DENVER—Interest in the 16M project at the corner of Sixteenth and Market Streets is hot—a total of six leases for commercial space have been executed to date. Construction on the 10-story mixed-use development at this anchor location is well underway with occupancy set for July 2014.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is well ahead of the game in terms of leasing out its 130,000 square feet of office space as it has signed a number of major tenants and is in negotiations with several more. “We've had tremendous response for leasing the building,” said Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Jamie A. Gard, “We have about 50,000 square feet of the building pre-leased.” While Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is not able to disclose the names of the tenants at this point, the good news for LoDo is that they are all newcomers to the district.

Indicative of a healthy Denver Central Business District (CBD) office market, vacancy in Denver's CBD has continued to decrease to 14.3%, which is the lowest level since 2008. Vacancy in LoDo is very tight at 9.2%, which is the lowest of any submarket or micromarket in the Denver office market. Tenants wanting a LoDo address have limited options in existing product, and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Research forecasts that continued high demand will drive vacancy below 8% by year-end 2013. It seems the Denver CBD has not only recovered from the Great Recession, it is in expansion mode and is fast approaching equilibrium. With so little new supply in the pipeline, and strong demand, the stage is set for the market to continue to tighten.