Approaching takeoff: Centennial, Dove Valley poised for economic upturn.

• Author: Titus, Stephen
• Position: Statistical Data Included

BILL TRINEN STARTED SELLING COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IN THE LATE 1980s, A TOUGH TIME FOR SALES, BUT THE BEST TIME, HE WOULD COME TO BELIEVE, FOR STARTING A BROKERAGE CAREER.

Over the next decade things only got better, as he developed a Rolodex of contacts who have served him to this day Now with Fuller & Co., he is concentrating on the emerging industrial and office market in Dove Valley, the area surrounding Centennial Airport.

He also is weathering the latest real-estate slump with the aplomb that comes from making plenty of friends and contacts, and selling an area that many say is loaded with untapped potential.

"It's the guys who started four or five years ago who are really suffering," Trinan said of the newer commercial brokers used to nothing but good times and easy money.

The last half of 2001 was tough on everyone -- even those with decades of experience. As Trinen points out, there was no slow decline to the market. Demand just disappeared.

"In the Arapahoe Road area ... we were building 1 million square feet (of commercial space) a year, and absorbing it," he said. Then, back in March, it was like someone threw a switch."

The death knell, said Jim Brubaker, senior vice president with Coldwell Banker Commercial, first struck the cadre of foundering tech companies that leased huge spaces in anticipation of rapid growth. When the end came, they gave space back to the market. Brubaker, who represents the 975-acre Dove Valley development, said most of the space vacated by shrinking companies went to the sublease market. This kept rents rolling in for property owners and prevented an '80s-era fire sale when prices headed south faster than Enron stock. While speculative projects in Dove Valley and elsewhere have closed down, he is beginning to see demand for new buildings return.

"Unlike the 1980s, we're not overbuilt, we're over-leased," Brubaker says.

This sounds contrary to what you'd expect in a declining market, particularly when you see signs along Arapahoe Road reading "For Sale" and "For Lease" outnumbering street signs. But Jim Kirchheimer, director of the Economic Development Group with the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, says developers were harshly disciplined by blindly overbuilding in the '80s. This time they were prepared to shut down speculative projects when they saw signs of recession.

"That's what makes this market so much different compared to 15 years ago," he said. "Then, the building just kept going and going even though it didn't get taken up. This time the majority of...