About the firm
Fifteen years, one building type, one city.
Kestrel & Pike has never built anything but mid-rise mixed-use buildings in Denver. Six projects, 1.2 million sq ft, 838 homes — and not one delivered late.
Our story
A designer and a builder, on the same side of the table.
Kestrel & Pike was founded in 2011 by Ana Kestrel and Tom Pike. Ana had spent nine years designing Denver multifamily housing at a downtown architecture studio and kept watching good drawings get thinned out by developers chasing a cycle. Tom is a third-generation Denver builder who ran mid-rise construction for a national general contractor and knew exactly where those buildings went wrong in the field.
They started the firm to close that gap: a developer where the person who signs the drawings and the person who signs the construction contract are the same two founders. The first building, Arapahoe Crossing, opened in 2013 with every ground-floor bay pre-leased. Five more followed — each one a brick-and-glass mid-rise on a Denver infill corner, each one on schedule.
Fifteen years in, the discipline hasn't changed. Ana still reviews every facade detail. Tom still walks every site weekly. And the firm still builds exactly one thing, in exactly one city.
Massing study for Sloan’s Corner, our design studio on Larimer Street, November 2024.
Our approach
Four principles, written into every project.
Focus is the strategy: we know the entitlement path, the construction details and the tenants of every block we buy, and we run the same disciplined process on each one.
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Buy the block, not the boom
We acquire corners the neighborhood plan already wants activated, and we build what that plan asks for — never taller, never thinner.
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Entitle with the neighborhood
Two public design workshops minimum before we file. Alta Alameda’s affordability agreement and Sloan’s Corner’s public plaza both came out of those rooms.
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Ground floors first
Retail and residential are designed together, and every ground floor has been fully leased by opening day since 2013.
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Deliver, then stay
Five buildings delivered on schedule since 2013, and we manage or co-manage everything we keep, so the block holds up after the ribbon is cut.
Milestones
Fifteen years, seven dates that matter.
- 2011
Kestrel & Pike is founded
Ana Kestrel and Tom Pike open a two-desk office and raise Fund I around a single conviction: Denver infill corners, mid-rise, mixed-use, nothing else.
- 2013
Arapahoe Crossing delivered
The firm’s first building opens on schedule with every ground-floor bay pre-leased — a standard it has held on every project since.
- 2016
The Mercantile at RiNo
Six stories of brick and glass on Larimer Street, one block from the office the firm works out of today.
- 2018
Alta Alameda
The first project to carry a deed-restricted affordability agreement, written in public workshops before the entitlement was filed.
- 2020
Chestnut Row
Delivered through the pandemic without a schedule slip, with Elena Sandoval running the site through lockdowns and supply shocks.
- 2023
The Kestrel on Colfax
The firm’s largest completed building opens on East Colfax with a block party in October — 36 of its homes deed-restricted at 60% AMI.
- 2027
Sloan’s Corner opens
Now rising at Sloan’s Lake: a market hall, a public plaza we will maintain for ten years, and 24 more affordable homes.
Leadership
The people who sign the drawings.
Ana Kestrel and Tom Pike founded the firm in 2011 and still review every entitlement filing and every facade detail themselves.
Ana Kestrel
Co-founder & CEO
Founded the firm with Tom Pike in 2011 after nine years designing Denver multifamily housing at a downtown architecture studio. Leads design review on every project personally.
Tom Pike
Co-founder & President
A third-generation Denver builder who ran mid-rise construction for a national GC before 2011. Oversees entitlements, construction and city relationships.
Marcus Webb
Chief Financial Officer
Joined in 2014 from a Denver real-estate fund. Has raised $310M across four funds and structured every Kestrel & Pike joint venture.
Elena Sandoval
VP of Development
Joined in 2016. Has shepherded four buildings from acquisition through ribbon cutting, including Chestnut Row’s pandemic delivery.
Priya Raman
Director of Community Partnerships
Joined in 2019. Runs the neighborhood workshop process, affordability agreements and the firm’s local-hire program on every active site.