The Denver City Council voted Monday to extend the expiration dates of site development plans, easing pressure on developers struggling to obtain building permits.

The unanimous decision amends the city’s zoning code, adding another 36 months to site development plans approved by the city on or before Dec. 31, 2025.

City officials said this amendment was proposed due to unique economic conditions that have made it challenging for construction projects to obtain financing.

While Denver experienced a construction boom in 2021 and 2022, recent market conditions — including elevated construction costs, high interest rates, and declining rents — have led to a significant reduction in construction activity.

Brad Buchanan, executive director of Denver’s community planning and development, told members of the City Council that the city is currently seeing naturally occurring affordability.

“This is a rare opportunity, and because we have a large number of projects that are in the approved site development plan queue,” Buchanan said. “We have the opportunity, unlike a lot of other major U.S. cities…to capture some of those projects to backfill the pipeline, now, before we see rent spike again, which it will — we’ve seen this movie before — in the next two or three years.”

Denver currently has approximately 22,600 planned residential units at risk of loss due to expiring city paperwork, as Denver experiences a sharp decline in demand for multi-unit building permits.

“I’d say the additional time created by this amendment is critically important,” said Brian Fishman of the OliverBuchanaGroup. “As you all know, and probably are tired of hearing from people like me, we’re operating in a very challenging environment right now. Interest rates, construction costs, and constrained capital markets all represent very real obstacles, and having this additional runway to assemble financing will help deliver those necessary housing units, both responsibly and thoughtfully.”

Dennis McGillicuddy is one of the owners of a parking lot at the corner of 17th Street and California Street, in Denver’s District 10, a property the group has had since 2019.

“Last April, we received the site development plan approval for a 38-story, 655,000 square foot mixed-use building with 273 hotel rooms and 150 condominiums,” McGillicuddy said.

Like others, McGillicuddy said dramatic increases in construction costs, significant constraints in the capital markets, and the current low demand for residential in downtown have made it difficult to “move forward” with the project.

The city seeks to deliver 2,500 affordable housing units and permit an additional 5,000 in 2026.

“This (extension) is a very common-sense approach that will allow those of us who have invested, in our case, millions of dollars, to get this project finally to the point of approval, which passing tonight’s amendment would go a long way to create what I believe, and a lot of other projects will just enhance the vibrancy and vitality of the downtown.”