up and saying hi and so he's so chill. Yeah, yeah, it's really nice. Really nice. You didn't tell me that. I know, I forgot. How did you forget? I don't know. my gosh. That's important information. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, can in terms of like, you know, we mentioned a little bit about renting, moving in. Have you when when you were in Cabo, I don't think it was a different market. Like people didn't maybe rent before buying. No, not usually. Because they came in at the intention, they want a vacation home.

So usually what happened in Cabo was people would come down and stay and rent just to come on vacation and they would stay and then they maybe would come back next year and come back for two months. And then next year they come back for four months. And once they reached that point, they knew it was time to buy. So there wasn't really as much of a question of should I buy or should I rent. It was they would contact me when they were ready to buy.

every once in a while I would get that question, but the the difference between Cabo and Denver is that the return on your investment in Cabo was was trending upward so quickly that if you would buy, you could double your what you made on the house in like three years. Wow. What you paid for the house. And I saw that over and over again. So people were were more interested in going ahead and grabbing a house at the price

where it was and then seeing the appreciation over three or four years be pretty significant. And I think that the appreciation in Denver and in Greenwood Village and in Centennial is kind of a slow progression. Yeah. It's not as quick a level of appreciation that we saw in Cabo. So I think it's more of a question here. You know, there are pros and cons to renting. Yep.

And there are pros and cons to buying. I agree. I think, you know, you mentioned about the appreciation, and that's something to to bear in mind for anybody moving, you know, to Colorado. We talk about all of the great things, but there are, you know, some cons, right? And some one of the I think maybe largely in the US, but definitely Denver is one of the top cities in the country who's been hit by a slowdown in the real estate market. You know. so that appreciation or that investment mentality where

Hey, I'm gonna buy a house, and you know, if I want to move in three to five years, I will have made, you know, 30% of my investment. Yeah. It's not. It doesn't happen. Not right now. Not right now. The market is just not there and it's changed. so that is one thing to keep in mind is when you're coming into purchase, you know, to make sure you know exactly where it is where you want to be and and plan to be there for four or five, six years in order to really make any realistic return on kind of of the investment that you've made or you're gonna make in the house.

Because who knows what the future you know will hold, but cost of living is a thing. It is a thing in Colorado. It's it's more expensive, especially if you've you're moving from like when we moved from Texas to here, there's more taxes, you know, groceries more expensive. you know, there's there's definitely those those things. So I think, you know, in this area, you know, like The Landmark condos, it's a it's a great trade-off for p people who want kind of lock and leave you know, convenience, retail but down below.

They're not gonna have to spend a lot of money to buy something, but yet if they want to rent before you know, figuring out where it is they wanna be, you know, there's options in this area before shelling out the one point six million village. Unless you know you wanna live next to Bronco. Exactly. And yeah, why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. with the appreciation being kind of level, are there benefits to buying now or just waiting?

Yeah, I don't know. Like I think for sure, you know, there's it's like the the chicken or the egg, right? They say, I know you've talked a lot about this on some on your videos, is you know, you buy now because once the market changes, rates come down, prices are gonna go up. You can always, you know, refinance later. So I don't see that prices are coming down. They may not be growing as quickly. So I think that if you know you're gonna buy, you wanna buy, you have the money to buy, then buy.

Yeah. Right. And especially you know where it is you want to be. If if you're waiting for that magic, you know number, it just is never gonna show up. Right. You know, in my opinion anyway. What do you Yeah, I think so. I think the only the only thing that I think is kind of magical about this time that we're in right now is that there's so much uncertainty. And if you have the money to buy, there are some good deals to be had.

And I and I love my sellers also and I want to get them top dollar. But if you're representing a buyer, There are some distressed sellers out there. And i it it is if you have the money to buy, it is a good time that you can get some you have more negotiating power and you have more inventory, so you have more options. Right.

if you if you have the money, you can find a good deal right now. I agree. And I think that's one of the things we'll to tout our own horn is that we do well with with buyers is help helping them guide through not only the process, right, but the emotion of buying. Because one thing that is tough is when people get

emotionally connected to a house and they want it so bad they're not willing to to look at like what the opportunities might be in in negotiation. and I think that's you know from all of the clients we've we've talked with and worked with it's that's kind of like that magic that we have is like, hey, yeah, you know, look at it with a with a lens of clarity. And that's our job to help guide you through this because we want get you the best deal.

you know, on the flip side working with sellers and you talk about distressed sellers, that's you know, looking at twenty twenty two, twenty three, you know, prices were were skyrocketing. People were waiving appraisals, waving, you know, in inspection contingencies. You know, and then they get into a place and they're like, my gosh, we just lost fifteen percent in value. You know, and or didn't appraise wouldn't have appraised of the price that they paid. Right. And so they were already underwater, you know, when they purchased the house.

That is a tough place to be in for sure. As a s and now you need to sell, yeah. And then their neighbors, you know, who now want to sell say, Well, they got, you know, right. $750,000 for their house. How are you why are you telling me I can only get six ninety five? Yeah. John, if we had a dime for every time we had somebody say, Well, my neighbor Right, right. It's gotta look at the comps, right? Yeah. We had a situation last week that I thought you handled so so well and we had a buyer who wanted a specific

place and the seller just wasn't was not being flexible on price. And I think we both saw the writing on the wall that this was going to be a difficult seller all the way until the end. And and but the the buyer really loved the the home and really loved the the the place. And I think you did such a great job of just explaining to her in very calm, unemotional terms this is what we're looking at.

And ultimately she did make a great decision and she got a great unit and it wasn't, you know, the one that originally she fell in love with. But it's so important that you work with somebody who's gonna tell you the truth. Yeah, I know. I think she had a a budget limit and she was trying she was going beyond that, you know, comfortability. Because she got excited. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I told her was like yeah, you're right. It's just at the end of the day, you know, this other unit is

is bigger, it's less expensive. It may not have the exact view that you want, but you know views change. Right. Right. And how often are you going to really be sitting outside or you in in Colorado in the winter? You know, and so i you know it's just looking at what's best for them and helping guide them through that process and taking again that emotional you know out the emotion out of it and looking through clarity. You know and so

And it's going well. Like the process. Yeah, and and we're sorry for the other ones. Right. Sorry for the other people. We walked away. And that's what happens when you have an unrealistic, aspirational seller. So but it's been great being here in D T C. I am really loving The Village Workspace

Yeah. It's been great. Yeah, this is a great podcast studio. We may try to do this again because I really like to be able to sit and talk to you rather than have to be over the computer. So this has been a lot of fun. Yeah. Did we miss any important information about DTC? Yeah, I you know, I think that what people under may underestimate from moving here is like and you meant you mentioned this is how spread out Denver is, car dependent it can still feel.

So I think that you know, if if you want kind of that live, work, play, you're relocating from another place. I definitely think people should take a look at DTC or the surrounding areas. And it's not really a place that people think of to live. You know, I come here for my doctor and my dentist is close by. you know, and so I think that it's just thinking about this, there's an upside to it. There's you know, if you want dining and nightlife that's convenient and close.

this is a great area. it's just you know, work you know, I think for us it's like setting the expectation on both sides, you know, working either with buyers or sellers, like kinda what D T C is and what it offers. You know, and obviously Greenwood Village, Centennial, like surrounding areas. It's there's a lot here, a lot of opportunity and so I I think that's and obviously, you know, this co working space is great. It's amazing. I think they won the best co working space in Denver last year. And also the schools here are great.

That's right. Like really good schools here. Great schools. And and because, you know, it's there's all of these different pockets so closely connected, zoning can can change block by block. And so like w that's one thing I think we help we can help guide, you know, buyers to make sure they're going to the school they want to go to, depending on the location. you know, and that's just dependent on again personal priorities. Yep. Well, this has been great. we

John and I are working really hard to create a community and a safe space where people who are thinking about buying in Denver or moving to Denver or people who have just recently moved to Denver, we just want to be your go-to source for truth and honest, the good, the bad, all of the things. So please follow us on our social media channels. We are building a Facebook community.

Called Living Colorado, and that's an insider community where we will continue the podcast conversation over there and you can ask your questions there. you can follow our podcast. It gives us great opportunities to understand what questions you would like to have answered. ask us questions. Is there something we missed about DTC that we people need to know and we missed it?

Let us know in the comments and we'll make sure we add that information for people. Totally. Yeah. And if you have other communities, other cities that you want to know about, you're thinking about moving, you know, to the Denver area to Colorado, we've been there and we're here to give you the information. Happy to run any numbers or provide resources to you so that you can get a clear view of of what it's like to live in specific areas, you know, and what it's like to move to Colorado even. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, there are a lot of things you need to know before you move here, good and bad. That's right, that's right. Exactly. All right. Well thanks everybody for for listening today and we'll catch you on the next episode of Getting Real Estate with the Living Colorado team. Thanks for watching.
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