Business

Amazon has named Denver one of twenty finalists as a possible location for its second headquarters, HQ2, a facility that’s expected to create 50,000 new jobs and result in a $5 billion investment for the winner. But while entrepreneur and Republican candidate for governor Victor Mitchell says he thinks HQ2 would be good for the state, unlike plenty of naysayers, he’s launched an online ad campaign and petition calling on officials such as Governor John Hickenlooper not to get suckered into an expensive bidding war to secure this prize.

Rent prices have been moderating in Denver during recent months, following a long period in which rental costs continued to go up and up and up in the Mile High City’s red-hot housing market. But as we noted in a recent post revealing that median rent in Denver proper is currently lower than in eleven other metro communities, costs differ widely from place to place within the city. And new statistics about the Denver neighborhoods with the most rapid rent growth bear that out.

On the eve of his first anniversary as commander-in-chief, Donald Trump is already the worst president in U.S. history according to University of Colorado Boulder history professor Thomas Zeiler, among a team of CU historians who shared their picks for the ten poorest U.S. presidents of all time with us for a post published just prior to Trump’s inauguration last year. But Trump supporters have a very different and infinitely more positive view of the Donald’s performance, including Steve Barlock, who led the now-president’s 2016 campaign effort in Denver and is currently running as a Republican for governor of Colorado.

A proposed bill would remove the cap on out-of-state and international marijuana-industry investors. While some say the bill is necessary to keep Colorado an attractive place to do business, others are concerned about big money.

Amazon has just announced the twenty finalists for HQ2, a second headquarters for the giant company that’s expected to create 50,000 new jobs and result in a $5 billion investment for the winner. And Denver made the list, besting more than 200 other applicants.

As we’ve reported, rent prices have been moderating in Denver and its neighboring communities during recent months, following a long period in which rental costs continued to go up and up and up in the Mile High City’s red-hot housing market. As recently as last month, year-to-year rent increases in Denver were ranked among the highest in the country. So it comes as a shock to discover that two bedrooms in Denver proper are now more affordable than comparably sized units in eleven other metro-area places.

Last night, January 16, Denver Post CEO/publisher and Digital First Media executive vice president Mac Tully announced that he will resign from his positions effective January 31. His announcement to staff, included below in its entirety, follows the reintroduction of a paywall at the paper for the first time since the Aurora theater shooting trial and the ongoing move of most newsroom journalists from the Post’s longtime downtown Denver headquarters to a printing plant in Adams County.

Shorter Community AME Church was nearly packed to the brim on Saturday, January 13, when several hundred Denverites congregated there for a six-hour summit to discuss Denver’s response to gentrification.

This week, crews are removing Sports Authority signage from what has been known in recent years as Sports Authority Field at Mile High, presumably because the Denver Broncos are sick of playing in a stadium emblazoned with the name of a company that declared bankruptcy in March 2016 and liquidated all its assets a few months later. Since acquiring stadium naming rights in August of that year, Broncos executives have tried and failed to line up a new sponsor, and a branding expert says the type of tech companies most able to afford the $10 million per year the team wants are hesitant to get involved in a business relationship that could well conjure painful personal memories.

On Saturday, January 13, a new coalition will host a Gentrification Summit from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Shorter Community AME Church, located at 3100 Richard Allen Court.

Tonight, January 8, City Council is expected to approve another six-month permit for a new location for the village, which had to pay $25,000 to move 200 feet.

Most Montbello residents looking for fresh produce have to drive miles to bring home dinner ingredients. State nonprofits worked with a developer on a $10.5 million redevelopment project that will bring another grocery option to Montbello residents and, hopefully, chip away at its status as a food desert.

State environmental activists will have their first public hearing at the capitol to discuss proposed ballot language that could effectively kill any new oil and gas developments in the state.

Denver is now the eighteenth most expensive real estate market in the country, down two places from sixteenth in December.

DIA is putting the finishing touches on a new $14.5 million welcome sign that serves as a gateway for newcomers and residents alike. While Denverites have a love-hate relationship with the airport’s previous installations, the kinetic LED sign may help residents turn over a new leaf. Here’s what you should know.

Short-term rentals are a big business in Denver. But a new audit shows room for improvement in the city’s program.

As we’ve reported, two people, Collin Zak and Nathan Enright, have died as a result of injuries sustained at Colorado ski resorts during the 2017-2018 season to date. Their fatal accidents occurred weeks earlier than the first and second Colorado ski area deaths last year, when fourteen skiers or snowboarders died, despite a lack of snow that has resulted in numerous resorts in the state delaying their openings or keeping some runs off-limits. That doesn’t surprise a national expert on resort safety, who believes snow shortages or surpluses can increase the danger for those who hit the slopes under such circumstances.

The Colorado Village Collaborative has established a construction timeline in its partnership with St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church to build another tiny home village on the church’s campus near downtown – at Glenarm Place and 20th Avenue.

Each year around this time since 2010, we’ve spotlighted the top White Elephant gifts as chosen by the folks at ARC Thrift Stores. And this year, the five selections, pictured below, contain a twist for yours truly. Turns out I already own an item just like the number one choice and consider it to be a treasure than transcends the White Elephant concept.

Over the years in this space, we’ve periodically offered mini-tours of the most expensive homes for sale in Denver. And comparing the six priciest listings at present to the ones in our previous roundup, published in October 2016, demonstrates that the prices for luxury properties in the Mile High City remain sky high, even if they’ve moderated a bit.

The Gaylord Rockies in Aurora isn’t opening until the end of next year, but the resort and convention center already has more than 600,000 room nights booked between February 2019 and 2028.

“All our partners already do some form of work in the community, and we had a discussion about how affordable housing is so difficult.”