NAKO, a Denver-based real estate development and construction management firm, has officially launched, offering lenders, special servicers, and developers a dedicated partner for stalled and distressed real estate projects across Colorado. Rather than treating troubled properties as foreclosure cleanups, NAKO steps in to reset budgets, rebuild city and stakeholder confidence, and carry projects through to completion.
“Not every distressed project requires replacing the developer,” NAKO said of its approach. “Sometimes the best solution is giving the right borrower the structure, discipline, and experienced team they need to finish successfully. Every distressed asset has a different path forward, and our job is to find it.”
A Track Record Built Before Launch
Ahead of the formal launch, NAKO’s team had already put its model to work on several lender-controlled projects throughout the Denver metro area:
29th & Stout, Denver: Finishing what a borrower started. A lender brought NAKO into a stalled historic preservation project comprising a single-family home and a duplex. The single-family home had been completed but had exceeded budget, and the duplex, still without permanent stairs between floors and with roughly $150,000 to $200,000 of construction remaining, had gone unfunded for months. Rather than removing the borrower, NAKO built a realistic path to completion: new budgets, construction sequencing, and close coordination between the lender and borrower. One completed unit ultimately sold well above expectations, the remaining unit shifted to a rental strategy, and the owner is now pursuing historic preservation tax credits, turning a project once headed for abandonment toward a break-even outcome.
South Logan, Englewood: Rebuilding credibility before laying a foundation. One of NAKO’s earliest assignments involved a lender-controlled property where months of delays, including incomplete utility removal with Xcel Energy and unfinished demolition, had cost the project its standing with the City of Englewood. NAKO’s first task wasn’t construction; it was restoring the city’s confidence. After demonstrating a credible technical plan, NAKO expedited utility removal, completed demolition of the unsafe structure, and moved the site into architectural planning for redevelopment, giving the lender the option to sell entitled, shovel-ready land or build out the property itself.
3006 Welton Street, Denver: From the derelict building list to permits in under two weeks. After a borrower’s unpermitted construction, including an illegal addition, landed this property on the City of Denver’s derelict building list with mounting fines, a lender turned to NAKO’s team to get it moving again. The team coordinated removal of the illegal addition, resolved the city’s concerns, and secured permits in under two weeks, an unusually fast turnaround that reflected the city’s confidence in the plan. Renovations are expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2026.
Across all three projects, the common thread is the same: distressed assets typically need more than a construction crew or a new set of permits. They need one team that can rebuild trust with cities and stakeholders, reset the numbers, and stay accountable through to a completed, marketable asset.
“Sometimes the first victory isn’t construction; it’s getting a project back into the city’s good graces,” the company noted. “Distressed projects don’t just need permits. They need someone who can take them all the way across the finish line.”
