A national, full-service real estate firm announced plans to develop a large mixed-use business park in Broomfield.

St. John Properties plans to develop Simms Technology Park, a 600,000-square-foot business park near North Simms Street and West 112th Avenue. According to Brandon Jenkins, St. John Properties’ regional partner for Colorado, the firm is in the process of preliminary reviews with the city of Broomfield.

The firm purchased the 81-acre lot in April from seller Brocade Communications Systems LLC for $6.25 million. It plans to invest $95 million into the project, which when completed will comprise two multistory Class A office buildings containing 200,000 sf of space; five single-story office buildings offering 150,000 sf of office space; six flex/research-and-development buildings containing 220,000 sf of space; an 8,000-sf retail building; and four pad sites suitable for multiple retail applications. The buildings will be designed for LEED certification.

Jenkins said the firm is working with Baseline Engineering on civil engineering but has not yet chosen any other outside partners. St. John Properties represented itself in the purchase of the property and plans to manage and lease the property following construction. The project will be built on spec, with no prospective tenants signing leases until after construction begins.

Located near other major office complexes, including St. John Properties’ Walnut Creek Business Park, which contains more than 200,000 sf of office/flex space, Jenkins is confident the new development will thrive since the firm has seen success in this area for almost 20 years.

“This strategically positioned site provides the opportunity to execute our long-term development strategy in a section of Colorado that contains every essential metric for sustained growth and economic vitality,” Jenkins said. “The philosophy of St. John Properties is to remain ahead of the development curve and speculatively build commercial real estate products that anticipate the future needs of our clients. We were attracted to the site’s proximity to the existing business communities of Interlocken and Westmoor Technology Park as well as easy access to Boulder and Denver markets along U.S. Highway 36.”

Following COVID-19, Jenkins said he sees a shift toward increased demand for suburban office spaces. “Our research shows the continuing trend among users of commercial office space in all product categories is to migrate to Denver’s northwest suburbs for expansion and relocation,” Jenkins said.

“Our new single-story office properties will give a good price point compared to some of the classic, more expensive buildings in downtown areas, and the nice part about the single-story office buildings is that users get their own space. They’ll have their own front door and HVAC systems, not sharing it with anyone in an office building, so any COVID-19-related concerns that arise with shared space goes away with this type of development,” he added.

With the addition of this project, St. John Properties will have a portfolio of nearly 1.5 million sf in Colorado. Along with its Walnut Creek Business Park, the firm also owns two major developments in Golden, including Corporate Center, a fourteen-building, 600,000-sf business community and Sixth Avenue Place, a 145,000-sf project.

Despite any delays, Jenkins anticipates construction on Simms Technology Park to start in early 2021, with the first phase of the project wrapping up later that year.