Distress Hits Multifamily Projects Near Denver Broncos Stadium

The site for a proposed housing development near the Denver Broncos’ forthcoming stadium has fallen into foreclosure.

A lender filed to foreclose on two vacant parcels at 1864 West 13th Avenue and 1820 West 13th Avenue just northwest of Burnham Yard after the owners defaulted on a $3 million loan tied to the property, the Denver Business Journal reported.

Developers Bradley Eide of Delaware-based Elevate Companies and Chris Roberts and Paul Wilcox of Washington-based Sterling Rhino Investments signed off on the deed of trust associated with the foreclosure. The lots were purchased in 2023 by ECI SRC Felix LLC, a Wyoming-based affiliate of the developers’ joint venture, for nearly $5.6 million.

The multifamily project, known as “The Felix,” would’ve brought 242 units near the Burnham Yard train depot, which the Denver Broncos are planning to turn into the site of their future stadium. The developers were deep into the city review process for The Felix project before the foreclosure hit.

It was planned as a six-story mixed-use building spanning 325,000 square feet with a swimming pool, 9,600 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space and a parking garage. Denver’s Community Planning and Development department had already approved giving the building an address, 1280 North Umatilla Street, estimating the development’s value at $60 million.

The developers defaulted on their original loan last year, though last October, they secured a new forbearance agreement and fresh loan from B.A. Debt Fund LLC, registered in Delaware. That loan is now in foreclosure.

In total, the developers are looking to build nearly 900 apartments across six projects in Denver, Colorado Springs and Phoenix. In the Denver area, the joint venture is pursuing three apartment projects totaling 502 units.

In 2023, EIde submitted a site development plan for The Hudson, which would bring almost 200 units on three parcels at 3650, 3660 and 3702 Delgany Street in the River North Art District.

Those plans have been approved by the city, but the project has not yet materialized. Meanwhile, another project in Lakewood, The Cooper, would bring 72 units to 5701 West Colfax Avenue. An entity presumably tied to the same developers bought that parcel in 2023 for more than $2.4 million.

— Chris Malone Méndez