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Grant McCargo remembers when commercial real estate in downtown Denver sold for cents on the dollar. That was back in the early 2000s, when he and his Denver-based community development firm, now known as Urban Villages, first began to make their mark on the Mile High City.
A lot has changed in Denver’s built environment since then, and Urban Villages, which has developed more than $2 billion in Mile High City real estate since 2004, is responsible for much of it. They’ve turned a sugar beet producer’s headquarters into an award-winning mixed-use city block (Sugar Block), transformed a historic roadway into a pedestrian-only dining hub (Larimer Square), and this fall, they’re opening the country’s first carbon-positive hotel (Populus).
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In honor of Urban Villages’ 20th anniversary, we sat down with McCargo to discuss the firm’s most influential revitalization projects, commitment to environmental stewardship, and what they see for the future of Denver’s skyline.
Editor’s note: The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
5280: What’s the backstory behind Urban Villages?
Grant McCargo: I grew up on a small farm in western Pennsylvania, running barefoot through the fields and forests, growing our own food. Connecting to nature has been a core value my whole life. This early connection to nature has deeply influenced how we think about future cities and how we incorporate nature into urban spaces.
You moved to Colorado in the 1980s. How did Urban Villages get started?
Our company was originally called Urban Real Estate Partners, but by 2004, we had shifted our focus from individual buildings to larger, district-scale projects where our initial focus on adaptive reuse—restoring old buildings rather than building new ones—was not always the best option. This evolution led to our rebranding as Urban Villages.
On paper, Urban Villages aims to “imagine, build, and activate the most extraordinary neighborhoods and transform today’s urban centers into tomorrow’s livable and vibrant villages.” What does that look like in practice?
We’re always looking at how we can do things differently—not just to be different, but to create what’s appropriate for the place. In business school, when you’re in real estate, they tell you to do the same thing over and over again, repeating successful models and squeezing margins. Our approach is to think big. We look at each place in each moment in time and each location and ask, “What is the best we can do? How can we push it the furthest?” We think about the long-term life cycle of materials, asking how a building will look and feel 100 years from now.
And what are some shining examples of that approach at play?
When we began working on Larimer Square with Jeff Hermanson, we wanted to enhance this historic block by making it even more unique and pedestrian friendly. Initially, there was resistance from retailers and city leaders who wanted to keep car traffic, but COVID gave us an opportunity to experiment with closing the street to vehicles, which is how it remains today. We also activated the rooftop of the Larimer parking garage by adding a small urban farm, bringing nature and food production into Denver’s urban core. It was exciting to see pollinators—and even rabbits—appear in our rooftop gardens, showing that nature can thrive in the city.
Prior to that, in the early 2000s, we purchased the Historic Sugar Building, originally built in 1906 for the Great Western Sugar Company, a leading sugar beet producer at the time. The Sugar Block project spurred other adjacent developments, culminating in the mixed-use SugarCube building, which houses apartments, offices, ground-floor restaurants, and Little Owl Coffee. The parking structure even features a solar farm on the roof. The last phase of this project involved developing a 25-foot-wide lot on Wazee Street. LoDo design guidelines at the time required new buildings to be 85 percent brick, but we came to them with an idea for a very modern, glass-and-steel building. They initially denied us, but we worked with the review board to allow our structure by attaching it to the existing 100 percent brick historic building. It was very expensive to construct a skinny little building with a glass face, but it was the right thing to do for many reasons, including the ability to add a rooftop terrace to the fifth floor of the offices in the historic building.
In 2008, that five-story glass building known as the SugarCube won a Mayor’s Design Award for its “excellence in architecture, urban design, and place-making.”
How does Urban Villages’ push for innovation dovetail with its commitment to sustainability?
We are stewards of the land when we own something. We take that really seriously. We aren’t just responsible for capital; we also have a duty to the community and the environment. So, we look to design around nature and think about reducing energy consumption, increasing indoor fresh air, and using durable, long-lasting materials. We’re also thinking about how to encourage people to want to be in cities.
You know, the greenest place you can live is not somewhere like Boulder. It’s actually someplace like Manhattan because the majority of people walk or take public transportation. Stacked urban buildings are far more energy-efficient than individual homes. By creating city neighborhoods with heart and soul—art, music, dining, daily activities all within walking distance—we can create places that foster a sense of community and pride. Until we create buildings that are more adaptable, more outdoor friendly, more connected to nature, people are going to be torn between the suburbs and the city.
What’s the future of Denver, architecturally speaking?
My concern for downtown Denver, which has experienced a development boom over the last 15 years, is that too many projects are too similar. We need more diversity in product and architectural style. Some skyscrapers in the city, including those that are only 20 years old, aren’t being fully occupied. We need to ask ourselves if these buildings are adaptable. Are they just going to sit empty as zombie buildings, or can we recycle and reinvent them? We want people to want to be in the city, but that requires action. How do we plant more trees in urban spaces and make these places feel safe and vibrant? These are the questions we’re asking today.
Have you found answers to those questions yet?
We’re focused on bringing nature into cities both in the design of our buildings and how it feels when you are inside and outside the buildings. That’s what’s missing right now and that is what led us to work with architect Jeanne Gang on Populus. With this new project on Civic Center Park, we wanted to take physical action to address the built environment’s impact. The vision for Populus’ exterior is inspired by aspen trees—the “eyes” left by fallen branches. Inside, we’ve incorporated as many reclaimed materials as possible, proving that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of beauty or quality. We hope that our legacy, whether through our in-house team or external partners, shows that we constantly challenge ourselves to evolve. That’s what makes this journey exciting.
