About this episode
Downtown Denver has a lot of big, beautiful office buildings that are… empty. Simultaneously, the city is facing an ongoing shortage of housing options, particularly affordable ones. Which all leads to one big question: Could some of those vacant office buildings be converted into apartments or condos or some kind of office-shaped domicile? The answer is yes, kind of. Host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi sit down with Brad Segal — urban planner, real estate economist, CU Denver professor (and Bree’s former boss ) — to talk about the potential for a vacant-office-to-housing pipeline and the future of downtown. Paul forgot to mention this building on the 16th St. Mall that is being eyed for residential conversion. Brad spoke at length about the revitalization of downtown in the late 80s. To learn more about that, check out our interview with former mayor Federico Peña . The City of Denver is in the midst of studying our office building situation, which Esteban Hernandez at Axios dug into . For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver at denver.citycast.fm . Follow us on Instagram: @citycastdenver Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418 Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: “ Simple Steps for Better Air ” - Regional Air Quality Council Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise