Construction Commences on First Phase of Sun Empire Industrial Development in Aurora, Colorado

Construction is underway at Sun Empire, a 3.9 million sq. ft. industrial development in Aurora, Colorado, near Denver International Airport. The project is a joint venture between The Opus Group (Opus) and Principal Real Estate Investors, which together acquired the 316 acres of land seven months ago. Phase One will include two Class A buildings—one sized 624,535 sq. ft. and one sized 204,496 sq. ft. with both buildings available for occupancy in the first quarter of 2024.

The project has up to 1.4 million sq. ft. of speculative buildings available for lease, build-to-suit for lease or sale, and user-land sale. CBRE’s Todd Witty and Daniel Close are marketing Sun Empire for lease, sale and build-to-suit development.

“Rising interest rates have pushed some real estate investors to the sidelines and forced them to hit the pause button on new development. Elevated tenant demand in metro Denver’s industrial market and a slowdown in construction starts will further limit supply, making it harder for tenants to get the space they need within their desired timeframe. Sun Empire’s speed-to-market is a key differentiator as those looking for industrial real estate in greater Denver need the space as soon as possible,” said Mr. Witty, SIOR, senior vice president at CBRE.

Total availability of industrial real estate in metro Denver decreased 30 basis points year-over-year to close out 2022 at 7.2%, according to CBRE research. This is approaching the market’s record low of 6.4¬% availability, set in 2014. Persistent tenant demand, strong leasing activity and a slowdown in construction starts point to further availability rate compression in the coming quarters.

Opus is employing several methods to make the Sun Empire construction process as efficient as possible. For example, they are mass grading the entire 316-acre site, versus just the first two building parcels.

“Preparing the whole site at once means if a tenant is interested in Sun Empire, but one of the first two speculative buildings does not meet their needs, they can initiate a build-to-suit elsewhere in the park immediately,” said Mr. Close, senior vice president, CBRE.

Opus is also investing in snow removal at the site during construction, so teams can continue working and not lose days waiting on snow melt.

The first two buildings will both have dock-level and drive-in loading with more than 140 trailer parking spaces and 660 car parking spaces between the two properties. Building 1A, which is the larger building, is a cross-dock design that is divisible to 156,133 sq. ft. Building 1B is a rear-load design with parking in the front and is divisible to 51,124 sq. ft. Alternatively, either building can be leased to a single tenant. Additionally, there are amenities incorporated into the speculative designs from the start, including office suites and dock levelers.

“Our vision with the first two buildings is to provide a turn-key solution for future tenants. We decided to take the extra step to invest right off the bat in the amenities we know help tenants operate better. We have also sized the first two buildings to meet the bifurcation of demand in the market for both small-bay industrial space and large, bulk distribution space,” said Joe Swensson, director of real estate development at Opus.

Opus is the developer, design-builder, architect and structural engineer of record on Sun Empire as part of its family of companies.

Sun Empire is located at East 56th Ave. and Harvest Rd. in Aurora. It is a five-minute drive from Denver International Airport, two minutes from E-470, eight minutes from I-70 and approximately 25 minutes from downtown Denver. More than 30,000 new homes are planned in the vicinity with a surrounding workforce of 60,000 transportation and warehouse workers.

The first phase of construction is taking place at the northwest corner of the property, leveraging access to existing utilities and infrastructure already in place. Later phases, which can still be influenced by tenant preference, can accommodate building sizes ranging from 200,000 sq. ft. to 1 million sq. ft. Each building in the park is slated to include substantial trailer and car parking, as well as dock and drive-in loading.

About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2022 revenue). The company has approximately 115,000 employees (excluding Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.