Paul Sheperd says he has no plans to leave the Petroleum building — which is a problem for his landlord and city officials who want more residents downtown.
The coworking franchisee operates a Venture X in 23,000 square feet across the top two floors of 110 16th St., a 1950s office building in Denver’s Upper Downtown.
The building’s owner was awarded a $14 million loan in November by the Downtown Development Authority to help convert the 200,000-square-foot structure into 178 apartments.
But Sheperd said he has 10 years left on his lease. Speaking at a meeting of the DDA board Tuesday afternoon, he said his business “remained through COVID, through the prolonged 16th Street Mall construction, which resulted in years of reduced foot traffic and uncertainty.”
“While many businesses were forced to leave, I stayed open, paid rent, and I encouraged our community to continue supporting the surrounding restaurants and retailers,” he said at the meeting. “During this period, I received no targeted city or state support tied specifically to downtown stabilization.
“I come here to ask this: How can the city award this subsidized loan without a relocation plan for the major tenant in the building?”
The DDA, a quasi-governmental agency, is tasked with issuing $570 million in bond money to help revitalize downtown. In July, the organization’s board unanimously voted to give the Petroleum building’s ownership a 10-year loan at 3% interest, covering 20% of the project’s $68 million expected cost. The DDA has also awarded funds to two other office-to-residential conversion projects.
Reached by BusinessDen on Wednesday, Sheperd declined to elaborate on his public comments. But Tim Borst, the Petroleum’s owner, said he was surprised to learn of Sheperd’s remarks.
“I find it interesting that he went to the DDA board meeting, because he won’t talk to us,” Borst told BusinessDen. “We have let him know, well in advance, our plans. We have offered multiple relocation offers.
“The last correspondence we had was from his attorneys demanding a ridiculous sum of money, completely unrelated to the cost to relocate,” he added.
Borst said he told Sheperd for years that the building’s future as office space was uncertain. BusinessDen first reported that a conversion was being considered in December 2021.
Borst previously owned the coworking space atop the building. He sold the business, then known as Mod Works, to Sheperd in May 2021.
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Construction on the conversion is set to begin in the summer of 2027. Part of the coworking space is poised to become a rooftop dog park and lounge.
Borst noted that it’s not hard to find other space downtown, where office vacancy was 38% at the end of 2025, according to real estate brokerage CBRE.
“As we let him know, the ability to move literally across the street and get multiple years of free rent and TI (tenant improvement) allowances is available if he would only take a step. But unfortunately, he refused to do so, and now he won’t talk to us,” Borst said.
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