{"id":3237,"date":"2018-01-18T23:21:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T23:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/52.10.1.109\/?p=3237"},"modified":"2018-01-19T23:05:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T23:05:30","slug":"a-true-believer-talks-about-southeast-corridor-transit-imperative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/?p=3237","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018true believer\u2019 talks about southeast corridor, transit imperative"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

By Jan Wondra<\/p>\n

M<\/span>eet Stephanie Lawrence and you can feel as if you have met a force of nature. As the Colorado managing director of Texas-based Granite Properties, one of the largest property management groups in the Denver metro area, this young powerhouse is helping to change the perceptions of what property management is and how it plays out in our suburban environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will change the skyline for Village Center, and this will change the experience for Denver south and the corridor,\u201d said Lawrence, speaking of the newest 300,000-square-foot project, the site Greenwood Village calls Village Center and Granite Properties prefers to call <\/span>Granite Place at Village Center<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The privately held company has developed more than 20 million square feet of office space in major markets around the country. In Denver metro, its headquarters in the Plaza Tower One Building at 6400 Fiddler\u2019s Green Circle in Greenwood Village. It also owns High Pointe Tower, Prentice Plaza, and One Union Square. Lawrence joined Granite Properties in 2005 and helms a tightknit local staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company\u2019s approach is bullish on transit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see firsthand the demand for light rail with the properties we own,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cIt\u2019s the amenities, the activity, the sense of community. One of the things we\u2019re really working hard on is to connect this new project and make everyone understand that this is the extension of the Village Center. There\u2019s a perception in the market that east is not as good as west, and we\u2019re working hard to connect this. We are exactly the same distance from light rail (as Plaza Tower One), and the new project will have eating options, a health club, all the options over on the west side. It\u2019s all walkable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawrence is encouraged by the recent public conversation about development around transit stops and says it\u2019s critical to our style of suburban-urban development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we differentiate from other projects is space. You go to One Belleview (Center), which sits on Denver land, and it\u2019s a tight feel. In the suburbs, people still want space. Our value proposition is all about the employee experience. Our new projects all have open community space, both inside and outside. Even the lobby of our new project will have community areas. The future will be all about the experience\u2014where do they want to come to work every day?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawrence is concerned about what she sees as a reluctance of some city governments, including Greenwood Village, to accept the development mix necessary around light rail stops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay before we got involved (on our new project), Koelbel, who owned the land, reached out to the city. Usually, there is an element of the unknown, but usually, you have a decent feel if the city is behind you or not,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cI\u2019ve had some pretty direct conversations with the city. \u2026 This council has to get off their offensive stance on multifamily.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the coming opportunity around the Orchard Station sub-area, she says, \u201cI say that (the area) can have the right mix at Orchard Station if you can do something with the Triad.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the need for housing, specifically condos in the Denver south area, Lawrence is pragmatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can do condos until they do something about the construction defect law. There are a lot of people working on it, but it isn\u2019t coming anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s enthusiastic about the proximity of Granite Place at Village Center, as well as their current buildings, to light rail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gist of the project is that we believe it offers a unique value proposition.\u00a0 <\/span>This is all about our potential clients and their employees\u2019 experience,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cPeople can\u2019t underestimate the value of connectivity to light rail. The power of the light rail is real \u2013 the station stops are where people want to be. A healthy approach to development includes this understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company is leading the market in what it calls a customer-tenant-centric mentality, according to Lawrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at a building as a community for its occupants,\u201d she said. \u201cThey need to understand that you value them. A few years ago, when you talked about your business, people talked about the building, the bricks, and mortar.\u00a0 <\/span>We changed our focus to \u2018what does the customer want?\u2019 It\u2019s a customer-focus instead of a building focus\u2014a different view of real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two things drive Lawrence forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a huge believer in Denver southeast \u2013 we own here, we experience it. There\u2019s a reason that we own this much real estate in this area,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re believers in transit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jan Wondra Meet Stephanie Lawrence and you can feel as if you have met a force of nature. As the Colorado managing director of Texas-based Granite Properties, one of the largest property management groups in the Denver metro area, this young powerhouse is helping to change the perceptions of what property management is and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-property"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}