With the continuing malaise plaguing the economy and consumer spending at its lowest level in a decade, unprofitable retailer operations are being shuttered leaving vacant spaces in retail shopping centers across American. According to Mary Beth Jenkins with the Laramie Company, who recently reported at the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Expo, there are 54 retail boxes currently unoccupied in the greater Denver area. This does not include the many additional automotive facilities that too lie fallow.
Development Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”) believes that many of these empty retail buildings would be desirable as a new church facilities. Retail boxes offer many of the attributes that churches are seeking today—visibility, access, parking, and services like restaurants to frequent before and after Sunday services.
Not long ago, the mere presence of a church in a retail center suggested that the shopping center had lost favor with retailers who abandoned the center for greener pastures elsewhere. But today, the reputation of a shopping center with a church has changed. These days, weekend and evening traffic from a church can transform a slowing retail center.
There are many examples of churches that occupy retail space in the greater Denver area including:
▪ Calvary Chapel South Denver: 9052 West Ken Caryl Avenue; Littleton, CO 80128.
▪ Orchard Christian Center purchased the former Beau Monde shopping center at the NWC of I-25 & Orchard Road in Greenwood Village, CO.
▪ Foothills Community Church 8270 W 80th Ave; Arvada, CO 80005.
▪ Flatirons Community Church 400 W South Boulder Road; Lafayette, CO 80026-8856.
▪ South Fellowship 6560 S Broadway; Littleton, CO 80121.
▪ Colorado Christian Fellowship 10630 E. Iliff Avenue; Aurora, CO 80014.