Former Denver Bronco David Treadwell is making a new play in his already varied career.
A partnership that includes the former kicker last week paid $9.375 million for a 72-acre parcel at the southwest corner of 144th Avenue and Interstate 25 in Westminster. The group plans to build a 500,000-square-foot retail center.
Treadwell – who has a degree in electrical engineering and has worked as a real estate attorney and sports director for Denver Fox affiliate KDVR-Channel 31 – quietly has been developing residential projects with Biltmore Development Ltd., a company he joined in July 2004.
The proposed big-box retail center will mark the biggest play so far for Biltmore. To build it, Biltmore has teamed with Arizona Gold Properties of Mesa Arizona. The company has built retail projects in Arizona and California.
“We think this is the next hot area,” said Treadwell, who kicked for the Broncos from 1989 to 1992 and finished his career with the New York Giants.
The I-25 corridor between 138th Avenue and Colorado 7 has emerged as a retail hotspot as developers scurry to plant their flags in the fast-growing northern suburbs. They’re following the large number of homes under construction or planned in the area.
Alberta Development Partners, based in Greenwood Village, recently announced plans to build Northlands, a 1.1 million-square-foot retail project on 120 acres at the northwest corner of Interstate 25 and Colorado 7 in Broomfield.
In Thornton, Jordon Perlmutter & Co. is constructing the Larkridge shopping center on 240 acres east of Interstate 25 between 160th and 168th avenues.
Further south, and just across 144th Avenue from Treadwell’s Westminster development, Forest City Enterprises is building The Orchard Town Center – a Cherry Creek mall-sized retail and mixed-use project on 215 acres.
The Biltmore and Arizona Gold project, Orchard View, is meant to complement the Forest City project, with easy access between the two, said Dan Wardrop of Arizona Gold.
Peter Pavlakis, a partner with Legend Retail Group in Denver, expects the project to be similar to the big-box retail that sprang up around the Park Meadows shopping center in Douglas County.
Pavlakis and Legend broker Brian Hollenback are leasing the retail sites. So far no clients have been announced.
Both Orchard View and The Orchard Town Center will be accessible via a new highway interchange under construction at 144th Avenue and I-25. The interchange is expected to open in the fall of 2006, about the same time as the $45 million Orchard View project.
“With the partnership that David and his group have put together, I think this will be a very nice project that will complement what’s going on at The Orchard (Town Center),” said Susan Grafton, Westminster’s economic development manager.
The city is in discussions with the developers about possible sales tax rebates for the project but nothing has been agreed upon, she said.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
