Associate Spotlight: Shawn Allen – From Excel Sheets to Denver Streets

If he had his pick of any construction project, Shawn Allen would build a professional baseball stadium. Or so he thought. Fresh out of Purdue University in 2014, Shawn was actually offered a job with a firm that was wrapping up construction on one of just three state-of-the-art stadiums under construction in the 2010s. But when he compared 12 potential opportunities in an Excel spreadsheet – ranking titles, salaries, growth potential and more – the stadium builder didn’t come out on top. We did.

“Opus was the only firm that would give me decision-making power and as much runway as I could handle early on,” Shawn said. “Working for Opus was going to be a career, not just a job.”

Eager to learn and grow his expertise, Shawn joined our Indianapolis office at the start of 2015 as an Assistant Project Manager working on industrial projects. Three years later, he moved to our Denver office and transitioned to multifamily work.

From Excel to Excelling

Shawn’s been building things since childhood and quickly moved from Lego blocks and Lincoln Logs to farm projects, landscaping and home renovations that he completed with his dad and grandfather in his small Indiana hometown.

That work and play honed both his practical skills and problem-solving mindset, both of which proved invaluable on his first multifamily project, The Glenn at The Jones District in Centennial, CO, a six-story, 306-unit, mixed-use luxury apartment building.

“When it came to multifamily construction, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. But because this was our first time building a wood-frame structure in this market, it was a steep learning curve for all of us,” said Shawn. “It proved to be a tremendous opportunity for on-the-job training, and I walked away with new knowledge, greater confidence and a drive for excellence.”

Teamwork in the Shadow of a Stadium

While Shawn didn’t end up building a stadium, 19Nineteen Mile High Apartments, his favorite project thus far, is a 277-unit, 12-story multifamily development that’s just steps from Denver’s Mile High Stadium.

The project broke ground at the start of the COVID pandemic, when offices were closed and most Americans were working from home. With their jobs deemed essential but the Denver office closed, Shawn and the rest of the team established a makeshift office in a converted mechanic shop next to the job site. The large building, which included an upstairs loft for the project managers and a converted first floor with field offices, a conference room and a full kitchen, gave the team plenty of space to follow COVID protocols yet allowed them to build a tight bond during the two-year construction process.

“It was such a unique situation, and it led us to be a really close-knit, collaborative team,” Shawn said.

When the Broncos played home games without a live audience in that first year, the crew gathered on 19Nineteen’s rooftop. Their vantage point only revealed the empty upper deck and the south endzone Jumbotron, but they cheered with enthusiasm, as if they were on the 50-yard line and not watching from afar.

“We didn’t have to hang out together outside of work, but we chose to,” Shawn said. “I really believe it made us better at our jobs and more connected as a team.”

Projects & Proud Moments

Whether on the jobsite or at home, Shawn can’t resist a building challenge. The same creativity and precision he brings to his work fuels his personal hobby: buying old items, refurbishing them and reselling them.

He and his wife have flipped everything from furniture and appliances to horse trailers and tack. They’ve renovated pop-up campers with new fabrics, finishes and stoves, and even restored a neglected 1930s bungalow—selling it for a profit.

“I take a lot of pride in my work,” said Shawn, who’s now a Senior Project Manager and spearheading construction of The Bellwether, a 253-unit, seven-story luxury apartment building in The Denver Tech Center. “It’s incredibly rewarding to drive my parents past an apartment building I worked on and see the smiles on their faces or to have a couple walk into a refurbished camper and have them comment on the craftsmanship.”

From stadium-sized dreams to managing multimillion-dollar multifamily projects, Shawn’s story proves that sometimes the most rewarding path isn’t the one you first imagine; it’s the one where your skills have room to grow, your passion is on display and your effort is rewarded.

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Our associates are talented, dedicated and knowledgeable. They streamline complex projects and always deliver value to clients. Read more profiles of our team.