The parking lots behind Denver Pavilions on July 30, 2025. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
The Downtown Development Authority intends to buy two parking lots tucked behind downtown mall Denver Pavilions.
The city said Wednesday that the DDA has agreed to pay $23 million for the mirror-image parking lots along 15th Avenue at Glenarm Place. They sit at the end of a short stretch of Glenarm that is closed to vehicles and being branded “Glenarm Plaza.”
“That unlocks a critical component for us to be able to make this the central gathering place for the next 50 years of downtown,” Mayor Mike Johnston said at a Wednesday press conference.
The parking lot buys are one of 10 line items poised to get $100 million as part of an initial wave of funding from the DDA. The Denver City Council still needs to sign off on the deals.
Both lots, technically known as 1505 and 1518 Glenarm Place, are 0.76 acres, according to property records. That works out to $345 a square foot.
The lots are owned by Brookfield Properties, the New York-based real estate giant whose holdings also include the Republic Plaza and Wells Fargo Center office towers.
“The Brookfield lots will be acquired this year and will be sold at some point for redevelopment, for various kinds of mixed-use that’s allowed by zoning, which includes office, hotel, housing,” Denver Chief Projects Officer Bill Mosher said.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the planned acquisition as part of DDA’s first $100 million it will spend improving downtown. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Records show Brookfield purchased the 1518 Glenarm Place lot in 1996 as part of a $7.5 million deal that also included additional property. The company added the 1505 Glenarm lot in February 2008 for $16 million.
Denver’s county assessor values each lot at just shy of $9 million, or $18 million total, records show.
Bahman Shafa, CEO of Denver-based Focus Property Group, told BusinessDen Wednesday afternoon that the $23 million price tag seems reasonable. His firm owns downtown parking lots, including a large one across from the Colorado Convention Center.
“In today’s market, I would say that’s an average price,” Shafa said.
Development of the lots has been considered before. In late 2008, as the adjacent mall marked its 10-year anniversary, The Denver Post reported that Brookfield was interested in building an office building and hotel on the site. That never happened.
While tenants like H&M and Regal Cinemas remain, Denver Pavilions has numerous vacant storefronts. Owner Gart Properties’ $85 million loan on the mall was supposed to be repaid this month, although there’s no sign that happened. Gart CEO Mark Sidell told BusinessDen in March that the property was “in a tenuous situation.”
Also along Glenarm, an ice cream shop in the works is poised to get $750,000 from the DDA.
BusinessDen staffer Thomas Gounley contributed reporting.
The parking lots behind Denver Pavilions on July 30, 2025. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
The Downtown Development Authority intends to buy two parking lots tucked behind downtown mall Denver Pavilions.
The city said Wednesday that the DDA has agreed to pay $23 million for the mirror-image parking lots along 15th Avenue at Glenarm Place. They sit at the end of a short stretch of Glenarm that is closed to vehicles and being branded “Glenarm Plaza.”
“That unlocks a critical component for us to be able to make this the central gathering place for the next 50 years of downtown,” Mayor Mike Johnston said at a Wednesday press conference.
The parking lot buys are one of 10 line items poised to get $100 million as part of an initial wave of funding from the DDA. The Denver City Council still needs to sign off on the deals.
Both lots, technically known as 1505 and 1518 Glenarm Place, are 0.76 acres, according to property records. That works out to $345 a square foot.
The lots are owned by Brookfield Properties, the New York-based real estate giant whose holdings also include the Republic Plaza and Wells Fargo Center office towers.
“The Brookfield lots will be acquired this year and will be sold at some point for redevelopment, for various kinds of mixed-use that’s allowed by zoning, which includes office, hotel, housing,” Denver Chief Projects Officer Bill Mosher said.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the planned acquisition as part of DDA’s first $100 million it will spend improving downtown. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Records show Brookfield purchased the 1518 Glenarm Place lot in 1996 as part of a $7.5 million deal that also included additional property. The company added the 1505 Glenarm lot in February 2008 for $16 million.
Denver’s county assessor values each lot at just shy of $9 million, or $18 million total, records show.
Bahman Shafa, CEO of Denver-based Focus Property Group, told BusinessDen Wednesday afternoon that the $23 million price tag seems reasonable. His firm owns downtown parking lots, including a large one across from the Colorado Convention Center.
“In today’s market, I would say that’s an average price,” Shafa said.
Development of the lots has been considered before. In late 2008, as the adjacent mall marked its 10-year anniversary, The Denver Post reported that Brookfield was interested in building an office building and hotel on the site. That never happened.
While tenants like H&M and Regal Cinemas remain, Denver Pavilions has numerous vacant storefronts. Owner Gart Properties’ $85 million loan on the mall was supposed to be repaid this month, although there’s no sign that happened. Gart CEO Mark Sidell told BusinessDen in March that the property was “in a tenuous situation.”
Also along Glenarm, an ice cream shop in the works is poised to get $750,000 from the DDA.
BusinessDen staffer Thomas Gounley contributed reporting.
