With Most Parcels Spoken For, Superior's 156-Acre Urban Core Nears Full Build‑Out
Following the pandemic and the Marshall fire, the town of Superior is making fast progress on its 156-acre urban core development project, with just a handful of parcels left before the district reaches full build-out.
The double whammy of a global health crisis and the 2021 outbreak of what would become the most destructive fire in Colorado history threw up stumbling blocks for the master-planned downtown redevelopment project that was years in the making.
Although work continued during those challenging times, the town has gained momentum since the impacts of both the pandemic and the fire have subsided, turning long‑vacant land into a functioning neighborhood with parks, businesses and daily activity.
“We ran into a lot of turbulence that you couldn’t control,” JBR Managing Partner Rylan Reed said of downtown Superior’s development. “It almost just rose out of the ashes and exploded after Covid and the [Marshall] fire. It’s been really fun to see.”
The majority of downtown Superior’s developments will be completed by fall 2027, bringing approximately 195K SF of retail, office and recreational facilities and 1,352 apartment units and homes to the growing town south of Boulder, according to Superior Mayor Mark Lacis and the town’s planning department.
“Most of Superior is a master-planned community that was built in the 1990s,” Lacis said. “It’s a suburban [town] … but it was really lacking an urban core.”
Superior spans 4 square miles, including the large downtown, and has a population of about 14,000 people, Lacis said. About 20 years ago, the town annexed vacant land near the southeast corner of U.S. 36 and McCaslin Boulevard, setting the stage for a new downtown core.
Work on the master-planned development didn’t really begin until 2013, when an ice skating rink and sports complex wanted to relocate to the area, Lacis said.
Blue Sport Stable was the first business to move to the new downtown in 2018. Since then, several new businesses and residents have moved to the area, and there’s more to come.
“It has been remarkable to see the transformation from largely undeveloped land into a real, functioning community,” PMB partner and Executive Vice President Bill Jencks said in an email to Bisnow. “Downtown Superior now has residents, businesses, parks, civic spaces, recreation amenities and daily activity that simply did not exist there a decade ago. At the same time, it is still a young downtown and it will continue to mature as the remaining development blocks are completed.”
Jencks has been working to develop downtown Superior since 2016. He previously worked as the vice president of real estate for Ranch Capital, which purchased the land in the early 2010s to develop downtown.
From 2016 to 2021, Jencks and his team completed the majority of the area’s horizontal infrastructure and sold most of the parcels to vertical developers, he said. Now, Jencks works for PMB, which owns an undeveloped portion of downtown.
Construction is underway on a 251-unit mixed-use development, a 114-room hotel and a 50-unit affordable senior community in downtown Superior.
Superior is “pretty close to being built out,” Lacis said, but there are a few parcels in the downtown area that have yet to be completed, giving developers and businesses a rare opportunity to help shape the growing town.
On a vacant parcel near Main Street and Superior Drive, developers have proposed a two-story, 9,800 SF food hall and a 2,500 SF pizzeria with an outdoor patio.
JBR Superior Holdings and Stanley Concepts, the group behind Golden’s Golden Mill and Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace, are developing these concepts and buildings. The joint venture purchased the approximately 0.61-acre property in May for $1.25M, Reed said.
Construction on the two buildings is expected to begin by the end of the year and cost between $6M and $10M, Reed said. Both businesses are expected to open in fall 2027, he said.
A vacant property on the north side of downtown is expected to become a 6,100 SF Bigsby’s Folly Craft Winery & Restaurant with a rooftop deck. It would be the winery’s second location, in addition to its spot in Denver’s River North Art District, and is expected to be a “gathering place for both the immediate neighbors and the larger Superior community,” according to a project narrative sent to Superior in April 2024 on behalf of Coburn Partners, a firm working with Bigsby’s Folly on the new location.
The Bigsby’s Folly project has received town approvals to pull permits and begin construction but is working on financing, Lacis said, adding that this development would be “an absolute game-changing” part of downtown.
Another swath of undeveloped land at Main Street and McCaslin Boulevard could become a 270K SF life sciences and innovation campus developed by PMB. Although the company received city approval for the project in January 2024, construction has not begun.
Work could begin anytime, but PMB is waiting for prerequisite leases or tenant commitments, Jencks said.
“We continue to believe the location, amenities and surrounding community create a compelling opportunity for life science and innovation users,” he said. “That said, the office and life science real estate markets have continued to soften, and we are actively evaluating alternative uses that could meet current market demand while still complementing Downtown Superior and contributing to the long-term activation of the district.”
Superior isn’t the only town in the Denver metro undergoing major expansions.
In nearby Lafayette, a developer has proposed a nearly 39-acre project with 453 multifamily units and 168K SF of commercial space anchored by a Target and Trader Joe’s, according to the Denver Business Journal.
Parker, just southeast of Denver, is expanding its downtown with more than $400M in new developments, according to Axios.
And farther south in Castle Rock, Confluence Cos. is building a $400M mixed-use development with condos, apartments, a hotel, restaurants, offices and a sports and recreation center, according to the DBJ.
