Xcel Takes 220 KSF at Denver Mass Timber Building

Rendering of T3 RiNo in Denver. Image courtesy of Hines

Xcel Energy-Colorado has preleased all 220,000-plus square feet of office space at T3 RiNo, a new Class A, six-story, mass timber office building in Denver’s River North (RiNo) Arts District. Ivanhoé Cambridge, Hines and McCaffery, the building’s co-developers, landed the leasing deal.

Upon moving into its new regional headquarters in 2025, Xcel Energy is expected to be the largest office tenant in the RiNo submarket.

Located at 3500 Blake St., T3 RiNo will feature underground parking for 376 cars, according to information provided by CommercialEdge.

The mass timber design features exposed wood, open layouts, 12-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows with mountain views and natural light. The building is expected to achieve LEED, WiredScore, WELL and ENERGY STAR certifications at the highest levels.

Amenities include a conference center, private outdoor terraces on every floor, a 5,000-square-foot fitness center, bike storage, 18,500 square feet of ground floor retail and a connection to the RTD commuter rail system.

Xcel Energy was represented on the lease transaction by Rick Schuham and Brendan Fisher of Savills. Ivanhoé Cambridge, Hines and McCaffery were represented by JLL’s James Roupp, John Beason, Don Misner and Maddy Stevenson.

“T3 RiNo will provide several benefits important to our coworkers including more parking, proximity to the RTD light rail system, greater security and more,” Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado, said in a prepared statement. “Being in a single-tenant building allows us to design collaborative workspaces for increasingly interconnected teams.”

T3 is Hines’ brand for mass-timber buildings, standing for Timber, Transit, Technology. The company currently has 26 T3 projects completed, in design or under construction in the United States and overseas.

Slow for now

At the moment, the Denver office market is experiencing a decline in office-using employment driven by hybrid work. Overall occupancy has fallen for five straight quarters and is now at nearly three percentage points below the U.S. average, according to a third-quarter report from JLL. Almost all submarkets in the area reported negative net absorption in the past quarter, primarily in older assets.

On the other hand, JLL reported that return-to-office initiatives are anticipated to gain momentum, leading to continued demand for top-tier assets.

Earlier this month, Schnitzer West, in partnership with Brue Baukol Capital Partners, began construction of 201 Filmore, a 140,000-square-foot Class A office and retail development in Denver’s Cherry Creek submarket. Like T3 RiNo, 201 Filmore has fully preleased its office space, in this case to Antero Resources.