Putting Health And Tech Under One Roof Could Bring Denver Innovation To The Next Level, Experts Say
Momentum in the life sciences and technology sectors is increasing in Denver and the Front Range. But a lack of in-office collaboration could make it difficult to reach the next level of modernization, Colorado industry experts said.
“You need to bring different disciplines under one roof … to have these companies working together in order to come up with the next generation of innovation,” Afshin Safavi, CEO of Colorado Health & Tech Centers, said at Bisnow’s Denver Metro Life Sciences, Biotech and Quantum Conference.
Life sciences campuses in the Front Range typically house different industries, such as biotech and quantum, but buildings are often more siloed. And several life sciences buildings in Colorado are not accessible to the general public.
Panelists at the June 11 event suggested that repositioning vacant buildings or constructing new facilities to break down those silos would help keep Colorado at the forefront of innovation. They acknowledged, though, that it’s a solution that won’t happen overnight, given that some sectors have specific real estate needs and many startups are strapped for cash and can’t afford to sign leases in a new building.
“What we’re seeing on the quantum side has been really unique,” BioMed Realty Senior Director of Leasing Jennifer Chavez said.
“It’s really kind of one step further than what we typically see in a biology or a chemistry space, and the advanced, particularly on the computing side, is really, really sensitive environmental control, so highly regulated temperature, vibration, humidity, etc., that we typically don’t see in a life science lab,” she said.
Combining sectors under one roof is a tactic that Europe has done well, said Scott Sternberg, executive director of the University of Colorado’s CUbit Quantum Initiative. There, some new buildings have a public-facing first floor, research and lab space for various industries on floors 2 and 3, and administrative and marketing teams housed on the top level, he said.
These buildings allow the general public to see a display of what research and innovative work is being done inside and learn how the findings and technology can be applied across industries, he said. They are often placed near public transit downtown, forming an innovative corridor.
Europeans “have recognized that we need to bring [different sectors] together in one building, in one space, to drive this enabling technology into these use cases that will ultimately benefit society,” Sternberg said.
“We don’t have those kinds of facilities here in Colorado,” he added. “That’s the kind of environment we need to create because that is the future of Colorado.”
Leasing activity in the Denver and Boulder life sciences space is sustaining momentum, coming off a notable surge in the last quarter of 2025. Leasing activity totaled 85K SF in the first quarter of 2026, a significant increase from the 19K SF logged during the same period in 2025, according to CBRE’s Q1 Denver/Boulder Life Sciences Figures. But there are still plenty of life sciences vacancies, and no net absorption was recorded in the first quarter of 2026, according to CBRE.
Direct vacancy rates across Denver and Boulder life sciences buildings hovered at about 13%, albeit better than the 23.6% vacancy rate across the U.S. Meanwhile, the Boulder submarket’s direct vacancy rate increased 50 basis points to 18.4%, according to CBRE.
Turning a building into an innovative hub could fill vacancies, but it would require collaboration between leaders, academia, government and the private sector. It also comes down to companies sharing resources, panelists said.
“The last thing you want to do is spend a million dollars on a transmission electron microscope because that’s critical to your research,” Sternberg said. “What you want to do is to go to a university that has a program or another facility that has a program where you can pay as you go [to utilize the microscope].”
This is something the Colorado Quantum Incubator, a Boulder hub intended to advance quantum tech from the lab to real-world applications, is putting into practice, Sternberg added. The incubator is a space for engineers, lab techs, physicists and businesses to work and share ideas, according to an announcement about the facility’s opening.
Filling vacant life sciences spaces, however, would require additional capital at all stages of a startup’s life cycle. If startups are low on cash, they won’t be looking to renew their leases or expand their footprint, according to Kenneth Ho, chief operating officer of Fitzsimons Innovation Community, a 184-acre health and life sciences campus in Aurora.
Even when businesses raise capital, they can’t always afford the $200 to $800 per SF of tenant improvements needed to build out their own lab, Ho said.
About 90% of biotech and other advanced industries are hurting for cash and operating on a month-to-month basis, Safavi said.
“From a real estate perspective, it is extremely challenging,” Safavi said. “There is very little state or federal support right now, unless you’re in with the administration. That’s the reality.”
For developers building new life sciences facilities, Jessica Ginther, a project manager with architect and design firm HOK, recommends owners be flexible with HVAC and temperature controls.
It also helps to be aware of shared equipment in the region, including those available at incubators and universities, she said. Pointing tenants to these shared resources can help reduce their up-front equipment costs and sign smaller, lower-cost leases with fewer tenant improvements. She said these measures can help building owners to avoid purpose-built spaces and the need to rebuild those spaces when tenants leave.
“The only thing that we all know, certainly, is you need more power in whatever you’re building,” Ho said. “More electrical power is a universal, but other than that, we are at a pretty interesting inflection point.”
