Denver 2024 Forecast: Economic and CRE Outlook

Senator Jeff Bridges represents South Metro Denver, the community where he and his brilliant wife AnnMarie grew up and where they live with their floppy dog Walt. Working across the aisle, Bridges sponsored and passed bipartisan legislation to provide full day Kindergarten to every Colorado kid, guarantee paid sick leave for every working Coloradan, and establish the Middle Income Housing Authority to keep Colorado affordable for folks like nurses, teachers, and firefighters. Before his election to the legislature, Bridges handled military and small business policy as a Legislative Assistant for US Senator Ken Salazar, ran public affairs for Union Theological Seminary, and worked on campaigns across Colorado and the country. He earned a bachelor's degree from Kenyon College and a Master of Divinity from Harvard. Bridges currently serves on the Joint Budget Committee and chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Haroun Cowans is a prominent social, financial, and philanthropic leader with over two decades of experience leading development and investment in the Five Points District of Denver, Colorado. Haroun is responsible for Goshen Development’s operations, client relations, partnerships, business development, and strategic leadership. He has held many leadership positions in real estate and finance but considers his greatest passion his work as an associate pastor at Church in the City – Beth Abraham. Outside of ministry, Haroun is the Founder and Managing Principal of Goshen Development. Haroun has built strong relationships to the Five Points and greater Denver community through his extensive work and board appointments. Throughout his career, Haroun has held many different positions in real-estate and finance including managing retail financial branches, raising capital for startups, financial advising, financial services at Merrill Lynch, Chief Real Estate Officer and commercial real estate broker. Haroun has been appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Denver Board of Human Services and the Advisory Committee for Housing People Experiencing Homelessness. He is a board member of the following organizations: Colorado Enterprise Fund, Five Points Business Improvement District, Historic Denver, Denver Health Foundation, Denver African American Philanthropists (co-chair), and Black Resilience in Colorado. He has previously served on the boards of Denver East YMCA, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Youth Biz (chair). Notably, Haroun has been featured in the Denver Post, Denver Channel 7 News, Denver Channel 9 News, 303 Magazine, Westword, Business Den and has been cover stories for Denver Business Journal, Denver Rite and Vice Magazine.

Charlie joined Milgrom & Daskam in 2020 and focuses on serving entrepreneurs, nonprofits and growth companies from ideation and formation to early and later stage capitalization through mergers and acquisition. His expertise includes companies focused on technology, general business, and real estate, including affordable housing and new market tax credit development and financing. He also focuses on business transition and succession planning for small to mid-size organizations. Most recently, Charlie was general counsel of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Previously, he was the founder of Venture Law Advisors, LLC, a law firm focused on emerging Colorado and California enterprises. He has served as a co-founder, CEO, CFO and General Counsel of private and public companies engaged in renewable energy development, medical device manufacturing, real estate acquisition and development, and retail and wholesale product distribution. Charlie has practiced corporate securities law in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and New York City. Charlie is passionate about leadership development, innovation and community engagement and serves as an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, where he taught classes on entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation and career strategy. Charlie is also a board member of Urban Peak, a Denver-based nonprofit providing essential services to youth who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Charlie holds a BA in experimental psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, MBA and JD degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles and is a University of Notre Dame Certified Innovation Mentor. Outside the office, Charlie and his wife Suzanne spend as much time as possible playing with their grandchildren, visiting beautiful beaches, traveling the world, and spending time in the Colorado mountains.

As BBCP’s President and Partner, Geoff leverages his extensive network of relationships in the real estate community to create new opportunities for the company. He is also responsible for new and existing joint venture partner relationships, as well as setting the direction and corporate strategy of the firm.

Brian Levitt is chief executive officer of NAVA Real Estate Development, a Denver-based real estate development and investment firm with a mission to prove that healthy real estate has the power to both improve lives and strengthen ROI. Brian started NAVA in 2013 to set a new standard for social stewardship in real estate by developing and delivering high-performing properties that blend modern architecture with sustainable design. The firm has been recognized as a Certified B Corporation since 2015. Responsible for NAVA’s daily operations, Brian leads the firm’s acquisitions, development, asset management and investment initiatives with a focus on projects that create dual economic and social returns. NAVA completed its Frisco Retail Center in 2015 and earned the first LEED-CS Certification in Summit County. In 2020, NAVA completed Lakehouse, a 196-unit mixed-use community that is the first project in Colorado to achieve WELL Building Certification through the International WELL Building Institute. Brian has developed and delivered projects in the Denver metro area for more than 25 years, managing 4.5 million square feet of new commercial and residential construction, and consulting on over $2 billion of real estate projects for clients. Giving back in every sense is important to Brian, who has actively served the non-profit community for over two decades. Over the course of his career, he has served as a board member or committee chair for organizations including the Urban Land Institute, the United States Green Building Council, the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, Focus Points Family Resources Center, Senior Hub and Habitat for Humanity. He is currently co-chair of ULI Colorado’s Building Healthy Places committee. Brian launched the non-profit Realwell in 2016, a Colorado-based think tank that unites healthcare professionals, wellness experts, designers, builders and the greater real estate development community to identify and implement best practices to enhance the health and well-being for all occupants. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado and went on to earn a master’s degree in real estate and construction management from the University of Denver.

Chris is responsible for the origination, underwriting, financing, and closing of all real estate acquisitions, developments, dispositions, and joint ventures of Magnetic Capital, as well as all portfolio management activities. Chris was previously a Senior Vice President at Northwood Investors, a $10 billion AUM private investment firm, where he was responsible for evaluating real estate debt and equity opportunities. While at Northwood, Chris also oversaw the firm’s investment portfolio in the western half of the United States. Prior to Northwood, Chris was a Vice President at Denver-based Oakwood Real Estate Partners where he focused on new equity opportunities and the asset management of the firm’s investment portfolio. Chris began his career in investment banking at Barclays in Washington, D.C. and New York City where he executed real estate M&A transactions and underwrote over $15 billion of preferred equity, senior-unsecured, and mezzanine debt. He also took an active role in structuring syndicated credit facilities for global real estate and financial institutions and underwrote over $8 billion of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Chris holds a dual degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Colorado and an MBA from The George Washington University School of Business. Chris is a St. Louis native and spends most of his free time chasing his two young boys with his wife, fly fishing, hiking, and skiing.

Professionally, Matt Teeters works as the Regional President of the Front Range for Alpine Bank. In this role, Matt’s responsible for all loan and deposit operations for the bank’s locations in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Personally, Matt’s a Colorado native and was born and raised in Denver. He attended Cherry Creek High School and from there, went on to Grinnell College, earning a bachelor’s degree in Economics. He completed his MBA from the University of Denver in 2013. In addition for working for Alpine Bank, Matt also serves as the board Chair for Roundup River Ranch, the Board Treasurer for Judi’s House, The Sonoran Institute, and Developmental FX, and serves as a board member for The Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Governors. As an acknowledgement for the leadership displayed with these organizations, Teeters was selected as one of ColoradoBiz Magazines Top 25 Young Professionals in 2016. Personally, Matt was married to Sarah in July 2017, has a 4-year-old daughter named Charlie and a 1.5-year-old named Dean. Lastly, his hobbies include golfing, mountain biking, skiing, and spending time outdoors.

Mike Martin brokers commercial and investment real estate in the Cherry Creek and central Denver markets, and provides tenant and landlord representation Memberships: DMCAR-Denver Metro Commercial Association of Realtors NAR Colorado Association of Realtors Appraisal Institute CFA Institute

Scott Makee serves as Senior Managing Director of Mill Creek’s Denver office, where he leads the company’s development activities for communities in the Colorado Las Vegas markets.  During his real estate career, Mr. Makee has been involved in the land acquisition, financing, development and construction of multifamily and mixed-use communities with aggregate values in excess of $1.5B across the Southeast, Texas and Mountain/Southwest markets. Prior to joining Mill Creek, Mr. Makee was a Regional Partner with Morgan Group leading all development efforts in the Denver and Phoenix metro markets. Prior to Morgan, Mr. Makee was Managing Director for Crescent Communities, where he led all aspects of the development process across the Colorado and Arizona markets.  Before opening the Denver office for Crescent in 2013, Makee lead the company’s development expansion across Tennessee, Texas and Arizona.  He began his real estate career in Charlotte, where he joined Crescent Communities as a Finance Associate.  Prior to his career in real estate development, Makee spent six years in corporate and product brand strategy, developing product and platform level naming conventions, strategies for communication and building brand value for clients, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, GSK, Hanes and others. Mr. Makee holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with concentration in Real Estate Development and Finance, and a Bachelor of Science from Wake Forest University.

John is the President and Managing Partner of Comunale Properties and its affiliated companies. John is responsible for strategic planning, capital structuring, business development and all property and asset management operations for Comunale. He is also the founder and Managing Partner of the company’s investment affiliate, The J.Red Group, and serves as the Manager of all new investment partnerships. Under John’s leadership, Comunale has become a fully integrated multi-market real estate platform with more than 30 owned and managed assets.

As Senior Vice President of Development, Reed Ruck brings nearly three decades of industry experience and numerous success stories with a history of executing thousands of multifamily units while managing debt and equity responsibilities. In his role, Reed is instrumental in Ryan Companies’ development platform within the Rocky Mountain Region, helping secure development deals and cement Ryan as a qualified developer within the area. From sourcing land to overseeing the development process through to construction, Reed will primarily concentrate within the multifamily space with additional focus in mixed-use and industrial sectors. Not only does Reed bring his impressive development experience to his role, he is driven by his passion to start projects from the ground floor and secure tangible results as he leads and helps expand the company portfolio. He is fulfilled by the unique opportunity at Ryan to stretch his skills across multiple sectors and collaborate with the skilled Ryan team throughout the process to achieve lasting results.

As Vice President of Real Estate Development, Taber is focused on the identification of new development opportunities within the Denver and Washington, D.C. markets. Taber’s 23 years of experience includes the design and development of apartment communities, hotels, manufacturing/industrial facilities and both professional and medical office buildings.

Dominic Hulse has nearly 20 years of international experience advising financial services and investment management clients on fund formations, corporate and securities matters, and derivatives transactions. Licensed to practice in New York, Colorado and the United Kingdom, Dominic has counseled investment advisers, banks and financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund managers, and other corporate entities on compliance with regulations affecting a broad range of products and asset classes. Dominic received his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2010, his LPC from Nottingham Law School in 2003, and his LL.B. from the University of Bristol in 2002.