Central Business District

Pricing trends

CBD condominiums price below the newest Union Station towers but span a wide range, from older high-rise units among the most affordable owner-occupied homes downtown to full-floor residences at the top of the city's market. The Denver table below carries the citywide numbers.

Citywide figures for Denver. Source: Local Market Update, August 2026, REcolorado data compiled by the Colorado Association of REALTORS®. Neighborhood-level figures vary; ask me for comparables on any specific home. See all area tables.

About the CBD

The Central Business District is the core of downtown: the office towers between Speer Boulevard and 20th Street, the 16th Street Mall running through the middle, and the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the convention center and the Capitol a few blocks apart. It has always been where Denver works. Since the 2000s, and faster since the pandemic emptied some of its offices, it has also become a place to live, with condominium towers on the upper floors and older buildings converted to homes.

Location

The CBD runs from Speer Boulevard and the Cherry Creek edge northeast to 20th Street, between the Auraria campus and Civic Center on the southwest and the LoDo historic district and Five Points on the northeast. Union Station is a ten-minute walk, every light rail line stops at the 16th and 18th street stations, and the 16th Street Mall shuttle runs the length of the district.

History and background

Denver's business district grew up where it stands today because the city's first railroad depot, banks and hotels clustered along Larimer, Lawrence and 17th streets in the 1860s and 1870s. By the 1890s 17th Street was the Wall Street of the Rockies, lined with the stone banks and office blocks of the silver boom, and the Brown Palace Hotel, opened in 1892, anchored its southern end.

The skyline changed twice in the twentieth century: first in the 1900s and 1910s with the Daniels and Fisher Tower and the department stores along 16th Street, then in the oil boom of the 1970s and early 1980s, when most of the glass towers that define the district went up and many of the older blocks came down. The 16th Street Mall, designed by I. M. Pei's firm and opened in 1982, turned the main shopping street into a pedestrian and shuttle corridor.

Housing arrived slowly. A few residential towers were built in the 1960s and 1990s, loft conversions followed the LoDo revival, and the 2000s added the first new condominium high-rises. The office vacancies that followed 2020 pushed the city and building owners toward conversions, and the district is now adding more homes than it has at any point in its history.

Housing and architecture

Homes here are condominiums and apartments: 2000s and 2010s towers such as the Four Seasons residences and the Spire, older high-rises like Brooks Towers from the 1960s, and lofts in converted office and department-store buildings. Office-to-residential conversions along 17th Street and the mall are adding units through the late 2020s. Parking is deeded or leased, HOA dues cover the building amenities, and views and floor height set the price.

Parks and recreation

Skyline Park runs beside the mall, Civic Center Park and the Capitol grounds are at the south edge, and Commons Park and the river trails are a short walk through LoDo. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Paramount Theatre and the convention center's Bellco Theatre carry the city's largest calendar of shows.

Dining, shopping and daily life

The 16th Street Mall, rebuilt in 2024 and 2025 with new paving and trees, holds the restaurants, the Denver Pavilions shops and theater, and the mall shuttle. Larimer Square and the Dairy Block are at the LoDo edge, and the Tabor Center and Writer Square add shops and dining. Groceries are at the Whole Foods on Wewatta or the King Soopers at Union Station, and the Capitol, the city offices and the federal courts are all within the district.