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Building Denver’s Next Great Sports Districts

How sports-anchored developments are driving billions in investment, transforming infrastructure and creating new destination districts for the city

Robert Cohen

Robert Cohen

Chairman & CEO

IMA Financial Group

Walter Isenberg

Walter Isenberg

Co-Founder, President & CEO

Sage Hospitality

Jamie Torres

Jamie Torres

Denver City Council

District 3

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson

Senior Principal

HOK

Troy Orzech

Troy Orzech

VP

JLL

Yvette Roman
Moderator

Yvette Roman

Founder | Principal | Owner

Ellipsis Construction

Robert Cohen

Chairman & CEO

IMA Financial Group

As Chairman and CEO of the IMA Financial Group, Inc., an integrated financial services company, Robert Cohen is responsible for the company’s core strategic plan, including organic growth, M&A and building an industry-leading employee culture. Since assuming the role of CEO of IMA in 2000 Rob has led the enterprise to over 700% revenue growth while building a client focused culture rooted in employee ownership. His vision for IMA is to remain big enough to provide all the resources necessary for any client, but small enough to always focus on each client and service their individual needs.

IMA’s commitment to the community began when the company was incorporated and simultaneously created the IMA Foundation. Rob has built upon this commitment by defining IMA’s mission statement as: Protecting Assets, Making a Difference.

Rob strongly believes in personally giving back to the community and has served on more than 20 non-profit boards throughout his career in a variety of leadership capacities. Currently Rob serves on Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation (Co-Founder & Past Chair), Colorado Succeeds, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce (Past Chair), Denver Sports (Founder & Past Chair), Downtown Denver Partnership (Past Chair), Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. (Past Chair), United States Olympic Museum, United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation and Visit Denver (Past Chair).

A native of Kansas, Rob received his bachelor’s degrees in both Risk Management and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. He went on to earn his Charter Property Casualty Underwriters designation (CPCU). His local and national professional memberships include Colorado Concern, Colorado Forum, Assurex Global, Intersure (Past Chair), World Presidents’ Organization, Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (Past Chair), and World Broker Network.

His many recognitions include the National Philanthropy Day in Colorado “Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser” award (2002), the Partners in Philanthropy “Corporate Citizen of the Year” award (2011), the Urban Legend Award (2018), the Most Admired CEO Award (2019), Metropolitan State University of Denver’s “Marathon Award” (2022), the Denver Business Journal’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Award (2022), Visit Denver’s Hall of Fame Inductee (2023), and Insurance Business America’s Hall of Fame Honoree (2023).

He and his wife Molly reside in Denver and have three sons and one daughter.

Walter Isenberg

Co-Founder, President & CEO

Sage Hospitality

The co-founder of Sage Hospitality, Walter Isenberg serves as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Denver-based Sage Hospitality specializes in the operations, development and capital transactions of hospitality real estate. Sage Hospitality owns and operates hotels and restaurants in 26 states. Isenberg directs all company operations, including property management, real estate transactions and brand development.

Isenberg co-founded Sage Hospitality in 1984 with partner Zachary Neumeyer. The company’s history in hospitality includes ground-up development, historic-adaptive re-use, acquisitions and third-party management. Sage hotels include well -known brands such as JW Marriott, Starwood Collection, Westin and Hilton, as well as several independent hotels. In 2006, Sage formed the Sage Restaurant Group, which operates unique high-volume restaurants inside its urban hotels.

Jamie Torres

Denver City Council

District 3

Councilwoman Jamie Torres took office as the Denver City Council Member

representing District 3, Denver’s westside, on July 15, 2019. She was elected to serve

as Council President in 2022 through July of 2024.

Jamie’s roots are directly in the west Denver community where she and her husband

currently call home. She is a third-generation Denverite, her grandmother was born in a

small house in the Curtis Park neighborhood and grew up in the old Auraria

Neighborhood and her grandfather grew up in Sun Valley. Her family moved to Villa

Park in the 1960s where Jamie has now lived for over 30 years. It is her home and the

community is her inspiration.

Jamie is a community advocate and community connector to her core. Prior to being

elected, Jamie spent 18 years in the Human Rights & Community Partnerships Agency

(HRCP) in the City and County of Denver where she helped ensure Denver is focused

on the civil rights, human rights, and social justice needs of its residents. Jamie was

both Deputy Director of the Agency and Director of the Denver Office of Immigrant &

Refugee Affairs, an office she started in 2005 because she saw a need for greater

immigrant inclusion. Over the years in working for local government, Jamie worked

directly on issues of poverty, equity, food insecurity, community and civic engagement,

immigrant integration, and approaching innovative ways of direct leadership

development in underrepresented communities.

Jamie is committed to representing the incredible community of District 3, advocating for

key services and amenities that impact our quality of life, and ensuring the city delivers

on its commitment to equity for the good of our collective future.

Bill Johnson

Senior Principal

HOK

Bill Johnson is the design principal for HOK’s Denver office and is a recognized

leader in the design of sports and entertainment facilities. Over the course of his 35-year career, Bill has applied his expertise and design sensitivity to a wide variety of project types striving to create spaces that are good neighbors, innovation drivers and great urban places. He is passionate about blurring the boundaries between sport and culture and communicating how architecture can elevate the human experience. His approach is defined by his ability to design award-winning buildings that contribute to the vitality of the broader community.

Yvette Roman

Moderator

Ellipsis Construction

Yvette Roman is the owner and founder of Ellipsis Construction, a licensed, women-owned commercial General Contractor based in Denver, CO. With over a decade of experience in commercial construction and a degree in civil engineering, Yvette has managed complex public and private projects in both Los Angeles, CA, and Denver, CO. Her company holds a Class A General Contractor License, allowing them to take on commercial projects of any scale across Colorado, with a current focus on Tenant Improvement projects.

Ellipsis Construction was founded in the wake of COVID, a turning point that led Yvette to embrace entrepreneurship. Committed to relationships, sustainability, and innovation, she has streamlined operational processes to reduce inefficiencies and human errors like double entry. Her team is dedicated to delivering high-quality, environmentally responsible projects that ensure long-term success for businesses.

The Rise of Experience-Driven Entertainment

Exploring how experiential venues, destination restaurants, and hybrid entertainment concepts are redefining urban placemaking and driving real estate demand

Steve Nalley

Steve Nalley

Chief Real Estate Officer

National Western Center Authority

Jose Carredano

Jose Carredano

Managing Partner

Fox Park

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon

CEO

Urban Legacies - URWLD

Zachary Kotel

Zachary Kotel

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Lavender Hill Cultural District

Ashley Clark

Ashley Clark

Director

Mortenson

Melyssa Hartzell
Moderator

Melyssa Hartzell

Principal

Martin/Martin, Inc.

Kevin Bacon

CEO

Urban Legacies - URWLD

30+ years’ experience in the hospitality industry, including restaurants, family leisure and consumer entertainment

In the mid 1990s co-founded Frankie & Benny’s, which became one of the UK’s largest casual dining brands, overseeing growth from the first site to over 180 restaurants across the UK and Europe, with a workforce of 6,500+ employees

Group Managing Director and board member of FTSE 250, stock market listed The Restaurant Group plc (mkt cap £1.2 billion); 7 restaurant brands - including Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquitos, Garfunkel's, Blubeckers, Brunning and Price - across almost 350 sites nationwide

Managing Director of Jamie Oliver International, responsible for expanding Jamie’s highly successful “Jamie’s Italian” brand overseas in markets, including the Middle East, Australia and Asia

Recipient of UK’s ‘Leisure Operator of the Year 2008’ at the prestigious UK Retail and Property Awards in recognition of being the industry’s leading expert on provincial developments

Senior Non-executive Director, TeamSport Indoor Go Karting, Europe’s largest go-karting leisure operator (current)

Past non-executive director / senior advisor roles: Chester Racecourse, QSR Automations, Flypay/Flyt, Ignite Group, SNUG Bars

Ashley Clark

Director

Mortenson

Ashley Clark is the Director of Project Development at Mortenson, a Minneapolis-based family-owned company that's had a presence in Denver for nearly 45 years. She began her career as a field engineer after graduating from Iowa State University in 2013 with a degree in construction engineering.

Ashley’s career spans over a decade, with her early years focused on high-profile Sports + Entertainment projects like U.S. Bank Stadium, Chase Center, Climate Pledge Arena, and Geodis Park. She then moved on to direct large-scale projects in the rapidly growing data center sector.

Ashley is a passionate advocate for women in construction. She co-founded three business resource groups at Mortenson that support women and parents. She is relocating from Omaha, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado with her husband and two daughters and is excited to get to know the Denver community.

Melyssa Hartzell

Moderator

Martin/Martin, Inc.

Melyssa Hartzell, a Principal at Martin/Martin, Inc. (370+ employee-owned full-service survey, civil and structural engineering firm based in Lakewood, Colorado with 9 offices across the Nation), brings extensive experience in project management in civil engineering, focusing on land development, site development, and urban infrastructure projects. Her expertise spans street layout and roadway design, site grading, wastewater and waterline systems, and comprehensive drainage and erosion control reporting. Over her 17-year career, she has built a strong track record working with Colorado municipalities, gaining in-depth knowledge of entitlement processes and regulations. In addition, Melyssa has cultivated close relationships with architects, developers, and key stakeholders within the sports community, positioning her as a go-to professional for successful project execution in high-profile, complex developments. Notable projects include: Colorado State University (CSU) Canvas Football Stadium, National Western CSU SPUR, Ball Arena Redevelopment, Denver Broncos Training Center, University of Colorado Boulder Potts and Prentup Fields, Colorado Rockies Coors Field and East Plaza, Victory Crossing, and multiple golf courses and recreation centers.

WHY THIS MATTERS

What We'll Cover

  • Experience-Driven Demand And Hybrid Concepts

    • The shift from traditional dining and retail to immersive social experiences, food halls, rooftop bars, pickleball clubs and entertainment-first venues is driving real estate demand.

  • Placemaking Through Sports And Entertainment

    • How mixed-use districts anchored by stadiums, restaurants, music venues and experiential retail are transforming Denver’s urban identity and creating new destination neighborhoods.

  • Economic Impact And Year-Round Activation

    • The role of sports and entertainment developments as economic engines, fueling billions in investment, tourism, job creation and strategies to activate these areas 365 days a year.

  • Public-Private Partnerships And Deal Structuring

    • Innovative financing models, leasing strategies for experiential operators and partnership structures that deliver returns for both developers and city stakeholders.

  • Neighborhood Creation And Urban Revitalization

    • Turning isolated venues and underutilized land into vibrant connected districts with housing, hospitality, retail and cultural amenities that reshape the city.

How You’ll Do More Business: At this event, you’ll connect directly with the developers, owners, operators and city leaders driving Denver’s most talked-about sports, entertainment, dining and retail projects. Discover upcoming development opportunities, gain insight into emerging entertainment concepts and build relationships with the decision-makers behind mixed-use districts transforming the city.

Who attends: Developers, investors, venue owners, experiential operators, architects, engineers, general contractors, capital partners, public officials and community stakeholders shaping Denver’s sports, entertainment and destination real estate projects.

Why should you attend: Bisnow events bring together the biggest power players in the industry so you can identify opportunities, build your network and expand your business. With the largest audience of commercial real estate professionals in the world, no one knows how to help your business more than we do.

Questions about your ticket purchase or interested in sponsoring? Reach out to customerservice@bisnow.com for customer support. For questions, recommendations, comments, or press inquiries please email Kay VanAsdale at kay.vanasdale@bisnow.com. To request disability-related accommodations, please contact janet.fernandez@bisnow.com no later than seven business days before the event.

PROJECTS & NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Venue

Coors Field
1601 Park Ave West
Denver, CO 80205

Ballroom/Floor: Gate C (21st & Blake Street)


Please click HERE for parking instructions.

Get Directions

Agenda

Time Activity
2:00 PM
3:00 PM
Breakfast & Networking
3:00 PM
3:45 PM
The Rise of Experience-Driven Entertainment

Exploring how experiential venues, destination restaurants and hybrid entertainment concepts are redefining urban placemaking and driving demand

3:45 PM
4:00 PM
Networking Break
4:00 PM
4:45 PM
Building Denver’s Next Great Sports Districts

How sports-anchored developments are driving billions in investment, transforming infrastructure and creating new destination districts for the city

4:45 PM
5:45 PM
Closing Networking and Coors Field Tour

We’re excited to once again offer an exclusive stadium tour experience for up to 30 attendees. The 30–45 minute tour will take guests through the Hallway of History, Visiting Clubhouse, Dugouts, and along the Warning Track — offering a behind-the-scenes look at some of the stadium’s most iconic spaces.

PS - Want the attendee list for free?

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