End of Third Quarter 2025 High Frequency Update: Downtown Denver Hits Highest Recovery Rate Since Pandemic

Downtown Denver closed out the third quarter of 2025 with remarkable momentum, with September 2025 marking the highest recovery rate since the onset of the pandemic. As construction completed on 16th Street, leading to the Grand Opening Celebration that welcomed close to 30,000 people on October 4, downtown continues to demonstrate substantial progress across key economic indicators.

September's total pedestrian traffic reached 93% of September 2019 levels, marking the strongest recovery rate to date and three percentage points higher than September 2024. This achievement caps a successful summer, with August reaching 86% of foot traffic recovery. Year-to-date, average daily visits have increased by 6,200 per day compared to 2024, driven primarily by visitors and residents, user groups that are now at or above pre-pandemic levels.

Downtown has welcomed 57 new ground-floor businesses since the start of 2025. August brought seven new openings. September additions included Blend.Co, Devil's Drink, Quad Side Tavern on the Auraria Campus, and Mimi Bubble Tea at The Outer Space on 16th & Welton. In October, XSO Night Club opened in the Denver Pavilions and Denver Clayroom opened on Platte Street Striving to bring high quality local food options at a great value, Ball Arena added six popular Denver restaurants to the stadium, including Big Belly Brothers (sections 148 and 379), Redeemer Pizza (sections 126 and 342), Nola Jane (section 303, Illegal Burger (section 102), Mexico City (sections 118 and 330) and Jake's Baby D's (section 134).

The downtown hotel market experienced subdued summer performance, with August occupancy at 73% (down five percentage points year-over-year) and RevPAR of $157 (down $24 from August 2024). This performance aligns with national trends as travel has slowed down due to economic uncertainty. A testament to downtown’s outstanding hotel offerings, the Crawford, Four Seasons Denver and Populus were each awarded one Michelin Key. The Michelin Guide also highlighted The Rally Hotel, Thompson Denver, The Brown Palace, Hotel Teatro and The Art Hotel Denver as Selected hotels for high-quality stays.

The office market displayed encouraging signs of stabilization in Q3, with net-positive absorption of 108,550 square feet in early Q4. Downtown’s overall vacancy rate remains at 28% with Upper Downtown as the submarket with the highest vacancy rate at 31.4%.

The return-to-office trend shows significant improvement, with September's weekday employees reaching 64% of 2019 levels—a seven percentage point jump from September 2024. This, combined with stabilizing office vacancy rates and net positive absorption in Q4 to date, signals encouraging movement in the office market.

For complete data analysis, detailed charts, and additional insights, read the full August and September 2025 High Frequency Update reports. Please reach out to Analise Lajeunesse for data-related inquiries, and for media inquiries, please contact Apoorva Gundu.