Getting your player ready...
Prospects for the apartment market in Denver, which were looking plenty good last year, are taking on even more promise now in the light of new reports of job growth and lower unemployment – down to around 6.2 percent statewide last month, lowest in six years. Developer Darell Schmidt of Allanté Properties knows a logical place that will flourish along with those brighter prospects, and is working on two projects that investors can be part of in Highlands – one of them rapidly taking shape near Highland Square’s restaurant row.
Two years ago, Schmidt’s son Darren Schmidt took Schmidt to dinner in Highlands to show off all of the activity there – including the high-end row homes that are sprouting up walking distance from all of the dining between LoHi and Berkeley. Now Schmidt has reoriented his company toward Highlands residential projects – creating lower-priced opportunities for younger Gen-Y buyers who are coming in for new jobs, and who crave Highlands’ hip aura, as well as its walkability. In like manner, that’s opening opportunities for smaller investors who like the idea of diversifying away from the stock market, but who aren’t positioned for a major play in a market like Highlands. Opportunity number-one is Highland Place, an Allanté project at W. 38th Avenue at Julian Street, across from a newly-opened Panera Bread. There, Schmidt is on track to open 68 class-A apartments this coming November, above 11,000 square feet of main-level retail, both served by plenty of dedicated parking – hard to find in Highlands. Legend Retail Group already has two retail tenants lined up, and is prepping a prime corner spot as a restaurant venue. Schmidt, who says he’s now being approached by secondary market purchasers for the project, has numbers of smaller investors involved in addition to his major bank lender, and has other positions open starting at $100,000. He says he plans to close that one off to investors in late April. Two miles south, in the Jefferson Park area between LoHi and Invesco Field, Allanté is now preparing a second Highlands project: eight for-sale row homes that Schmidt has in the design phase. Those, he says, would break ground this summer and presell in time for an early 2015 delivery. Sized from around 1,400 square feet, each with two bedrooms and two baths plus 2-car tuck-under garage and rooftop deck, they’d be priced from the $400s. As with Highland Place, Schmidt will be offering investor positions on a first-come, first-served basis. Both projects, he says, are sized and priced to move in a Highlands market that has particular appeal to younger buyers who are priced out of the luxury-end market that is prominent now in Highlands. Highland Place in particular, he adds, reaches for Gen-Y types that, studies show, aren’t sure yet that they’re ready to buy homes, and very much like the idea of walking to restaurants and urban attractions. Schmidt and son Daren are giving tours of Highland Place under construction, to investors interested in those final positions there; and are talking to both investors and potential homebuyers wanting to be part of the Jefferson Park project. For information about investing, call Darell Schmidt at 303-359-1210 or email Darell@AllanteProperties.com. WHERE: Highland Place, 68 Class-A apartments over 11,000-s.f. restaurant/retail space, by Allanté Properties, with parking, 6 blocks from Highlands Square at W. 32nd Lowell; investor positions close in April. Construction site 3380 W. 38th Ave. Denver; from Highlands Square head east 1 blk to Julian St., north 7 blocks to W. 38th PRICE: Investor positions $100,000; retail $32-$35 triple-net@marksamuelson
