Denver permitting is ‘worst in the western U.S.,’ caused foreclosure, exec says

Todd Gooding expected to spend a year renovating the industrial property his firm bought in in Denver s Central Park Instead completion took two years a delay he blames on the city s permitting process It is by far and away the worst in the western U S stated Gooding president of Oregon-based developer ScanlanKemperBard Cos Earlier this month SKB s lender initiated foreclosure on the company s -square-foot building at E th Ave which was set to be rebranded as Central Park Foundry A leasing brochure advertised it for industrial flex R D and creative uses with suite sizes as small as square feet But Gooding stated the building has no tenants We kind of missed our leasing window he announced SKB bought the building on acres plus a -acre parking lot across the street in March Population records don t reveal what the firm paid but do show that SKB took out a loan at the same time from New York-based Bridge Outlay Group for up to million The loan was set to mature in March according to the paperwork In filing for foreclosure this month Bridge stated SKB still owed million in principal With no tenants Gooding reported the property has had no income to stay current on loan payments We ve offered to work with the lender to take back the property he stated SKB also owns York Street Yards in the Clayton neighborhood which counts among its tenants Rivian a dog park bar and packraft maker Kokopelli The firm bought that property in for million and got it rezoned last year Gooding also expressed selected frustrations with Denver during that process SKB initially thought it could replicate its York Street Yards success at Central Park Foundry Gooding commented he thinks things would have been different if Central Park Foundry had been completed within one year as originally expected Time would tell but we did have a lot of tenant interest early on he disclosed And we couldn t commit to timing because we didn t have our building permit In addition to Portland SKB has done projects in the Seattle and Phoenix metro areas as well as the Bay Area Given Denver s permitting situation he s not sure how involved we re going to be in the city going forward although he added that he still likes the demographics and sees opportunities in the broader region SKB already does work in other Front Range municipalities We ve been pretty working in Boulder and Broomfield and to be honest Boulder is one thousand times better he noted In terms of Denver s permitting process nobody went out of their way to make our life hard he announced But there would constantly be a few new issue popping up that hadn t previously been a issue Related Articles Developer planning next major industrial park on acres near DIA Developer Randy Nichols uses loan buy to snag Cherry Creek Dance property for M Here s what is happening in and around Colorado s airport city Stem Ciders sells Lafayette property for M Historic Hotel Boulderado sold to Nashville real estate company The city never got their act together in giving a thorough review the first time The site improvement plan process the city made us go through was brutal The stormwater detention process the city made us go through was brutal he noted He called the situation institutional irresponsibility and the aftermath of a lack of leadership Changes could be coming to Denver s permitting process Last week Mayor Mike Johnston publicized he is setting up a new city department and pledged Denver will complete permit reviews within days or refund selected fees to developers Local developers have generally voiced cautious optimism Get more business news by signing up for our Business sector Now newsletter