The 16 Market Square building will be the new headquarters for Ibotta. (BusinessDen file)
In a little over 10 years, Denver tech firm Ibotta has grown from a private firm in the basement of a firehouse to a multibillion-dollar public company that will soon move to the top three floors of a LoDo office building.
“We’ve always been in downtown Denver, and we want to be part of revitalizing downtown Denver and lead by example,” CEO Bryan Leach said.
BusinessDen broke the news last month that Ibotta, a modern couponing app, was eyeing an 85,000-square-foot lease at 16 Market Square, situated at 1400 16th St Mall. On Tuesday, the company confirmed that it has signed a 10-year lease there.
“We never looked at non-downtown Denver, just because if you go outside of the center, you’re just lengthening someone’s commute,” Leach said.
Ibotta is currently on two floors in Denver’s second-tallest building, at 1801 California St. in the Central Business District. The company moved there in 2016 and has grown to about 75,000 square feet.
Moving to 1801 California was a big step for the business, which at the time had less than $100 million behind it. It was the first time Ibotta had ever been a direct tenant in a building. The company drilled a hole in the floor to connect its two-story space.
But the pandemic hit Denver’s Central Business District hard, Leach said, and it just doesn’t have the trendy bars and restaurants that LoDo does, although the area is improving. Plus, 1801 California is older, and access isn’t ideal, Leach said. People commuting in from the highway have to navigate a labyrinth of city streets. Those coming in by bike compete with buses and cars on the busy roads and those who arrive by train have to make a connection at Union Station to get to the 18th and California stop.
About 18 months ago, with expiration of the company’s lease at 1801 California in sight, Leach started thinking about the next home for the company he started in 2012.
His main objective was to pick a building as central to transit as possible, so LoDo made sense due to its proximity to I-25 and Union Station.
Leach looked at 1900 Lawrence St., Denver’s newest office tower and, in his words, a “dope” spot.
“But that area has got a lot of construction,” Leach said. “There’s the Sakura Square development that may happen. It’s next to a fire station, which I didn’t like from a sound standpoint.”
Bryan Leach
The tech executive also scoured Platte Street in LoHi, but couldn’t find enough contiguous floors for the size he needed. He also looked at other buildings in LoDo besides 16 Market Square.
“We thought about buying a building, and we thought about that for about two seconds and concluded that was a bad idea,” Leach said. “We never looked at RiNo, because the surface traffic problem is huge. We never looked at (the Denver) Tech Center — God help me, we never looked at that.”
The plan for the new LoDo space, which includes part of 16 Market Square’s fourth floor and all of its fifth and sixth floors, is to fully renovate it from the “studs up,” Leach said. The office space was once home to Moye White, a law firm that moved to RiNo and has since ceased operations. Other tenants in the building include coworking firm Regus, which is on the other part of the fourth story. Chipotle, Cava and Little Finch have retail space on the ground floor.
“We’re going to leverage the outdoor space, the patios, to create vibrant, after-hour spaces, maybe with a bar, a DJ,” Leach said. “Just sort of capitalize on looking out over the 16th Street Mall and out over the mountains.”
JLL broker Ken Gooden represented Ibotta in lease negotiations. The company has hired local architect Seth Barber of Studio B2SJ, who also assisted in the company’s 1801 California buildout.
Ibotta names rooms after people who “reflect the values of our company,” such as Kikkan Randall, an American cross-country skiing Olympian. It employs 830 people total, about 500 of whom live in the Denver area. Employees are expected to be in the office three days a week.
The firm partners with major retailers such as Walmart and Target to allow customers to get cash back for purchases made online or in-store. Ibotta went public in April at $88 a share. On Tuesday, shares closed at $64.
“Now that we’re an independent public company, we want to be one of the most successful public companies in Colorado,” Leach said.
The 16 Market Square building will be the new headquarters for Ibotta. (BusinessDen file)
In a little over 10 years, Denver tech firm Ibotta has grown from a private firm in the basement of a firehouse to a multibillion-dollar public company that will soon move to the top three floors of a LoDo office building.
“We’ve always been in downtown Denver, and we want to be part of revitalizing downtown Denver and lead by example,” CEO Bryan Leach said.
BusinessDen broke the news last month that Ibotta, a modern couponing app, was eyeing an 85,000-square-foot lease at 16 Market Square, situated at 1400 16th St Mall. On Tuesday, the company confirmed that it has signed a 10-year lease there.
“We never looked at non-downtown Denver, just because if you go outside of the center, you’re just lengthening someone’s commute,” Leach said.
Ibotta is currently on two floors in Denver’s second-tallest building, at 1801 California St. in the Central Business District. The company moved there in 2016 and has grown to about 75,000 square feet.
Moving to 1801 California was a big step for the business, which at the time had less than $100 million behind it. It was the first time Ibotta had ever been a direct tenant in a building. The company drilled a hole in the floor to connect its two-story space.
But the pandemic hit Denver’s Central Business District hard, Leach said, and it just doesn’t have the trendy bars and restaurants that LoDo does, although the area is improving. Plus, 1801 California is older, and access isn’t ideal, Leach said. People commuting in from the highway have to navigate a labyrinth of city streets. Those coming in by bike compete with buses and cars on the busy roads and those who arrive by train have to make a connection at Union Station to get to the 18th and California stop.
About 18 months ago, with expiration of the company’s lease at 1801 California in sight, Leach started thinking about the next home for the company he started in 2012.
His main objective was to pick a building as central to transit as possible, so LoDo made sense due to its proximity to I-25 and Union Station.
Leach looked at 1900 Lawrence St., Denver’s newest office tower and, in his words, a “dope” spot.
“But that area has got a lot of construction,” Leach said. “There’s the Sakura Square development that may happen. It’s next to a fire station, which I didn’t like from a sound standpoint.”
Bryan Leach
The tech executive also scoured Platte Street in LoHi, but couldn’t find enough contiguous floors for the size he needed. He also looked at other buildings in LoDo besides 16 Market Square.
“We thought about buying a building, and we thought about that for about two seconds and concluded that was a bad idea,” Leach said. “We never looked at RiNo, because the surface traffic problem is huge. We never looked at (the Denver) Tech Center — God help me, we never looked at that.”
The plan for the new LoDo space, which includes part of 16 Market Square’s fourth floor and all of its fifth and sixth floors, is to fully renovate it from the “studs up,” Leach said. The office space was once home to Moye White, a law firm that moved to RiNo and has since ceased operations. Other tenants in the building include coworking firm Regus, which is on the other part of the fourth story. Chipotle, Cava and Little Finch have retail space on the ground floor.
“We’re going to leverage the outdoor space, the patios, to create vibrant, after-hour spaces, maybe with a bar, a DJ,” Leach said. “Just sort of capitalize on looking out over the 16th Street Mall and out over the mountains.”
JLL broker Ken Gooden represented Ibotta in lease negotiations. The company has hired local architect Seth Barber of Studio B2SJ, who also assisted in the company’s 1801 California buildout.
Ibotta names rooms after people who “reflect the values of our company,” such as Kikkan Randall, an American cross-country skiing Olympian. It employs 830 people total, about 500 of whom live in the Denver area. Employees are expected to be in the office three days a week.
The firm partners with major retailers such as Walmart and Target to allow customers to get cash back for purchases made online or in-store. Ibotta went public in April at $88 a share. On Tuesday, shares closed at $64.
“Now that we’re an independent public company, we want to be one of the most successful public companies in Colorado,” Leach said.
