Centennial outlines 50-year Midtown vision as office market softens, flags 300 acres for potential reinvestment

City of Centennial planning staff on May 6 presented a vision and implementation framework for Midtown Centennial and shared market analysis showing weakening office demand and substantial redevelopment potential across the district.

David King, senior planner for the city, told the council that Midtown remains "a major hub for employment activity" but that the office sector has softened, creating both risks to tax revenue and opportunities for reinvestment. He said the planning work is being framed on a long horizon: "we've talked about this framework as having kind of a 50 year lens."

The presentation summarized Economic and Planning Systems (EPS) analysis showing roughly a 24% office vacancy rate in Midtown (up from about 9.4% in the 2010–2019 period) and estimated a little more than 1.5 million square feet of vacant office space today. King cited recent sales that illustrate value declines: 9201 E. Dry Creek Road, formerly occupied by Arrow, sold for a little over $40 million in 2019 and for just over $12 million last year; Waterview 1–3 properties sold for nearly $67 million in 2014 and for $27 million last year.

EPS scored parcels across Midtown using factors…