A stretch of Pena Boulevard on the way to Denver International Airport. (Courtesy Denver International Airport)
Denver International Airport soon will no longer be exclusively CBRE country.
The airport, which has contracted exclusively with CBRE for real estate brokerage services since 2018, is preparing to split that work between three firms.
CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Greenwood Commercial Real Estate are poised to each get three-year contracts, with options to extend for an additional two years.
The contracts are set to be executed in March, provided Denver City Council approves it.
DIA spokesman Michael Konopasek noted the airport chose the three firms after issuing a request for proposals.
“Utilizing multiple firms allowed us to (a) utilize individual strengths specific to certain asset types and (b) ‘unbundle’ the contract into smaller amounts to encourage MWBE participation,” Konopasek said in an email. “Greenwood is a minority-owned business.”
MWBE is short for “minority/women business enterprise,” a city effort to award contracts to firms where 51 percent of owners are women or minorities.
CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are two of the biggest brokerages nationally.
Greenwood, which has a Denver office and was launched in 2021, says on its website that it is licensed in 22 states and is “the nation’s most experienced & diverse corporate real estate services firm.” The firm takes its name from the historic Greenwood District in Tulsa, also referred to as “Black Wall Street,” which was largely destroyed in 1921. The contact for Greenwood’s Denver office is Alec Wynne, formerly of Avison Young.
Konopasek said the three firms “will have different geographic responsibilities, but will work collaboratively and in close coordination to achieve DEN’s land development goals.” Greenwood will focus on the 40th and Airport and 61st and Pena areas, while Cushman & Wakefield will concentrate on the Aero-Industrial District. CBRE will cover everything else.
The contracts with CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are for $5.5 million and $2.5 million, respectively, while the contract with Greenwood is for $2 million.
The CBRE and Cushman contracts are on a “success fee basis,” according to documents provided to the council, meaning each firm will be paid only when it “successfully sources a tenant that executes a lease on DEN land.” The Greenwood contract document does not include that line.
“Greenwood cannot bear the burden of carrying extensive overhead costs as a disadvantaged small business, so their agreement stipulates that they will be paid on an hourly basis,” Konopasek said in an email. “But once they are successful, they will be paid a success fee and the hourly amount previously paid will be deducted from that fee.”
DIA is the second-largest airport by land area in the world. Its land holdings comprise approximately 34,000 acres, but only 18,000 of that is considered “core aviation land,” where terminals, runways and other facilities already sit or are slated to be added in the future. That leaves 16,000 acres of “non-aviation land,” which includes property on the outskirts of the runways as well as land on both sides of Pena Boulevard leading up to the airport.
DIA sometimes seeks developers for specific parcels, but since 2022 also has had a “rolling request for offers” system that allows a developer to submit a proposal for any non-aviation land.
A franchise bottler of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is among the firms that recently leased land from DIA. Swire Coca-Cola USA plans to build a 1.1-million-square-foot facility.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information regarding the areas each firm will focus on, as well as the setup of DIA’s contract with Greenwood Commercial Real Estate.
A stretch of Pena Boulevard on the way to Denver International Airport. (Courtesy Denver International Airport)
Denver International Airport soon will no longer be exclusively CBRE country.
The airport, which has contracted exclusively with CBRE for real estate brokerage services since 2018, is preparing to split that work between three firms.
CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Greenwood Commercial Real Estate are poised to each get three-year contracts, with options to extend for an additional two years.
The contracts are set to be executed in March, provided Denver City Council approves it.
DIA spokesman Michael Konopasek noted the airport chose the three firms after issuing a request for proposals.
“Utilizing multiple firms allowed us to (a) utilize individual strengths specific to certain asset types and (b) ‘unbundle’ the contract into smaller amounts to encourage MWBE participation,” Konopasek said in an email. “Greenwood is a minority-owned business.”
MWBE is short for “minority/women business enterprise,” a city effort to award contracts to firms where 51 percent of owners are women or minorities.
CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are two of the biggest brokerages nationally.
Greenwood, which has a Denver office and was launched in 2021, says on its website that it is licensed in 22 states and is “the nation’s most experienced & diverse corporate real estate services firm.” The firm takes its name from the historic Greenwood District in Tulsa, also referred to as “Black Wall Street,” which was largely destroyed in 1921. The contact for Greenwood’s Denver office is Alec Wynne, formerly of Avison Young.
Konopasek said the three firms “will have different geographic responsibilities, but will work collaboratively and in close coordination to achieve DEN’s land development goals.” Greenwood will focus on the 40th and Airport and 61st and Pena areas, while Cushman & Wakefield will concentrate on the Aero-Industrial District. CBRE will cover everything else.
The contracts with CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield are for $5.5 million and $2.5 million, respectively, while the contract with Greenwood is for $2 million.
The CBRE and Cushman contracts are on a “success fee basis,” according to documents provided to the council, meaning each firm will be paid only when it “successfully sources a tenant that executes a lease on DEN land.” The Greenwood contract document does not include that line.
“Greenwood cannot bear the burden of carrying extensive overhead costs as a disadvantaged small business, so their agreement stipulates that they will be paid on an hourly basis,” Konopasek said in an email. “But once they are successful, they will be paid a success fee and the hourly amount previously paid will be deducted from that fee.”
DIA is the second-largest airport by land area in the world. Its land holdings comprise approximately 34,000 acres, but only 18,000 of that is considered “core aviation land,” where terminals, runways and other facilities already sit or are slated to be added in the future. That leaves 16,000 acres of “non-aviation land,” which includes property on the outskirts of the runways as well as land on both sides of Pena Boulevard leading up to the airport.
DIA sometimes seeks developers for specific parcels, but since 2022 also has had a “rolling request for offers” system that allows a developer to submit a proposal for any non-aviation land.
A franchise bottler of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is among the firms that recently leased land from DIA. Swire Coca-Cola USA plans to build a 1.1-million-square-foot facility.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information regarding the areas each firm will focus on, as well as the setup of DIA’s contract with Greenwood Commercial Real Estate.
