Cherry Creek West: How a $1.8 Billion Development Is Reshaping Denver
Ryan Haarer July 1, 2026
Ryan Haarer July 1, 2026
Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate recently reached its highest point since the 1980s oil bust. At the same time, a billion-dollar development broke ground just a few miles away in Cherry Creek, signaling a significant shift in where Denver's commercial momentum is headed.
By the end of 2025, Cherry Creek North's office vacancy rate sat at about 1.3%, while downtown Denver's vacancy rate climbed to roughly 29%, reaching as high as 38.2% in some older buildings. Cherry Creek's retail vacancy was similarly tight, at around 1.9%.
CBRE's 2026 Denver market outlook points to continued new office construction concentrated in Cherry Creek for the foreseeable future, even as new office development has largely stalled elsewhere in the country. New Class A buildings in Cherry Creek are seeing rent growth near 5% this year, compared to roughly 1% to 2% across the broader metro, with top-tier rents pushing toward $60 per square foot, placing Cherry Creek among the highest office rent markets in the country.
This shift has been building for most of the past decade, as tenants, capital, and retail activity have gradually moved from downtown into Cherry Creek. The pandemic accelerated that trend, as remote work weakened downtown's commute-dependent model, while companies that did return to in-person work increasingly prioritized newer buildings, walkable streets, and stronger amenities.
Cherry Creek North has built a reputation over the past decade as one of Denver's most active commercial and retail districts. The neighborhood includes more than 462 shops, restaurants, and service businesses across roughly 16 blocks, along with the highest concentration of locally owned stores in Denver, boutique hotels, fine dining, galleries, and fitness studios. Cherry Creek Shopping Center anchors the area to the south, home to retailers including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co.
Wealth management firms, tech companies, and financial services groups have increasingly chosen Cherry Creek, paying rents near $90 per square foot in some cases. With the neighborhood nearing full build-out, however, available space for new development within Cherry Creek North's existing footprint is becoming limited.
Cherry Creek West represents the next phase of that growth. The $1.8 billion project sits on the neighborhood's southwest side, next to Cherry Creek Shopping Center, on land recently cleared for development.
The Cherry Creek West site, located near First Avenue and University Boulevard, previously housed Elway's steakhouse, The Container Store, and a Macy's Furniture Gallery, along with a large surface parking lot. That site is being replaced with several new buildings across four city blocks, including four residential buildings and three office buildings.
Once complete, the project is expected to include approximately 840 residences, 600,000 square feet of office space, 100,000 square feet of retail, and four acres of open space designed to connect back to the Cherry Creek Trail. The first three buildings, including one eight-story office tower and two 13-story residential buildings, are targeting completion by late 2029.
The project's design prioritized public space and pedestrian flow before building placement, with landscape architects laying out open space, plazas, and trail connections first. Nearly half of the buildable area is planned for parks, plazas, and trail connections linking to the Cherry Creek Trail, which connects to downtown and several other Denver neighborhoods.
Cherry Creek West is being developed by East West Partners, a Denver-based firm founded in 1986 that has developed and sold more than $7 billion in real estate. The firm previously master-planned and built out Denver's Union Station neighborhood, transforming a vacant historic train station and surrounding surface parking lots into one of the city's most prominent mixed-use destinations over roughly 15 years.
The construction joint venture for Cherry Creek West includes Mortenson and Saunders, two well-established builders in Colorado, with office leasing handled by Cushman & Wakefield.
Major developers and institutional investors have increasingly favored Cherry Creek over downtown Denver for new commercial investment. Much of that preference is structural rather than stylistic. Cherry Creek offers walkable streets, retail, restaurants, and daily services that support a steady return-to-office environment, while downtown continues to carry a significant amount of older office space that many tenants no longer want.
Downtown's traditional commute-based model has also been slower to recover following the shift toward remote and hybrid work. Return-to-office activity did reach its highest post-pandemic level in early 2026, and some distressed downtown office towers are being converted into housing, suggesting downtown's recovery path may lean more toward residential use than a full return to commercial dominance.
Cherry Creek home values across the broader area currently sit in the low-to-mid $1 million range. Within Cherry Creek North specifically, the luxury condo market has shown particular strength, with sales above $2 million becoming increasingly common in 2025 and into 2026, including a $10.1 million penthouse sale at The Laurel on Steele Street. 5280 Magazine's 2026 best neighborhoods ranking placed the area's average closer to $1.8 million when accounting for higher-end activity.
The addition of Cherry Creek West, with its new residences, office space, and redesigned public spaces, is expected to add further demand to a neighborhood already operating near full occupancy. For current owners in Cherry Creek North, that trend points toward continued equity growth. For prospective buyers, it suggests pricing in the neighborhood is likely to continue rising as the development progresses.
Cherry Creek West isn't the only major project underway in the immediate area. Directly across First Avenue, BMC Investments is redeveloping the former Clayton Lane property, rebranding it as Cherry Lane following the demolition of the former Sears and Crate & Barrel buildings near Whole Foods. Additional office and residential projects are also underway throughout the broader Cherry Creek area, representing one of the most active development pipelines in the Denver metro.
By the time Cherry Creek West fully delivers around 2033, the neighborhood is expected to look substantially different from how it appears today, and surrounding property values are already beginning to reflect that anticipated growth.
Cherry Creek West reflects a broader shift in where Denver's commercial and residential momentum is heading. Neighborhoods built around daily walkability and amenities are increasingly outperforming traditional commute-driven districts, and Cherry Creek's billion-dollar investment underscores that trend.
Ryan Haarer is one of the top 1.5% of realtors by volume in the country, according to RealTrends, and works with buyers and sellers in the Denver metro area. Reach out for a personalized consultation by calling or texting Ryan at 303-507-5910 or emailing him at [email protected].
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