The Valbridge Property Advisors | Denver | Front Range office recently completed appraisals and rent studies for every building on the 563-acre Denver Federal Center campus. The Government Services Administration (GSA) has Fair Annual Rent appraisals done every five years for GSA-owned space. These appraisals are intended to develop market rates for the space leased by federal agencies. The Denver Federal Center campus in Lakewood, Colorado, is the largest concentration of government buildings and departments in the country outside of Washington, D.C. Our team handled about 3.6 million square feet across 35 buildings, including office, warehouse, and laboratory space.

The land where Denver Federal Center now sits was originally purchased by Major Jacob Downing in the late 1860’s, who developed it with a ranch. Thomas Hayden purchased the Downing ranch in 1913, later expanding it into a 20,000-acre cattle ranch, which was the largest ranch in Colorado in 1940. During World War II, the Federal government purchased 2,040 acres from the Hayden family in 1940 in order to build the Denver Ordnance Plant. A contract was signed with Remington Arms Company in early 1941, and over 200 buildings were built for the complex. Following World War II, the Ordnance Plant began conversion to office, warehouse, and laboratory space for Federal agencies and was renamed the Denver Federal Center.

The individual appraisal assignments varied in interesting ways. Building 810, with nearly 700,000 square feet, is a warehouse and office building that was once the largest warehouse west of the Mississippi River and houses the National Science Foundation’s Ice Core Facility, for which we were happy to don parkas and gloves. Building 67 is a renovated 14-floor office building, originally delivered in 1967 with over 372,000 square feet and amazing views of the Rocky Mountains to the west. Building 48 is the conversion of a 150,000-square-foot munitions plant into a LEED Gold office building. Our inspections brought us up close and personal with granite from Mount Rushmore, a 40-foot-high rock crusher, underground bunkers that are on the National Register of Historic Places, and secure facilities that we can’t tell you about.

For properties large or small, historic or modern, public or private, Valbridge Property Advisors | Denver | Front Range serves in cities and mountains along Colorado’s Front Range.