Asher Luzzatto is converting two office towers into 700 apartments, a bodega, a bookstore, a bakery, a children's museum, and a movie theater. He calls it a vertical village. We call it the most ambitious bet on downtown Denver in a generation.
Downtown Denver has a vacancy problem. Nearly 40% of its office space sits empty. Buildings that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars a decade ago are trading for single-digit millions. And yet, into that void steps Asher Luzzatto -- a 38-year-old developer who bought two distressed office towers for $3.2 million and the Denver Energy Center for $5.25 million, and is now mid-construction on what could be the largest private bet on downtown Denver's future.
We sat down with Luzzatto to talk about the vision, the math, the risks, and why he thinks Denver is in a once-in-a-generation fire sale that most people are sleeping through.
The Vertical Village: What It Actually Means
Luzzatto is quick to frame his projects as something beyond housing. He describes the current moment as "V3" of the office-to-residential conversion movement -- a third generation that has to do more than just swap desks for beds.
These projects will be not just housing, they will be community building enterprises.
At High Fidelity Plaza -- the conversion of two towers at 621 and 633 17th Street into roughly 700 units -- the programming includes a bodega, a market, a bookstore, a record store, a bakery, a coffee shop, a children's museum, childcare, co-working space, art galleries, event space, a pool deck, and a basement activation. The Denver Energy Center at 1625 Broadway adds another 386 units with similar community-first thinking.
The ground floor strategy is intentional. Luzzatto says the key is having things open early -- a coffee shop at 6:30 AM for the construction worker starting a shift, and that same shop available at 9:30 AM for the remote worker walking down from their apartment. Broad hours, real programming, real commerce.
We just gotta have cool stuff. Stuff that people actually care about.
Why Denver? Reading the Fire Sale
Luzzatto bought High Fidelity's two towers for $3.2 million -- buildings that had previously sold for a combined figure well over $100 million. He picked up the Denver Energy Center for $5.25 million. By his math, he was buying at roughly $4 to $7 per square foot.
At some point people are gonna wake up and realize that downtown is in a fire sale right now. And that is a great time to buy.
He acknowledges that part of his conviction is optimism -- not purely statistical. But he points to Denver's fundamentals: climate, outdoor access, a politically engaged community, an artistic heritage, and a city government that is actively leaning into transit and housing rather than kicking the can.
He also draws a sharp contrast with other distressed downtowns. Downtown LA, he says, is a far worse environment -- and buildings there are still selling at $100 to $160 per square foot. That hundred-dollar-per-foot difference is the difference between a viable project and a dead one. Denver's fire sale, in other words, is uniquely deep -- and uniquely timed.
He was also candid that timing is partly luck. "We might have been lucky to hit the very bottom," he said. But he argues that pioneering spirit is the only way to find out.
The Technical Reality: What Makes These Projects Hard
Converting a 30-story office tower to residential is not a renovation. It is a complete reimagination of building systems, and Luzzatto walked through the major lift categories in detail.
Facade is often the highest single cost variable. The swing between replacing an entire curtain wall versus just replacing windows in place -- or leaving the facade entirely -- can represent tens of millions of dollars and can make or break a project. Each of Luzzatto's three buildings sits in a different position: 621 (built 1958) has single-pane aluminum windows with a leaky facade that needs significant work. 633 (built 1972-74) has single-pane windows but solid stonework and good original caulking -- window film brings it to code without major intervention. The Denver Energy Center (built 1979-80) has double-pane windows, meets code as-is, and has what Luzzatto calls beautiful view lines.
Asbestos is another major variable. Anything built before roughly 1974-76 is at risk. 621 has asbestos requiring remediation. 633 does not, despite being nearly the same era. DEC is clear.
MEP -- mechanical, electrical, and plumbing -- is perhaps the most operationally complex. Running entirely new building systems to individual residential units through a building designed to cool entire floors at once is a significant undertaking. Luzzatto highlighted the building core as the key variable: if elevator banks are centered, you can run MEP efficiently through the core. If they are offset, you are cutting through concrete across longer horizontal runs, which adds cost and complexity significantly.
On High Fidelity and Denver Energy Center Tower 2, they are going all-electric -- moving off steam systems entirely, which Luzzatto says is a major win for both energy compliance and Excel Energy alignment.
We just saw one in New York with the Pfizer building -- bricks started falling off. Structure is important. You're working with an existing structure and you have to make the weights and calculations work.
The DDA: Not a Blank Check
The Denver Downtown Development Authority provided $63 million to the High Fidelity project -- roughly 20% of the total project cost. The remaining stack is built from construction lending, equity, and historic tax credits (which add compliance complexity but meaningful project economics).
Luzzatto was clear: without the DDA, the project does not work. The interest expense on a fully private capital stack would make the numbers unsolvable. But he was equally clear that the DDA is not a giveaway -- it is a loan with a repayment schedule, and the board has teeth.
DDA is a critical piece for this puzzle in Denver. And I think it can be a really good model for other cities to help bridge the gap between what is financeable and what doesn't work.
On the recent Revesco rejection at 475 17th Street, Luzzatto was diplomatic but pointed. He noted that the DDA cannot afford to be dealing with projects that do not meet their underwriting criteria, and suggested the authority would be better served making a smaller number of very large, very well-vetted bets rather than spreading smaller amounts across many projects.
He also offered his broader view on deployment strategy: if he were advising the board, he would raise more money and go bigger. "This is like a government's one chance to buy the dip," he said. "They don't tend to do that. I'm happy that they did put a lot behind this. I would have just gone bigger."
The Rent Math: Why $1,700 Is the Number
This is the question that generates the most heat online. Luzzatto addressed it directly and in detail.
First, the framing: $1,700 is the market-rate starting point. Ten percent of units across both projects -- roughly 110 units out of 1,100 total -- are affordable at 60% AMI, meaning substantially lower rents for those residents.
Second, the comp set: Luzzatto says his team walked the competitive set extensively. Many of the projects High Fidelity will compete with dollar-for-dollar are older, less well-located, less walkable, and some are literally adjacent to highways. Those projects were also charging junk fees. High Fidelity is not underwriting junk fees.
Third, the value equation: residents will have access to hundreds of thousands of square feet of amenity space beyond their unit -- the commercial, the bakery, the market, the bodega, the pool deck, the co-working space, the basement programming. The per-square-foot value of what residents are renting, when you include that additional space, is meaningfully different from a comparable nominal rent at a conventional project.
I have been the one at every stage of this project to say: get costs down so we can get rent down. I want to get rent down. It's good for everybody.
Fourth -- and this is his most interesting argument -- the cost of car ownership. Luzzatto cited data suggesting total car ownership costs are approaching $1,000 per month when you include insurance, financing, repairs, gas, and parking. For a resident who moves downtown and eliminates or reduces their car dependency, the true cost-of-life impact of a $1,700 studio may be meaningfully lower than a $1,400 apartment that requires a car.
He was candid about the balancing act: push rents too high and occupancy falls. Pull rents down and you stay occupied for years. His goal is to be below the competitive set on an absolute basis while delivering above-market unit sizes and a dramatically superior amenity experience.
Denver in Ten Years
Luzzatto was careful not to project too far. He said his job is to deal with what exists today, not to promise a specific future. But he offered a framework: if High Fidelity and the other slated projects get built, there will be enough momentum and enough success stories that lenders, investors, developers, artists, and tenants can point to proof that it works.
Right now you can't really point to anything. Once you have some success stories, you can say: see, they did it, it's working, let's go.
He also had a message for Denver's creative and entrepreneurial community: the opportunity is not just for large developers. Cheap space downtown right now -- at twenty cents on the dollar compared to Cherry Creek office, by his estimate -- is a window for artists, galleries, small businesses, and community builders to plant a flag before that window closes.
"Find cheap space, bring your ideas, find investors, find grant money," he said. "Just go out and figure out how to remake this urban core into something that Denver is really proud of."
What This Means for the Denver Real Estate Market
From a real estate perspective, the activation of downtown Denver's residential base has a direct and compounding effect on the broader metro market. More residents downtown means more demand for services, more foot traffic, more retail viability, and a stronger case for employers to commit to downtown office space -- which in turn drives more residential demand.
It also means more options for buyers and renters who have historically been priced out of Cherry Creek and RiNo but want urban walkability. If High Fidelity and DEC deliver on their promise, they create a proof of concept that could attract additional institutional capital to a market that has been largely avoided since 2020.
The first domino matters. Watch this one closely.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is High Fidelity Plaza in Denver?
High Fidelity Plaza is an office-to-residential conversion project at 621 and 633 17th Street in downtown Denver. Developer Asher Luzzatto is converting two office towers into approximately 700 residential units alongside community amenities including a bookstore, record store, bakery, coffee shop, children's museum, childcare, co-working space, and event spaces. The project received a $63 million loan from the Denver Downtown Development Authority.
What is the Denver Energy Center conversion project?
The Denver Energy Center conversion involves transforming Tower 2 at 1625 Broadway in downtown Denver into 386 residential units across approximately 420,000 square feet. Also developed by the Luzzatto Company, construction is targeted to begin in late 2026 with completion in mid-2028. The project is part of a broader strategy to add residential density to downtown Denver's urban core.
How much does it cost to convert an office building to apartments in Denver?
Office-to-residential conversion costs in Denver vary significantly based on building age, facade condition, asbestos presence, and MEP systems complexity. High Fidelity Plaza carries a total project cost of approximately $315 million for roughly 700 units. Key cost variables include facade remediation, asbestos abatement in older buildings, and running entirely new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to individual units.
Why are rents at High Fidelity Plaza starting around $1,700 for a studio?
Rents at High Fidelity Plaza reflect the cost basis of a complex conversion project, competitive market analysis, and construction debt service requirements. Ten percent of units (roughly 110 across both projects) are reserved as affordable at 60% AMI. Developer Asher Luzzatto states the market-rate units are targeted below the competitive set on an absolute basis, while offering larger unit sizes and significantly more amenity space than comparable Denver apartments.
What is the Denver DDA and how does it fund downtown projects?
The Denver Downtown Development Authority (DDDA) is a tax increment financing district authorized to issue bonds for downtown revitalization. Approved by property owners in 2023, it has $570 million in total bond authorization. Funds are deployed as low-interest loans to qualifying private development and public improvement projects, repaid through future property and sales tax revenues generated by the projects themselves. As of mid-2026, approximately $242 million has been approved, with roughly $328 million remaining.
Is downtown Denver safe?
According to Asher Luzzatto and available data, downtown Denver is relatively safe compared to peer cities and has improved significantly since 2021-2022. Luzzatto noted that downtown feels empty more than unsafe, and that increased residential density -- the goal of projects like High Fidelity -- is the primary solution to that perception.
Published by The Denver Deal | thedenverdeal.com | Real estate coverage by The Denver Group | denvergroupre.com
