When Matt Joblon co-founded BMC Investments in 2010, the business plan did not include developing new buildings.

Eleven years later, the company has developed – both new construction and repositioned assets – more than $500 million worth of luxury apartments, hotels, office and mixed-use, most all in Cherry Creek.

“We saw an opportunity and took it,” said Joblon. “We had no intention of being the biggest landowner in Cherry Creek.”

The company’s projects include the Moxy and Halcyon hotels, the Financial House at 205 Detroit St., the St. Paul collection at 255 St. Paul St., the just-opened Clayton Members Club and Hotel, and the one that started it all, the Steele Creek apartment tower.

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“Probably no developer has had a greater singular impact on the transformation of the neighborhood than BMC when you look at all their projects collectively,” said Nick LeMasters, president and CEO of the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District.

That was BMC 1.0, Joblon said. The shift to BMC 2.0 includes a “suburban attainable housing strategy” with more than a “$1 billion in the pipeline” with financial partner Rockpoint, a private Boston-based real estate equity company, said Jeff Stonger, chief investment officer.

The first project out of the gate on that strategy is the Canyonside Apartments, a 325-apartment development in Castle Pines. It’s part of the 211-acre Canyonside master-planned community by Lee Alpert Co. east of I-25 and Castle Pines Parkway.

“Cherry Creek is not scale-able. There’s only four more projects there, and we’re done – there’s no more land,” Joblon said.

The company’s planned evolution also includes expanding its capital base and recapitalizing its existing portfolio of assets.

“There’s been a $700 million equity raise to date as we’re transitioning to institutional capital partners,” Stonger said. “As we scale the business, keeping those units under management is important.”

Joblon had high hopes when BMC started, but he admits “I didn’t expect this success.”

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He gives much of the credit to the team he helped build, and the rise of Denver’s real estate market.

“In 2010 when we started, it was literally the bottom of the market,” Joblon said. “We made a million mistakes, but a good market covered up those mistakes and made us look better with the wind at our back the whole time. I had no idea the Denver market would take off the way it did.”

The company started off buying apartments built in the 1970s and 1980s, and worn down to C class, with the intention of fixing them up.

“We were intentionally no development,” Joblon said.

But a broker kept bugging them about the land where the 218-apartment Steele Creek now stands, 3222 E. 1st Ave. They finally took a chance and got the land.

“No one would give us money to build, we were shot down by everyone,” Joblon said. “The biggest problem was in 2012 I was 32-years-old and had not even completed a Lego set.”

But BMC secured the financing and ended up building it for about $400,000 per unit. It sold two years after completion in 2017 for $141.5 million, setting a record at the time for per-unit price at $570,000.

“Nothing had sold in Denver anywhere near that amount,” Joblon said, adding they could have done even better. “We honestly missed the mark on that one as the units were not big enough.”

Asked what’s in the company’s “secret sauce” for success, Stonger said “relationships.”

“This is such a relationship business, and Matt does a phenomenal job of developing relationships. That gives us access to land, access to people,” Stonger said.

“He’s a very engaged board member for the BID,” said LeMasters. “We so appreciate his vision as a big thinker. … He absolutely got me thinking differently about Cherry Creek North and what it can become.”

BMC’s latest development, the Clayton Members Club and Hotel, is also taking a shot at diversifying the community.

The company describes it as “An intentionally cultivated community of social, business and creative leaders unified by our five pillars and dedicated to living a more meaningful and impactful life.” Membership grants access to the Clayton amenities and meeting rooms.

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It’s not like a country club membership, Joblon insists.

“I genuinely believe for a community to thrive, there has to be true diversity and true inclusion. That’s open-minded socially, culturally, economically,” he said.

“We could not be more supportive of the efforts Matt has made to increase diversity in the neighborhood and see that as a significant market opportunity,” LeMasters said. “It may prove to be the first step, a catalyst, for allowing Cherry Creek to be perceived by people of color and the creative class. We want people from all walks of life to view Cherry Creek North as a place they can enjoy.”