Fairfield Drops Plan to Build 400 Apartments in South Denver

After more than two years of planning, Fairfield Residential has backed out of a proposal to build 400 apartments in south Denver, scuttling an offer to buy the development site.

The San Diego-based multifamily developer fell out of escrow to buy a strip mall and a commercial building targeted for redevelopment at 545 and 575 South Broadway, the Denver Business Journal reported.

The would-be seller, Denver-based D4 Urban, said it would seek new tenants after the collapsed deal. Terms of the fizzled sale of two parcels totalling 2.36 acres were not disclosed.

D4 Urban CEO Chris Waggett called the circumstances “deeply regrettable.”

“[It’s] no surprise that ‘time kills deals,’ especially in the current uncertain economic outlook with inflation, interest rates, construction costs and changed construction debt in terms of the availability as well as cost and leverage,” Waggett told the Business Journal.

Tommy Brunson, president of development and construction at Fairfield, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The firm came close to finalizing a contract for the properties as early as April 2021 during a flurry of development deals along Denver’s South Broadway corridor, according to the Business Journal.

In January 2022, Fairfield, along with Davis Partnership Architects and Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers, submitted plans for the 400-unit project.

Plans had called for a six-story apartment building with 137 units at 545 South Broadway, and an eight-story apartment building with 276 units at 575 South Broadway, behind Sam’s Club and a short walk from the light-rail Alameda Station.

The apartment complexes were to have swimming pools, parking, ground-floor shops and restaurants and a new park.

Waggett, master developer for Broadway Park, has previously spoken out about Denver’s permitting delays and voiced his concern regarding the lengthy absence of a planning director before Manish Kumar was appointed late last month.

“If investors can’t deploy capital with developers and know that they can get an approval and be on site within 12 to 24 months, that is a problem. That is a major problem,” Waggett told the Denver Business Journal in January.

Urban Hardwood Furniture is a tenant in the 17,000-square-foot retail strip at 545 South Broadway, but will move out at the end of the month. A 60,000-square-foot building at 575 South Broadway is vacant, as D4 Urban had ended leases in both buildings ahead of redevelopment.

AMLI Residential, based in Chicago, is now under contract with D4 Urban to buy a shopping center at 417 South Broadway, with plans to build a 365-unit apartment complex. Waggett said the deal won’t close until 2026, as the project awaits planning approvals. In the meantime, D4 Urban is looking for new tenants to lease that property.

Fairfield Residential, founded in 1985 and now led by Richard Boynton, has 42,800 apartments under management in 35 U.S. cities, according to its website. It has regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver and Washington, D.C.

— Dana Bartholomew