Page 30 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— February 4-February 17, 2015
Office
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A $50 million fund sponsored
by Palisades Mexico Partners
has acquired Plaza Quebec in its
foray into the Denver market.
Palisades Private Capital Fund
I paid $12.75 million for the
94,394-square-foot Class A office
building at 6025 S. Quebec St. in
Centennial.
It is “a nice
project”
to
establish the
company in
the Denver
metro area,
said Joaquin
de
Monet,
founder and
m a n a g i n g
principal of
P a l i s a d e s
Capital Realty Advisors, a Los
Angeles-based investment man-
agement and advisory firm.
“We are very interested in the
southeastern submarket of Den-
ver andwe plan to bemore active
there,” said de Monet, noting
the three-story building is a rela-
tively small asset with only three
vacancies. “We plan to quickly
upgrade the existing spec suites,
improve the lobby and confer-
ence room amenities as well as
some exterior and landscaping
upgrades to improve the build-
ing’s market position,” he said.
Palisades Mexico Partners
is a partnership between de
Monet and Finsa Global Equi-
ties, owned by Sergio Argüelles,
president and CEO of Monter-
rey, Mexico-based FINSA, one
of the foremost industrial real
estate development firms in the
Americas.
Built in 1984 and renovated
in 2009, Plaza Quebec is just
off Interstate 25. It has freeway
access via the “relatively uncon-
gested” Orchard Road inter-
change and is within walking
distance of Greenwood Athletic
Club, notedMike Winn of CBRE,
who represented seller Crown-
Denver VI LLC, an affiliate of
Crown West Realty LLC, with
CBRE’s Tim Richey and Chad
Flynn.
Situated on an elevated site
with unobstructed mountain
views, the property offers a park-
like campus, is well built and
generated strong interest from
investors, he said. “The fact that
it was only 85 percent leased and
had rents that were below mar-
ket was attractive to every one of
those investors,” said Winn.
“Plaza Quebec offers a secure
and growing cash flow with the
opportunity to increase occu-
pancy and increase rents as the
market continues to improve,”
said Argüelles.
The building has 71 covered
parking spaces and a parking
ratio of 3.2 per 1,000 sf. Cherry
Creek Mortgage Co. and Peoples
National Bank are among the
tenants.
“We are very pleased to have
secured a high-quality initial
acquisition in the state of Colora-
do, one of the 10 fastest-growing
states in the nation in 2013,” said
de Monet. “Plaza Quebec is an
excellent strategic fit in the fund’s
portfolio and attracts loyal ten-
ants with its great western views,
newly renovated lobby and com-
mon areas and many amenities.”
Brad Zampa of CBRE arranged
financing for the acquisition.
Palisades Private Capital Fund
I, on target to grow to $100 mil-
lion in the first part of 2015, is
focused on value-add Class A
and B office assets in growing
Western suburban markets. It is
initially acquiring institutional-
quality office assets in Southern
California, Arizona, Colorado
and Texas. With Plaza Quebec,
it has acquired five properties
valued at more than $100 mil-
lion since July.
The capital campaign attracts
high-net-worth individuals and
family investors in the U.S.,
Mexico and LatinAmerica. Pali-
sades Capital Realty Advisors
is sourcing investments and
managing the fund, improving
the assets, creating value and
capturing rent growth over the
targeted hold period of three to
five years.
s
Jim Johnson, Jim Johnson Photography
Plaza Quebec is situated along South Quebec Street with access to Interstate 25 via East Orchard Road.
Joaquin de Monet
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A Denver group already
is adding value to an
111,786-square-foot
office
building midway between
downtown and the Denver
Tech Center.
Central Development, in
partnership with DMI Real
Estate, just paid $9.88 million
for the office building at 1660
S. Albion St. “The building was
70 percent occupied, but we
have over 10,000 square feet
of deals that will bring it to 80
percent,” said Jeremy Records,
Central Development princi-
pal.
“We feel the rents are below
market, generally across the
board, and we think we can
push those up. We’re going to
have to spend a fair amount
of money on it, but in the next
year, I think it will be where
we think it should be,” added
DMI’s Dan Murphy.
Rents have increased $2 to $4
per sf since the buyers put the
11-story building under con-
tract in April but continue to be
lower than rents in downtown
and Cherry Creek.
“We see what’s happening to
rents downtown, and we feel
that is going to be displacing
some people who can’t pay the
rents that downtown is com-
manding,” said Records, add-
ing the location also is prime
for capitalizing on tenants
being displaced by the build-
ing boom in Cherry Creek. “It
really provides ease of access
to the entire Denver office mar-
ket,” he said.
Some long-term tenants
want to remain in the build-
ing but are cognizant of Den-
ver’s increasing rental rates,
according to Murphy. “A lot of
tenants want to stay and just
adjust to the market,” he said.
“The corridor is really com-
ing alive, like all of the mar-
ket is,” said Kurt Holzkamp
of Unique Properties LLC-TCN
Worldwide, who represented
seller Sperry Equities. Holz-
kamp said the property’s loca-
tion midway between the tech
center and downtown, a block
off of Interstate 25, is ideal for
many tenants.
Many occupants are small
professional services compa-
nies that have customers com-
ing and going, so it is very
convenient from that stand-
point, said Records, adding the
diversity of the tenant base is
part of the building’s appeal.
Of approximately 50 tenants,
law firm Benson & Case is the
largest. It is expanding from
approximately 4,000 sf into the
entire top floor, about 8,000 sf.
Located across I-25 from the
Colorado light-rail station,
the building was constructed
in 1973. Sperry Equities put
several million dollars into
improving the lobby, common
areas, roof, and mechanical
and electrical systems. “We will
continue to make upgrades to
the building, both mechani-
cally and aesthetically,” said
Records.
The building no doubt will
receive plenty of attention from
the new ownership because
Central Development will
office there, along with Central
Management, which will man-
age the property.
s
From left, Central Development’s Jennifer Records, Brad Cushard and
Jeremy Records, along with Dan Murphy of DMI Real Estate, show off
the inside of their newest office asset at 1660 S. Albion St. in Denver.
The building at 1660 S. Albion St. in Denver is positioned to capture
tenants being displaced by rising rents in downtown and Cherry Creek,
according to its new owner.
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Shorenstein Properties is
building on its leasing success
at Denver City Center by trans-
forming an entire floor at Johns
Manville Plaza into speculative
suites.
“They’ve undergone a pro-
gram to spec a lot of vacancy
with a standard that is a bit
higher than is typically seen in
this type of asset,” said Peter
Merrion of
JLL.
Much
of
the leasing
activity, as
in the mar-
ket, has been
from tenants
in the 3,000-
to
6,000-sf
range,
he
said. “As a response to that,
we’ve decided to go ahead and
capture more of that by doing
the whole floor all at once.”
Denver City Center consists
of two office towers – Johns
Manville Plaza at 717 17th St.
and a neighboring office tower
at 707 17th – comprising 1.3
million sf.
The 24,000-sf 16th floor of
Peter Merrion
