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CREB Retail Brief — week of October 26, 2026

Writer: Stuart Dobson
Stuart Dobson
3 days ago
4 min read

The week in one paragraph


The biggest retail news this week was a discounted mall sale. Aspen Grove in Littleton sold for $55 million, about a third less than its 2016 price, which shows big-box and lifestyle-center pricing is still resetting. CBRE’s Q3 figures describe a tight but softening Denver market: availability is about 5%, rents are flat, absorption turned negative for the quarter, and almost no new space is being built. Food-and-beverage tenants kept leasing, with fast-casual brands entering Colorado Springs, DTC and Cherry Creek. A medical buyer also picked up a Wheat Ridge strip center, another sign that healthcare users are absorbing neighborhood retail.

Sales & Investment

  • Aspen Grove, Littleton (Denver south): Nuveen, TIAA’s asset-management arm, bought the 33-acre center at 7301 S. Santa Fe Dr. for $55 million. The seller, Gerrity Group, paid $82 million in 2016, so the price is down roughly 33%. Gerrity had planned to swap some of the retail for housing but never started construction. Alamo Drafthouse is the anchor. Price per SF and cap rate weren’t reported.

  • Wilmore Center, Wheat Ridge (Denver west): HCA HealthONE bought two single-story multi-tenant buildings at 7615 W. 38th Ave. for $14.5 million. The property is 52,743 SF on 5 acres, about $275/SF by my math. It was 84% occupied by 15 retail, food and medical tenants, with medical users in 68% of the leased space. The seller was CentrePoint Properties, represented by Jon Hendrickson and Aaron Johnson of Cushman & Wakefield. No cap rate was disclosed.

Leasing & Tenants

  • Mendocino Farms, Colorado Springs (Briargate): The Southern California sandwich chain opens Oct. 27 at The Promenade Shops at Briargate, 1765 Briargate Pkwy. It’s the brand’s first Springs location and fourth in Colorado, after Cherry Creek, Highlands and 16th Street.

  • Homegrown Tap & Dough, Colorado Springs: Gastamo Group’s seventh location and first in the Springs opens around Oct. 27. It’s taking a second-generation restaurant space at 5710 S. Carefree Circle (formerly Jose Muldoon’s) with 215 indoor and 106 patio seats.

  • PopUp Bagels, DTC (Denver south): City permits show a 1,400 SF shop at 8125 E. Belleview Ave., in the former Marina Square redevelopment. It’s one of three Colorado units in the pipeline, along with Cherry Creek and Boulder’s Moxy Hotel.

  • BoxBox, Cherry Creek (Denver central): The fast-casual salad concept is relocating from Colfax in Park Hill to 3003 E. 3rd Ave. It takes the space left by Sweet Izzy and targets an early-2027 opening.

  • Topo Designs, RiNo (Denver central): The Denver outdoor brand has opened a new store at York Street Yards. It also has a renewed chance to sell at DIA.

Closures & Distress

  • The Greenwich, RiNo (Denver central): The Italian restaurant closed after five years. Its owner, who bought it in January, said monthly sales were falling tens of thousands of dollars short. That leaves another second-generation restaurant space open in RiNo.

Development

  • Lincoln Station food hall, Lincoln Park (Denver central): Thrive Development Co. plans a 14,700 SF food hall at 1701 W. 13th Ave., with three food vendors, a sushi counter, a 36-tap self-pour wall and a beer garden. It sits next to a 14,900 SF coworking building and near Burnham Yards, the preferred site for a new Broncos stadium. No timeline or cost was given.

  • Clayworks, Golden (Denver west): AC Development finished phase one, a 188,600 SF adaptive-reuse office building on the former CoorsTek site. Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters is the first announced ground-floor retail tenant. Later phases across six blocks call for retail, dining, housing and a boutique hotel.

Market Data

  • CBRE Denver Retail Q3 2026 (metro Denver), released Oct 22:

    • Availability was 5.1%, down 10 bps quarter over quarter.

    • Net absorption was negative 98,000 SF, after positive 244,000 SF in Q2. The trailing four quarters are still positive at 115,000 SF.

    • Average net asking rent was $20.28/SF, up 0.5% year over year.

    • Completions were only 14,000 SF.

    • Investment sales totaled $293.2 million, down 16.7% from Q2 but up 95.7% year over year.

What it means for tenants / owners / investors and 1031 buyers:

  • Tenants: Even with absorption negative last quarter, availability near 5% and almost no new construction keep good space scarce. Second-generation restaurant spaces like The Greenwich’s are the best chance at lower build-out costs and some leverage on terms.

  • Owners/sellers: Neighborhood strips with medical tenants are attracting healthcare buyers at about $275/SF, as the Wilmore sale shows. Larger lifestyle centers are trading well below their 2016–2019 prices, so set pricing expectations by asset type.

  • Investors/1031 buyers: Investment volume is roughly double last year’s. Discounted trades like Aspen Grove point to basis-reset buying opportunities in larger centers. With rents flat, underwrite growth conservatively.

Sources


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