The Short Version
- Stockdale partnered with a UBS equity fund to recapitalize the 1.1 million-square-foot former Shops at Northfield retail destination near Denver.
- Now rebranded as Avenues at Northfield, the center is being repositioned from a regional open-air mall into a more walkable, mixed-use town center.
- The project includes 350,000 square feet of new tenants, a pedestrian promenade and green space, and the potential for more than 1,500 residential units.
- Wayfair will backfill the former Macy’s with its first Mountain West brick-and-mortar store, while Life Time will take over the former JCPenney.
- Build-to-rent developer BB Living has filed plans for 210 rental units on the site, adding a residential component to the repositioning.
A Denver Retail Center Gets a New Role in a Growing Neighborhood
Stockdale Capital Partners is putting the final pieces in place to transform a 21-year-old regional open-air mall about 8 miles northeast of downtown Denver into an urban lifestyle experience. The placemaking endeavor got a big lift early this year when Stockdale partnered with a UBS equity fund to recapitalize the 1.1 million-square-foot Shops at Northfield, which has been renamed Avenues at Northfield.
The shopping center was an early commercial development in Central Park, a master-planned community built on the former Stapleton International Airport site. Over the past 25 years, population in the 7.5-square-mile community straddling Interstate 70 has grown to more than 30,000, fulfilling initial expectations. “When we bought the shopping center in early 2022, it was still dominated by five anchors, huge parking lots and outdated common areas and buildings, but we saw a site with tremendous potential for repositioning with the idea of creating a neighborhood,” said Bastian Peters, managing director of retail asset management for Stockdale, a commercial real estate investment firm focused on the western U.S.
Before and after: Stockdale Capital Partners’ continued repositioning of Avenues at Northfield will recast the regional destination instead into an urban-minded town center. Among the changes, Main Street, pictured at top leading to Macy’s, will convert into a pedestrian mall that will extend north toward Wayfair, which will backfill the Macy’s box. Photos and rendering above and at top courtesy of Stockdale Capital Partners
New Tenants and Public Space Drive the Repositioning
Since Stockdale purchased the property, located south of Northfield Boulevard, the company has secured more than 350,000 square feet of new tenants, closed a stretch of Main Street, begun building a 6,000-square-foot family friendly pedestrian promenade and green space on that stretch and laid the groundwork for the development of as many as 1,500 residential units on the northeast corner of the property, now home to a surface lot and Off Broadway Shoes. Among other additions, Nike Factory Store, Sephora, Lululemon and American Eagle have opened in the center, and Miniso opened in late May. Stockdale also expects to add a national grocer in 2027.
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Meanwhile, over the next 12 to 18 months, digitally native retailer Wayfair will open its first Mountain West region brick-and-mortar store, in the former Macy’s box, and a Life Time luxury health and lifestyle club will move into the former JCPenney. Both department stores closed in 2025 after telling Stockdale two years earlier that they planned to leave. The JCPenney store had come with the initial purchase of the property, and the planned departure opened the door for Stockdale’s purchase of the Macy’s space. That leaves only a Target and a handful of pad sites outside Stockdale’s ownership.
“We’ve been taking all of these actions from a healthy occupancy level, but we’re still holding some strategic vacancy that we’ll be repositioning on the heels of our Wayfair and Life Time leases,” Peters said. “We truly believe that we need a broad mix of uses so that the property is offering something for the consumer at all times of the day, each day of the week. Over the last five years especially, the area around the shopping center has gone through a major gentrification and has become much more dense.”
Changes at Avenues at Northfield include the addition of Wayfair’s first Mountain West region store, as well as a Nike Factory Store, Sephora and Lululemon. The pedestrian promenade and park will include green space for programming and events and a play area for kids. Image courtesy of Stockdale Capital Partners
Central Park’s Growth Sets Up the Next Phase
That density is a far cry from when Forest City oversaw development of the fledgling Central Park community in the mid 1990s, following Stapleton International Airport’s closing and the opening of Denver International Airport 17 miles to the northeast. Even before that time, civic leaders and philanthropists seized on the opportunity to fashion an infill subdivision across Stapleton’s 4,700 acres that embraced sustainable building and resiliency principles. The plan foresaw a roughly 40-year buildout and resulted in 12 neighborhoods with varying housing styles situated among parks, pools, trails, schools and proximity to transit. Commercial development included 3.3 million square feet of office, 100 shops and more than 70 restaurants.
Forest City opened the Northfield shopping center in 2005 before residential development reached critical mass. Because vast open spaces still surrounded the retail, Forest City leveraged the center’s location along I-70 to create a regional draw, Peters recounted. The shopping center included — along with JCPenney, Macy’s and Target — destination retailer Bass Pro Shops and Harkins Theatres, both of which are still there. In 2017, Forest City sold the shopping center to QIC as part of a sale of its interests in 10 U.S. regional mall assets valued at roughly $3.2 billion. A year later, Brookfield Asset Management acquired Forest City in an $11.4 billion deal that included the undeveloped holdings in Central Park, still known as Stapleton at the time.
More than 30 years after the Stapleton airport closed, a continued focus on resiliency, increasing density and evolving housing preferences are propelling Avenues at Northfield’s repositioning. The pandemic-induced desire for more living space in the suburbs and Denver’s push for density near transit helped Stockdale secure entitlements for housing at Avenues of Northfield, Peters said. Build-to-rent developer BB Living recently filed plans with the city to build 105 duplexes — 210 rental units of 1,600 to 2,100 square feet each — on the site.
Looking south from the pedestrian mall toward Harkins Theaters, this rendering envisions Phase 2, which will begin next year and keep that portion of Main Street open to traffic. Image courtesy of Stockdale Capital Partners
Branding and Programming Will Recast the Center as a Town Center
Additional goals at Avenues at Northfield are to build upon what Peters considers an already strong restaurant lineup — locally owned 3 Margaritas will open soon — and to program the green space with concerts, fitness classes, dining options and other activities. A rebranding strategy will overhaul the shopping center’s website, wayfinding technology and signage. Common area upgrades are also underway. In particular, Peters noted, the team is departing from a heavy aeronautical motif that no longer resonates, as current residents feel little connection to the old airport.
“We’re very focused on community-based branding and creating a safe, walkable place where families will want to spend time,” he added. “There are a lot of families with two or three kids in Central Park, and Avenues of Northfield is their downtown. It’s their town center.”
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By Joe Gose
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today