Downtown Cheyenne Market Analysis: Q2 2025

The Cheyenne DDA plays a critical role in fostering a vibrant, economically resilient, and welcoming downtown district through efforts that stop and prevent the spread of property deterioration and blight within the Downtown District. This quarter, we’re focusing on a high-level economic and real estate market analysis of downtown Cheyenne to get a baseline assessment of current property conditions, market dynamics, and investment potential within the DDA boundary. Throughout the year, we’ll be diving deeper into key priority indicators (KPIs) related to the economic health of downtown to support strategic planning, redevelopment efforts, and investment attraction in alignment with the 2024 DDA Plan of Development.

The Downtown Market

Downtown Cheyenne is a unique market, located at the northern tip of the Front Range. It is known for its historic charm and civic anchors such as the Depot Plaza, Civic Commons Park, and the Wyoming State Capitol. Property types include ground-floor retail, upper-level office and residential units, and growing interest in adaptive reuse and mixed-use development.

A comprehensive inventory of real estate assets in the Downtown District is underway. However, initial observations include the following types:

The Downtown District is also designated as a blighted area, as determined by the 2023 Blight Study (see full report here). A district is considered blighted if it meets any one of ten conditions outlined under W.S. 15-9-103. Downtown Cheyenne meets several, including:

• Deteriorating structures and unsanitary conditions
• Faulty lot layouts and defective street configurations
• Vacant or underutilized properties
• Delinquency or complex title issues
• Conditions that endanger life or property

These conditions collectively suppress market performance, resulting in lower actual property values compared to other Front Range communities.

Downtown property values are currently adjusting to better reflect real market conditions. The lag in value correction is common in real estate, where outdated price expectations persist even as demand, borrowing power, and development feasibility change.
Contributing factors to suppressed property values include:

• High vacancy rates
• Costs of renovating aging or historic buildings
• Weak public policies or fragmented incentives
• Businesses that are either outdated or don’t align with an areas desired identity and culture

As a result, sellers and landlords often hold onto unrealistic valuations until a correction through reduced activity or prolonged vacancies forces the reduction in market price.

Market Dynamics & Consumer Base

Downtown Cheyenne includes a healthy mix of small businesses, such as independent boutiques, restaurants, service providers, and breweries. The district serves many customer types, but the three primary groups are:

• Local residents seeking services, dining, and entertainment
• Office employees in government and private sector roles
• Tourists and eventgoers drawn by festivals and seasonal programming

Consumer activity tends to be strongest during weekday hours and programmed events. It is to be investigated whether it’s the limited consumer activity or other factors that contribute to the vacancies along key commercial corridors and underutilized upper floors (that could support housing or office use).

A comprehensive inventory and vacancy mapping is in progress to support recruitment and retention strategies and is planned to be released by the Q3 2025 Newsletter.

Key Opportunities and Challenges

In the initial assessment of the Cheyenne Downtown District, we see several key challenges and opportunities, in helping the area thrive.

Challenges that downtown Cheyenne has faced for decades include an aging building inventory and high redevelopment costs. For example, the Hynds has been mostly vacant since the 1985 flood, and with development costs increasing, the feasibility of redevelopment is becoming more and more unattainable. Additionally, Cheyenne faces a unique market positioning challenge: it is geographically part of the Front Range yet lacks many of the amenities found in Colorado’s cities. This disconnect may contribute to overinflated rents and sale prices, limiting access to existing supply and discouraging new development. Finally, the limited data and market transparency is a major challenge; with many property and business development opportunities throughout Wyoming, let alone the U.S., lack of data availability limits our ability to attract critical property development and investment.

With challenges, there are always opportunities. There is significant potential for mixed-use and residential infill, as well as adaptive reuse projects, particularly those that extend economic activity beyond weekday work hours and help retain local spending. There’s potential for increased public-private partnerships, including use of historic tax credits, tax-increment financing, and other incentive programs. Perhaps the most immediate and impactful opportunity is to improve market transparency. Developing tools such as a shared inventory of leasable and sellable properties, along with regular reporting on key indicators like vacancy, lease rates, and investment activity, is a top priority for the Cheyenne DDA.

Next Steps

As noted, the DDA is currently developing a comprehensive market analysis of the Downtown District. This analysis will include key performance indicators (KPIs) such as submarket comparisons (Downtown Cheyenne vs. the broader city and Laramie County), vacancy and occupancy rates, regional consumer spending capacity, historic sales trends, and more. To complete this work, the DDA will collaborate with local brokers and the County Assessor to access property data; map and categorize land uses and vacancies; identify underutilized sites for redevelopment and infill; and conduct stakeholder interviews with property owners and developers. The DDA is also exploring the potential for a Downtown Real Estate Roundtable or Investor Tour to further engage partners and attract investment.

If you have any questions, comments or resources you believe would be helpful to this effort, please contact the Cheyenne DDA at 307-433-9730 or smaes@cheyennecity.org.