Record-high availability across Denver persists as market dynamics remain fundamentally altered
Metro Denver witnessed record high office availability in the third quarter, driven by anemic occupier demand in the the Downtown submarkets. Availability across the market jumped 120 basis points (bps) from a year ago to 29.9%, while Downtown availability stood just shy of 40.0%. The region has witnessed sublease options diminish in recent quarters as some occupiers opted to take sublease space at a significant discount, while an increasing number of sublease offerings saw their terms run out. Conversely, direct options mounted across the region as companies continued to surrender excess space. Meanwhile, several of Denver's latest office developments struggled to find occupiers, notably the 720,000-square-foot tower at 1900 Lawrence that remained more than 90% available.