Prominent Denver developer John Madden Jr. dies at 94

Longtime developer John Madden Jr., whose emphasis on art and landscaping produced some of the more distinctive buildings in the Denver Tech Center, died last week. He was 94.

Madden, born and raised in Omaha, Neb., started in the family insurance business and then carved out his own path in commercial real estate. Working with his family, he built a major art collection and indoor and outdoor museums to display art, sculptures and landscapes in the Denver area, where he moved his development company in the 1970s.

The John Madden Co. built more than 10 million square feet of office and mixed-use space in its 60-plus-year history.

“He had a grand life,” his daughter, Cynthia Madden Leitner, said.

His family said Madden died from natural causes Friday, Jan. 19 at his home in Greenwood Village. The southeast-Denver area was where he made his mark in Colorado. After work on projects in Omaha, Detroit, Iowa and California, Madden moved his company to the Denver area.

Son J. Madden described his father as “an entrepreneurial free spirit” who believed Denver would present more opportunities. His father looked at a couple of sites in downtown Denver and in Greenwood Village. The area that would become the site of a premier business park was farm land then.

“Greenwood Village was just a hamlet outpost along (Interstate 25). Orchard Road didn’t exist. Belleview was two simple asphalt lanes. Arapahoe Road didn’t exist,” Madden said. “It was really an open frontier and land was inexpensive.”

With the relocation of the Johns Manville Co. from New York to Denver in the early 1970s, the Denver Technological Center became “a formidable competitor for big companies,” Madden said.

Along with DTC founder George Wallace, the elder Madden helped shape the growth of the south-metro area and the business park, which started on 40 acres in south Denver and Greenwood Village. The center is now about 900 acres and home to more than 1,000 companies, according to Shea Properties, DTC’s owner.

“George Wallace was on the east side of I-25 and John Madden was on the west side of I-25,” Madden said.

The John Madden Co.’s buildings included the Palazzo Verdi Office Tower, which features stone interior finishes and the Madden Museum of Art. The artwork in the lobby atrium includes a hand-carved replica of the labyrinth from the Chartres Cathedral in France.

Other projects were Harlequin Plaza and Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre.

Madden Leitner said her father believed art should always be part of a project. “A lot of times, the art was actually the landscape and the hardscape of the building, not to mention the building,” she said.

Fiddler’s Green, the scene of concerts in the summer, was designed as an earth sculpture that could accommodate performances, Madden Leitner said. Her father worked with his wife, Marjorie Putt Madden, and Madden Leitner on Fiddler’s Green and the Museum of Outdoor Arts, which owns the amphitheater and works with Anschutz Entertainment Group to book the 18,000-seat venue.

Madden teamed with his son, J. Madden, to develop Club Greenwood, an athletic club in Greenwood Village.

“Our dad liked to involve family, extended family and friends in everything he did. He loved to collaborate in whatever he created,” Madden Leitner said.

Her parents traveled a great deal and made several trips to Italy to find and buy materials for the buildings, Madden Leitner added. “They were a progressive example of a husband and wife team. Mom was right there, helping to buy art, the finishings. They had a great time doing things like that, especially in Italy.”

J. Madden said the siblings plan to take some of their father’s ashes and “deposit them in one of his favorite places” in Italy.