To say retail is strong in Denver is an understatement. But the full basis point tightening that retail landlords in the metro area saw last year had a lot to do with the help of demolition. Retailvacancies dropped from 8.5% to 7.4%, and PPRs Paul Leonard(an affiliate of CoStar Group) says the razing of the 1.3M SF Westminster Mall really boosted occupancy.

Thats not the only thing helping fundamentals: The household income is 15% above the US, so you can claim that theres probably a little bit more disposable income in Denver, Paul says. And while job growth was double the national average (3% versus 1.5%), job growth in retail posted an impressive 5.6% growth i n 2012, versus less than 2%. The top retail deal last year came in Q4 when Sportsmans Warehouse (which has its own line of boats, so thats cool) inked a new 51,500 SF location. And Paul says many lifestyle-related retailers have been demonstrating strong growth in Denver, including Cabelas plans for two new 100k SF stores in metro Denver.