The high office vacancy rate in downtown Denver inched slightly higher in the first three months of 2024, rising to about 32% — the highest point in a couple of decades and more evidence of a drawn-out recovery from a pandemic that upended work routines and sectors of the economy. But real estate experts and business advocates insist there’s more to the story about the state of downtown than the uptick from a total vacancy level of roughly 31% at the end of 2023. “I just think that statistics lag what’s truly happening on the streets,” said Sarajane Goodfellow, a first vice president in the Denver office of real estate firm CBRE. “From a day-to-day perspective and from a boots-on-the-ground perspective, it is feeling a lot better, more lively and active,” she added. Goodfellow, who represents landlords, said the number of tours she and her team are conducting of downtown office buildings has increased.