Developers Grab 150 Acres in Denver for Mixed-Use Project

Kensington Development Partners and IM Properties have paid $30 million for 150 acres near Denver International Airport with plans to build a retail village with a Target and 2,000 homes.

The Illinois- and United Kingdom-based developers bought the land at the northwest corner of 56th Avenue and Tower Road, in Green Valley Ranch, the Denver Business Journal reported. The seller was undisclosed.

An affiliate of both companies borrowed $33 million from Illinois-based Wintrust Bank for the deal.

The investors immediately sold an unspecified amount of land for $7 million to Minneapolis-based Target, which plans to build a 150,800-square-foot store at 5607 North Tower Road.

They also sold another unspecified plot for $4.95 million to Houston-based LASCO Development, which plans to build a 7-Eleven store at an unidentified site.

Plans by the joint venture call for a mixed-use project, dubbed Link 56, with 250,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and automotive services, plus 2,000 homes and 27 acres of parks and open space.

The first phase, to cost $235 million, will include the Target store; a 214-unit garden-style apartment complex with 13 buildings; 170 built-to-rent townhomes across 11 acres; and an unspecified number of standalone and multi-tenant retail buildings.

The developers expect to break ground immediately, but didn’t disclose a completion date. Future phases will include more shops, restaurants and homes. The area has direct access to the Peña Station light rail stop and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Preserve.

The region around the development is becoming known as an aerospace, engineering and technology hub, according to Kensington.

Next door to Link 56, United Airlines is developing a 113-acre corporate campus. Nearby, Panasonic has a regional hub nearby and Microsoft picked up 260 acres in 2022, according to the Business Journal.

Kensington Development Partners, founded in 2017, has developed 104 retail and mixed-use projects totaling 10 million square feet. Link 56 marks Kensington and IM Properties’ second project in Colorado behind their purchase of Quebec Village in Centennial, slated for redevelopment.

— Dana Bartholomew