by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Investors with billions of
dollars worth of real estate
across the country disagree
on whether Denver is a pri-
mary or secondary invest-
ment market, but it is a mar-
ket in which they want to
invest.
“We don’t differentiate.
Whether you call it primary,
second-
ary, we
think it’s
a good
place to
d e p l o y
capital,”
Dona l d
Ankeny,
president
and CEO
of West-
core Properties, said during
a panel discussion in Engle-
wood.
“It’s all about an exit bet,”
added Barry DiRaimondo,
president of LegacyPartners.
“We’ve been comfortable for
30 years in Denver. We’re
getting more comfortable.”
Investors’ comments were
part of an Oct. 7 Office Sum-
mit presented by Holland &
Hart and the Colorado Real
Estate Journal that brought
together brokers, corporate
real estate users, developers
and owners.
“Office is good. It’s steady.
I would sign up for this
ma r k e t
over the
course of
the next
10 to 15
y e a r s .
But
I
t h i n k
there’s a
w i d e n -
ing gap
of owner
expectations and tenant
expectations,” said Doug
Wulf, senior vice president
of Cassidy Turley. Neverthe-
less, leases are being signed,
and, “The party is not only
on, but it’s thriving,” said
Rob Link, executive vice
president of Savills Studley.
“One of the things that
is currently kept in check
is development,” said Pete
Schippits, JLL managing
director of Investor Services.
Panelists said there is about
650,000 square feet of office
product under construction
downtown, and a half-mil-
lion sf of new space – a man-
ageable number – is likely to
be delivered through 2017.
With so much 1980s prod-
uct in Denver, “I do think
that new development is
necessary. We need the new
by John Rebchook
Developers plan to break
ground early next year on a
10-story, $100 million, ener-
gy-efficient office tower on a
prized site along the Denver-
area southeast corridor that has
long been owned by the Koel-
bel family.
Granite Properties and Con-
fluent Holdings are partners
on a 300,000-square-foot office
building, Village Center DTC,
near Inter-
state 25 and
A r a p a h o e
Road in the
Village Cen-
ter area of
Greenwood
Village.
Granite is
buying the
land
from
Koelbel and
Co., one of the oldest and best-
known real estate families in
Colorado.
“We could have searched
across the globe to find a devel-
oper of Granite’s caliber and
integrity,” said Buz Koelbel,
president of Koelbel and Co.
“Fortunately, all we had to
do was look across the street,”
Koelbel said.
Stephanie Lawrence, manag-
ing director of Granite, said
Marshall Burton who, along
with Celeste Tanner, is a prin-
cipal of Confluent, introduced
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Matt Call founded
NavPoint Real Estate Group
as the commercial real estate
market was taking off, and
that certainly helped build
success.
But Call said the real driv-
er for the boutique firm’s
rapid growth was putting
together the right people.
“We work in a really col-
laborative fashion in our
office. It’s very much a fam-
ily, and I think creating that
environment and that cul-
ture has definitely helped us
grow. I think our clients see
it too.”
Call, 37, is a fourth-gen-
eration Coloradan bred to
compete. His dad and uncle
played football at Colorado
State University and went
on to play in the United
States Football League and
National Football League,
respectively. Call, who
swung his first golf club
at age 11, competed on
the links. He attended the
University of Colorado on
a golf scholarship, is a two-
time Colorado amateur golf
champion and played in the
U.S. Open and PGA Cham-
pionship.
Pro golfing derailed plans
for law school, driving Call
into the highly competitive
world of commercial real
estate.
The only thing he loves
as much as the competition
is the diversity – working
on a land development deal
one minute and the leasing
or sale of an office, retail or
industrial property the next.
His penchant is for value-
add deals – taking an under-
performing property, leasing
it up and selling it for a cli-
ent as an investment.
“Going in and untangling
the value-add opportunity
of an asset is exciting,” said
Call, who just listed Mar-
shall Office Park in Arvada,
which NavPoint shepherded
from 50 percent to 95 per-
cent occupancy. “I think that
one will really come full
circle once we transact the
sale,” said Call. Last year he
and NavPoint Real Estate’s
John Witt sold a Colorado
Springs fractured-condomin-
ium medical office building
– not an easy asset type – in
a $7.65 million off-market
deal that he said pleased
both the buyer and seller.
Call started his com-
mercial real estate career
at CBRE, where he worked
on an industrial team with
Mike Camp, who played
college football with his dad.
He went on to start Edge
Real Estate’s commercial
division and, in 2011, saw an
opportunity to strike out on
his own.
“I felt like there was an
opportunity for us to create
a brand that was sophisticat-
ed and strong and provided
a lot of the services that
felt big but still provided
a hands-on, client-centric
focus,” he said. At the time,
many locally owned com-
panies were affiliating with
larger national and global
brands, but Call felt there
remained room for a bou-
tique company that could
offer sophisticated invest-
ment underwriting, first-in-
class marketing and invest-
ment packaging, and strong
national marketing reach, he
said.
Since its founding,
NavPoint has grown four-
fold to include five brokers,
including Witt and Heather
Taylor, who has been there
from the start; four admin-
istrative staff members; and
three property managers.
Call has no plans to grow
the company for the sake of
growing, he said.
“We like being a boutique
firm. We like being nimble.
We like being able to take on
an opportunity that’s inter-
esting or different.”
Call, whose great-grand-
father was a rancher in the
Rocky Ford area, grew up
in Broomfield, where he
and his wife, Stacey, also
a fourth-generation Colo-
radan, attended elemen-
tary and junior high school
together. The two have three
daughters: Lilly, 7, Maddy,
5, and Caroline, 3. Family
activities include enjoy-
ing the outdoors in Grand
County, including skiing at
Winter Park. Call also is a
mountain biker who com-
petes in two to three races
a year and, inherently, a
golfer.
s
Matt Call
SECTION AA
NOVEMBER 5-NOVEMBER 18, 2014
A rendering of the Village Center DTC.
Donald Ankeny
Doug Wulf
Stephanie Lawrence
‘Going
in and
untangling
the value-add
opportunity
of an asset
is exciting.’
