Group14 Engineering was an energy consultant with an office space problem.
“When I joined, we were about 30 people, and now we’re 75 people. So we just kept trying to shove everybody in and knock down walls, and we’re just at a point where that’s just not working for us anymore,” said Celeste Cizik, one of the owners of the Denver company.
The company spent decades in 7,500 square feet at 1325 E. 16th Ave. in City Park West. But to solve its problem, it’s moving into nearly 11,600 square feet at 1278 Lincoln St. in Cap Hill, where the alt-weekly Westword also has its office.
Group14’s expertise is in making buildings more energy efficient, with an eye for projects spanning at least 50,000 square feet. The company has had a hand in projects including the One River North apartment building, the Populus Hotel downtown and the city’s newest skyscraper at 1900 Lawrence St.
But projects of that magnitude have been harder to come by in Denver’s softening real estate market.
“In the recent last couple of years, we do see more projects that go through design, but then go on hold, that once they run the numbers and they just can’t make it work. They’ll do value engineering, but it’s just still too expensive, and they’re not going to be able to sell the building or rent the building for the price it would require to compensate for the cost,” Cizik said.
Fortunately, Cizik said, Group14 is diversified across a broad range of building types. Income-restricted housing developments have replaced the work of larger market-rate projects, for instance. Work at the Denver International Airport has also kept the company busy.
“Every year, we haven’t had an actual drop-off in revenue or employees, but shifts around where the investments are being made,” Cizik said.
When it came time to find a new office, staying close to the center of Denver was key because employees live around the metro area. Downtown high rises were considered but felt too “stale” for the firm, Cizik said. So did newer office buildings along RiNo’s Brighton Boulevard.
Then, the company looked at 1278 Lincoln St. Built in 1919 and first owned by the Dodge Motor Co., the building’s art deco facade looks like something out of “The Great Gatsby.”
“The building has character. Also, it was really important that it’s owned by the state land board, and the money generated goes back into Colorado schools. So I think that really resonated with our employees,” Cizik said.
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