Retail Shopping Center Buildings in Colorado

Rent starts the day the doors open, so a retail shell is judged in weeks, not months. Every week the building sits half done is a week the tenant is not paying, and the lender knows it. That is why strip centers, junior boxes and single-tenant retail pads are a natural fit for pre-engineered steel. The frame is designed once, fabricated off site and erected fast.

We build retail shells across Colorado, from a four-bay strip to a large box with a mezzanine and a canopy. We name the snow and wind package first, because a front canopy and a tall storefront both pick up drifting snow, and the lead time next to it. Then we price the shell in dollars per square foot and separate the storefront, the canopy and the site work, so the developer can see what a tenant will pay to finish.

Retail is also a visibility business. A building has to look good from the road at 45 miles per hour. We spend money on the front elevation and keep the back plain, and that is where steel gives you the most for the least.

What a retail shell includes

Foundations and piers, a slab sized for the tenant mix, the rigid frame, roof and wall panels, a parapet or canopy, and the storefront openings framed and ready for glass. Rear service doors and dock access where a tenant needs them. A fire-rated demising wall between tenants when the code requires one. Roof curbs and framing for rooftop units that the tenants will add later.

For the face of the building we use insulated metal panels, brick or stone veneer over a metal stud backup, and stucco, in whatever mix the design needs. Deep canopies and tall pylons are framed in steel so they sit square and are straight. For interior walls that take abuse, see liner panels and trim.

Where the money goes on a retail pad

The shell is usually less than half of the project. Site work, parking, utilities, tenant allowances and storefront glass take the rest. Frame cost moves with clear height and bay width: a tenant that needs 18 feet of clear for racks costs more than one that needs 12 feet for a nail salon.

We help the owner lay out the bays so that most tenants fit without custom steel. Typical bays of 25 to 30 feet are economical, and a central bay with a larger span can serve a junior box. Mezzanines for storage or offices are cheaper than a second floor. If you plan a mixed-use project with housing above, read our notes on multifamily and mixed-use construction, because the structure above retail changes the frame. A pad hotel beside the center is a separate building with its own load path, covered under hospitality and hotel construction.

Corridors where retail is moving

Retail follows the interchange. Orchard Town Center, an outdoor mall with more than 90 specialty retailers, sits at I-25 and 144th Avenue in Westminster. FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield opened August 11, 2000 and has about 1,467,566 square feet of gross leasable area. Those are large centers, and they show how much retail depends on a good interstate or highway connection.

The newer growth is farther north. The Ridge at Johnstown is a 265-acre master-planned mixed-use site with 90 acres of I-25 frontage and about 100,000 vehicles per day of freeway visibility. A separate Highway 60 and I-25 project in Johnstown was reported with more than 1,000 housing units and more than 1 million square feet of retail. In Firestone, the Turner Commons site at I-25 and Firestone Boulevard was annexed in 2012 and zoned for regional retail and commercial uses. The pattern is clear: new rooftops, then new retail at the interchange.

Getting a tenant open on time

A retail shell schedule is built backward from the tenant's opening. We ask for the lease commencement date, then count back the days for tenant buildout, our shell turnover and the steel lead time. If the steel cannot arrive in time, the owner needs to know now, not in month three.

On a strip center we turn over bays one at a time when the lease calls for it. That means finishing the roof and the front of a bay first, then handing the rest later. It takes planning, and it is worth the planning, because it lets one tenant open while the next is still being framed. Deliveries matter too. A busy center needs a laydown area that does not block the fire lane, and we agree on trailer and crane locations with the owner before the first truck rolls.

Services retail owners ask for

Most retail developers need a roof that does not leak, a front that photographs well and a building that goes up on schedule. Commercial metal buildings is the umbrella service for the work. A standing seam metal roof removes most of the penetrations and fasteners that cause leaks. Panels and trim give the storefront a clean top edge.

If a tenant such as a fitness operator wants a tall, wide room, take a look at recreation and sports facilities. Those buildings often start as retail boxes. We can price a pad site with a plain shell and a second option with a tenant-specific frame.

Price a retail shell

Give us the bay count, the clear height and the interchange. We will return a load package, a lead time and a shell price per square foot.