Hickenlooper, others bullish on economy, real estate

Video: Chris Mygatt

Mayor John Hickenlooper addresses 900 people attending the Colorado Real Estate & Economic Summit, Wednesday night, March 10.

“I am an optimist.”

That was the message from John Hickenlooper, Denver mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, when he addressed 900 real estate officials on Wednesday night.

And Hickenlooper was not alone.

For the most part, most of the seven heavy weight speakers at the Colorado Real Estate & Economic Summit on Wednesday night, were bullish on the prospect  that Denver and the state will emerge from the current real estate and economic downturn faster than most places, although the markets are not out of the woods yet.

Hickenlooper said that after being laid off as a geologist in 1986, and after deciding to open Denver’s first brewpub, he almost gave up at one point because he was so distressed. He said, as he has often in the past, that even his mother would not invest in what was to be called Wynkoop Brewing in what is now called LoDo.

That is when he received the sage advice that he had worked so hard, “and that he  had gotten over the worst of it,” and if he did not give up now, he would benefit from the experience in all his future endeavors.

That is where the Denver-area and the state economies now stand, Hickenlooper said.  While unemployment is still too high, he said he believes the worst is over. “This is not a depression,” he said.

Hickenlooper did  did not make his speech overtly political, barely mentioning he was running for governor. However, he did receive a round of applause when he said he was going to do his best to make his gubernatorial campaign as free of personal attacks as when he ran for mayor. Hickenlooper’s Republican opponent is likely to be Congressman Scott McInnis of Grand Junction. Hickenlooper did joke that since putting his hat in the ring, he now calls it the “Best Slope,” instead of the “West Slope,” noting that the entire state, made up of different regions, needs to thrive. And the Western Slope, with everything from world-class trout fishing to skiing, makes Colorado special, he said.

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