A Boulder Firm’s Move to 1900 Lawrence Signals Downtown Denver’s Next Chapter
Every lease signing tells a story about where a city believes it is headed. When Cooper Carry, a national architecture and design firm, chose to relocate its Colorado operations from Boulder into downtown Denver’s newest office tower, it was not just a real estate transaction. It was a vote of confidence in a downtown core that has spent the last several years working to redefine itself.
The firm has signed for roughly 5,700 square feet at 1900 Lawrence, occupying the 18th floor with room to grow from its current 25 employees to as many as 45. That growth capacity matters more than the square footage itself. It tells us Cooper Carry is not simply relocating, it is positioning for expansion in a market it expects to keep delivering opportunity across multifamily, hospitality, education, and mixed-use development.
1900 Lawrence itself is worth studying as a development case. The 30-story, 700,000 square foot tower represents a 400 million dollar bet by Chicago-based Riverside Investment and Development, completed in 2024 at a moment when a great deal of commentary questioned whether new downtown office towers still made sense. Landing a design firm with 25 to 45 employees as a tenant, within walking distance of Union Station, is exactly the kind of leasing activity that validates a project of that scale and that price tag.
What makes this move instructive for anyone tracking urban growth is the location logic behind it. Transit access, walkability, and proximity to a major transportation hub are no longer amenities, they are prerequisites for firms deciding where to plant a flag as they scale. Cooper Carry’s leadership described the choice as intentional, built around flexibility, collaboration, and serving clients across Denver and the broader Mountain West. That is the language of a firm thinking about long term positioning, not short term convenience.
Downtown Denver is in the midst of a meaningful resurgence.
That line from Cooper Carry’s CEO captures the broader thesis playing out across several North American downtowns right now. Office towers built or completed during a period of skepticism about urban cores are increasingly finding tenants who bet on renewal rather than retreat. A design and architecture firm choosing to headquarter its regional operations in the middle of that renewal is a strong signal, since these are the professionals who spend their careers reading where cities are going next.
For anyone evaluating downtown Denver’s development trajectory, this lease is a small but meaningful data point. It suggests that well located, well designed office product, paired with transit access, can still attract growing tenants even in a cautious commercial market. That is the kind of signal that shapes future land decisions across the region.
Source: The Denver Post
