Oct 27, 2025

Checkr, Chevron decisions push downtown vacancy up again in third quarter The downtown Denver skyline in 2020. (Courtesy Guerilla Capturing) Office vacancy in downtown Denver ticked up again in the third quarter, driven heavily by decisions at a tech firm and an oil and gas giant. At the end of September, total office vacancy in the city center was 37.7%, according to CBRE. That was up 0.6 percentage point from the real estate brokerage’s adjusted second-quarter figure. Total vacancy includes both direct vacancy, in which unused space is marketed by a landlord, and space marketed for sublease by a tenant. Downtown direct vacancy itself was 34.8% last quarter. CBRE’s definition of “downtown” includes the Central Business District and LoDo, as well as LoHi’s Platte Street and a portion of Uptown. It doesn’t include RiNo, Cherry Creek or other spots farther afield. Downtown saw negative net absorption of 171,000 square feet in the second quarter, according to CBRE. That means 171,000 additional square feet — equivalent to seven floors at Republic Plaza — were available at the end of June compared with the end of March. Absorption can be heavily influenced by just one or two large companies. In the second quarter, Xcel’s decision to move to RiNo accounted for the entirety of the negative 270,000 square feet of absorption. In the third quarter, tech firm Checkr and Chevron were the key firms. Checkr, a San Francisco-based background check company, vacated 73,000 square feet in the 18th Street Atrium building at 1621 18th St. in the third quarter, according to CBRE. While the company still has a floor in the building for now — its initial lease was for 92,000 square feet — Checkr will eventually give that up when it moves into a much smaller space at 1125 17th St. The company leased 28,000 square feet there, according to CBRE. Houston-based Chevron, meanwhile, vacated 108,000 square feet in Granite Tower at 1099 18th St. in the third quarter, according to CBRE. Chevron is attempting to sublet the space, which it acquired as part of its 2023 purchase of PDC Energy. In May, Chevron told the state that it intended to lay off 125 employees based out of the office. The biggest downtown lease signing of the third quarter came from another oil and gas giant, EOG Resources, which took 100,000 square feet at 1550 17th St. While great news for the owner of that building, EOG’s deal will ultimately result in more downtown vacancy. That’s because the company is downsizing — the space will eventually replace EOG’s existing 165,000-square-foot lease at 600 17th St. Ken Gooden, a broker at JLL who represents tenants, said he’s hopeful that the numbers won’t get much worse. “I feel like the worst is definitely behind us, but it’s going to be a long recovery,” he said. Gooden said he still doesn’t see a clear catalyst that will transform the nature of downtown or turn the tide on leasing. He noted that the office sector in San Francisco is benefiting from the boom in artificial intelligence companies. “I don’t think there’s any desire for them to come to Denver,” he said. A prepandemic trend of tech companies adding offices here has slowed. But Gooden said his clients that are already located downtown generally aren’t talking about leaving it. One client is “looking very seriously” at 1900 Lawrence, the skyscraper completed in 2024 that needs to secure more tenants before its loan comes due in mid-2027 . For all the focus on downtown as a whole, however, one end of it has much deeper challenges. Total office vacancy is 46% — nearly one in two floors empty — in what CBRE considers Uptown, an area that includes the Wells Fargo Center and blocks to the east. “I don’t have any clients looking there, which is scary,” Gooden said of the east end of downtown. The numbers get better the closer you get to Union Station. Downtown’s nicest office buildings, known as “Class A,” continue to fare better than average. But they too had negative absorption for the quarter, and the stats are still grim, with total vacancy at 31.2%, according to CBRE. Across the broader metropolitan area, total vacancy was 28.2%, according to CBRE, with negative absorption of 264,000 square feet. The downtown Denver skyline in 2020. (Courtesy Guerilla Capturing) Office vacancy in downtown Denver ticked up again in the third quarter, driven heavily by decisions at a tech firm and an oil and gas giant. At the end of September, total office vacancy in the city center was 37.7%, according to CBRE. That was up 0.6 percentage point from the real estate brokerage’s adjusted second-quarter figure. Total vacancy includes both direct vacancy, in which unused space is marketed by a landlord, and space marketed for sublease by a tenant. Downtown direct vacancy itself was 34.8% last quarter. CBRE’s definition of “downtown” includes the Central Business District and LoDo, as well as LoHi’s Platte Street and a portion of Uptown. It doesn’t include RiNo, Cherry Creek or other spots farther afield. Downtown saw negative net absorption of 171,000 square feet in the second quarter, according to CBRE. That means 171,000 additional square feet — equivalent to seven floors at Republic Plaza — were available at the end of June compared with the end of March. Absorption can be heavily influenced by just one or two large companies. In the second quarter, Xcel’s decision to move to RiNo accounted for the entirety of the negative 270,000 square feet of absorption. In the third quarter, tech firm Checkr and Chevron were the key firms. Checkr, a San Francisco-based background check company, vacated 73,000 square feet in the 18th Street Atrium building at 1621 18th St. in the third quarter, according to CBRE. While the company still has a floor in the building for now — its initial lease was for 92,000 square feet — Checkr will eventually give that up when it moves into a much smaller space at 1125 17th St. The company leased 28,000 square feet there, according to CBRE. Houston-based Chevron, meanwhile, vacated 108,000 square feet in Granite Tower at 1099 18th St. in the third quarter, according to CBRE. Chevron is attempting to sublet the space, which it acquired as part of its 2023 purchase of PDC Energy. In May, Chevron told the state that it intended to lay off 125 employees based out of the office. The biggest downtown lease signing of the third quarter came from another oil and gas giant, EOG Resources, which took 100,000 square feet at 1550 17th St. While great news for the owner of that building, EOG’s deal will ultimately result in more downtown vacancy. That’s because the company is downsizing — the space will eventually replace EOG’s existing 165,000-square-foot lease at 600 17th St. Ken Gooden, a broker at JLL who represents tenants, said he’s hopeful that the numbers won’t get much worse. “I feel like the worst is definitely behind us, but it’s going to be a long recovery,” he said. Gooden said he still doesn’t see a clear catalyst that will transform the nature of downtown or turn the tide on leasing. He noted that the office sector in San Francisco is benefiting from the boom in artificial intelligence companies. “I don’t think there’s any desire for them to come to Denver,” he said. A prepandemic trend of tech companies adding offices here has slowed. But Gooden said his clients that are already located downtown generally aren’t talking about leaving it. One client is “looking very seriously” at 1900 Lawrence, the skyscraper completed in 2024 that needs to secure more tenants before its loan comes due in mid-2027 . For all the focus on downtown as a whole, however, one end of it has much deeper challenges. Total office vacancy is 46% — nearly one in two floors empty — in what CBRE considers Uptown, an area that includes the Wells Fargo Center and blocks to the east. “I don’t have any clients looking there, which is scary,” Gooden said of the east end of downtown. The numbers get better the closer you get to Union Station. Downtown’s nicest office buildings, known as “Class A,” continue to fare better than average. But they too had negative absorption for the quarter, and the stats are still grim, with total vacancy at 31.2%, according to CBRE. Across the broader metropolitan area, total vacancy was 28.2%, according to CBRE, with negative absorption of 264,000 square feet. This story is for our paid subscribers only. Please become one of the thousands of BusinessDen members today! Your subscription has expired. Renew now by choosing a subscription below! For more informaiton, head over to your profile.