The Council approved Alterra's lease in the former Denver Post building, 8-3
After a one-week delay, the 12-year headquarters lease passed over objections to its concessions. Alvidrez, Gonzales-Gutierrez and Lewis voted no.
The Denver City Council on Monday, Nov. 9, approved a 12-year lease for Alterra Mountain Company's new headquarters at 101 W. Colfax Ave., the former Denver Post building the city owns, by an 8-3 vote, the Denver Gazette reported. Council members Flor Alvidrez, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Shontel Lewis voted no, the Gazette reported.
Why it matters: the city bought the 11-story building for $88.5 million in 2024, and owes $7.3 million on its debt next year, according to the Gazette. Alterra, the company behind the Ikon Pass, becomes a major tenant on rent terms some members called too generous.
The lease is 26-1337. The companion funding agreement with the Downtown Development Authority is 26-1334. The city's own record of the votes isn't posted yet; the meeting's minutes are still in draft.
The terms
According to the Gazette:
- Rent: about $15.7 million in expected revenue over the lease, but only $5.25 million of it base rent after concessions, down from $14.94 million. Base rent payments start in October 2028.
- Credits: about $9.7 million in rent credits toward a $19.3 million renovation.
- Free time: nearly two years of free rent, about one year during construction and one after move-in, and two years of free parking.
- Loan: a separate $7 million loan from the Downtown Development Authority at 2% interest.
- Jobs: nearly $2 million in state job-creation tax credits tied to adding 106 employees over eight years, plus up to $485,000 in city performance grants. Alterra has 275 jobs in Denver now.
City officials defended the concessions as in line with a competitive downtown office market, the Gazette reported.
What members said
"We are poaching local tenants from local businesses in a way that any other landlord cannot compete," Alvidrez said, according to the Gazette. She also said she had asked for the building's financial statements and still hadn't received them.
Paul Kashmann voted yes and called it "a sweetheart deal," the Gazette reported.
What our records add
The delay. Alvidrez used a Council rule on Nov. 2 to push the vote back a week, to Nov. 9 (our story). The Council's record noted the last regular meeting in the lease's review period was Nov. 23.
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The committee version. When the lease cleared the Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Oct. 20, staff described it as $22 a square foot for about 64,654 square feet (committee video). Our first story has members' questions from that meeting.
The other tenant. The Gazette reported that The Denver Post stopped making its $649,550 monthly lease payments, which undercuts the city's projections for the building. Separately, CBS Colorado reported that a lawyer for Alterra's current landlord wrote that Alterra is bound by a lease there until May 31, 2029 (CBS Colorado).
The building is in District 10, represented by Chris Hinds.
What's next
We'll add the city's roll call for both items when the minutes are final. Alterra's renovation comes first; base rent doesn't start until October 2028.