Retail space vacancy for Denver metro area dropped to 6.6% in Q1 driven mainly by fitness users, niche grocery stores and discount retailers while average retail lease rates rose to $15.48 per square foot. Investment sales of retail space also jumped 54% year over year, with $72.3 million worth of sales. The highest average lease rates were the Colorado/Midtown submarket at $20.25 while the lowest average lease rates were the northwest submarket at $12.42 per square foot. Colorado/Midtown vacancy came in at 3% which were the lowest for all submarkets. Downtown submarket average lease rates rose to $30.89 NNN per square foot while vacancy rate came in at 5.7%. Most of the new construction is coming from grocers with Trader Joe’s, Sprouts and a new King Soopers of 20^th and Chestnut.