FEBRUARY 4-FEBRUARY 17, 2015
by John Rebchook
Rich Morean has been a
fan of Greenwood Corporate
Plaza for years.
“I was a big fan of it even
when I was with Kennedy
A s s o c i -
ates”
a
d e c a d e
ago, said
Mo r e a n ,
who
is
now
an
e x e c u -
tive vice
president
of capital
m a r k e t s
and a principal of Portland,
Oregon-based ScanlanKem-
perBard Cos., better known
as SKB.
“I would have loved to have
owned it,” Morean said.
Last month, Morean got his
wish.
SKB bought the six-build-
ing Greenwood Corporate
Plaza, which appears to be
the largest office deal so far
this year in the Denver area.
The Greenwood Corporate
Plaza also is the largest sin-
gle office campus along the
southeast corridor, according
to the seller.
According to public records,
SKB paid $91.5 million for
the office campus. The build-
ings cover a total of 616,098
sf, according to records. That
means that SKB paid about
$148 per sf.
Greenwood
Corporate
Plaza is on almost 40 acres
at Interstate 25 and Orchard
Road in Greenwood Village.
“Greenwood Corporate
Plaza is so well located,” Mor-
ean said.
“It’s near Fiddler’s Green
and you have all of these great
neighborhoods nearby, like
Cherry Hills and Greenwood
Village,” he said.
And it’s hard to beat the set-
ting, he said.
“I love that this is on this a
30-acre-plus, sprawling cam-
pus,” Morean said. “It is just
gorgeous.”
It also is close to a light-rail
stop along Interstate 25.
The entire southeast corri-
dor is undergoing a renais-
sance, with a number of new
office buildings on the draw-
ing board, he said.
“You can just feel the ener-
gy,” Morean said.
Future office developments
will bode well for SKB, as it
will be able to lease space at
rents in an A location that will
be far less than new buildings
need.
“These new buildings are
projected to cost $300 per
square foot to build,” Morean
said.
“They will need to charge
at least $5 or $6 more per
square foot than us to have
SKB recently purchased the Greenwood Corporate Plaza.
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
One of the biggest metal
processing and distribution
companies in North America
met its match in the strength
of Denver’s industrial mar-
ket.
Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd. is
going the build-to-suit route
because, with an extremely
tight market, that met its
requirements.
Denver-based
Central
Development will develop
the 70,000-square-foot build-
ing on 4.56 acres of land
located, ironically, on Steele
Street in unincorporated
Adams County. The $6.7 mil-
lion building at 8020 Steele
will be ready for occupancy
in December. Samuel, Son &
Co. signed a 10-year lease.
Dave Hollar, general man-
ager for Samuel, Son & Co.
locally, said the company had
been looking for a larger facil-
ity for four to five years. “We
couldn’t find anything that
suited our needs,” he said,
adding the two most impor-
tant requirements were for
26-foot ceiling clearance and
thick concrete floors to sup-
port racking.
Dawn McCombs, formerly
of JLL and now with Avison
Young, worked with Samuel,
Son & Co., exploring “every
option, though limited, in the
market.”
“With vacancies at record
lows and lease rates on the
rise, Samuel decided that a
build-to-suit would better
meet their specific needs,”
she said.
“It shows how tight the
market is,” commented Jere-
my Records, principal of Cen-
tral Development. “There just
wasn’t anything out there.”
Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd. cur-
rently operates in approxi-
mately 22,000 sf it has leased
in Wheat Ridge for 40-some
years. The local division
operated as Esco Corp. until
being acquired by Samuel,
Son seven years ago. It is
bringing on more product
and has outgrown the Wheat
Ridge space, said Hollar.
Designed by Intergroup
Architects, the new building
will have 5,000 sf of office
space and 65,000 sf of 26-foot-
clear warehouse and light-
manufacturing space with
10-inch-thick concrete floors.
It offers good access to Den-
ver’s highway system, said
Hollar.
It will be the first building
in an 11-acre development
called Steele Street Indus-
trial Park. The property has
Industrial 2 zoning and an
infill location within seven
minutes of Interstate 70.
“It’s a great infill location
that has development leap-
frogging over it and continu-
ing out to the suburbs,” said
Records.
“Its proximity to central
Denver is very attractive to
users,” said Brad Cushard, a
partner in Central Develop-
ment. Also, “What’s intrigu-
ing about this site for a lot
of groups is the zoning,” he
said.
The property also is in unin-
corporated Adams County,
so the tax basis is lower than
in surrounding municipali-
ties, noted Records, who said
the property has received a
lot of activity. It is likely to
house two to three build-
ings, including Samuel, Son
& Co.
s
Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd. will occupy a new 70,000-square-foot building at 8020 Steele St. in
Adams County.
Rich Morean
CONTENTS
3
A hotel and retail development are
planned near the new St. Anthony
North Health Campus in Westminster
An investment fund
representing investors in the U.S.,
Mexico and Latin America establishes
itself in Denver with the $12.75 million
acquisition of Plaza Quebec
Fowler Property Acquisitions
grows its portfolio with the $53.55
million purchase of Elevate at Red Rocks
A real estate investment trust
buys $52.25 million worth of
retail space in Stapleton
Inside
