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March 4-March 17, 2015 — COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL — Page 13
Colorado
by John Rebchook
A Texas billionaire has pur-
chased the landmark Hotel
Jerome in the heart of Aspen, as
part of a $72.5 million deal.
Dan Friedkin and Iconic Prop-
erties-Jerome LLC purchased
the 126-year-old property at 330
E. Main St. for $69.15 million,
according to the Pitkin County
Assessor’s Office. Iconic Proper-
ties is affiliated with Friedkin.
As part of the deal, Friedkin
also acquired the nearby Cor-
tina Lodge, a two-story building
that provides housing for Hotel
Jerome employees, according to
records.
Friedkin also paid $3.35 mil-
lion for the former Aspen Times
newspaper building, records
shows.
The former newspaper build-
ing likely will be turned into
a three-story building with
four suites and a fitness center,
indicated a report in the Aspen
Times.
Friedkin is no stranger to the
Hotel Jerome.
Friedkin, who has a personal
worth of $3.3 billion, according
to Forbes magazine, is the major-
ity owner of Auberge Resorts
Collection.
A u b e r g e
Resorts has
o p e r a t e d
the 92-room
Hotel Jerome
since 2011
on behalf of
the previ-
ous owner
and seller,
Chicago-based
DRWReal Estate.
“My family and I have enjoyed
many years of visiting and own-
ing residences inAspen and it’s a
very special place to me person-
ally,” Friedkin said in a statement
last month, after the purchase.
“I could not be more pleased to
welcome Hotel Jerome into our
investment portfolio,” Friedkin
continued.
“It has an enviable and storied
history as a landmark American
hotel, and it is most certainly
one of the flagship properties of
the Auberge Resorts Collection,”
Friedkin said.
He commended Don Wilson,
managing partner of DRW, for
“bringing the Jerome back to
glory,” Friedkin said, “and I’m
honored to take stewardship of
the hotel, ensuring it remains one
of the great hotels of the United
States.”
Wilson returned the compli-
ment.
“We fully support Dan Fried-
kin and Auberge Resorts in this
transition,” Wilson said.
“Under Dan’s stewardship
and Auberge’s management,
Hotel Jerome has a very bright
future,” Wilson said.
The Jerome purchase supports
Friedkin’s strategy to develop
a world-class hotel investment
brand that owns and, through
Auberge Resorts Collection,
operates one-of-a-kind luxury
properties, according to the com-
pany.
On a personal front, it reflects
his lifelong passion for outdoor
pursuits and adventure, an inter-
est that dovetails with many of
his business ventures, according
to the company.
As chairman and CEO of pri-
vately held Friedkin Group,
Friedkin manages investments
across a diverse array of private
businesses, including entertain-
ment, aviation, wholesale and
retail automotive distribution
and high-end hospitality asset
development.
In addition to the hotel busi-
ness, Friedkin is the owner and
chairman Gulf States Toyota,
an auto distributorship that has
the exclusive rights to import
and distribute Toyota vehicles in
Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi and Oklahoma, accord-
ing to Forbes.
Forbes, in an article last year
that ranked Friedkin as the 167th
richest person on its Forbes
400 list, said the dealership has
almost $8 billion a year in sales
and is the largest private busi-
ness in Houston.
He also is an avid conserva-
tionist.
The Friedkin Conservation
Fund conserves the habitat and
wildlife on more than 7 million
acres in Tanzania.
The Friedkin family also has
donated more than $100 million
to support wildlife conservation
and anti-poaching efforts in East
Africa.
Friedkin also serves as chair-
man of the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission.
He has helped fund the $38
million purchase by conserva-
tion groups and the wildlife
agency of a 17,000-acre coastal
ranch in Texas.s
The iconic Hotel Jerome has sold.
Dan Friedkin
There has been a buzz in real
estate circles that companies
such as Sprint, AT&T and even
Amazon might take over some
RadioShack stores.
Sprint already has agreed to
take over 1,750 RadioShack stores.
They will be combined into a
Sprint/RadioShack retailer.
However, even if more stores
close, it could be good news for
landlords.
That is because, in some cases,
leaseagreementswithRadioShack
preclude leases to be signed with
wireless carriers.
In other words, if a RadioShack
is in the center, the landlord can’t
ink a deal with Verizon or AT&T.
That would not be the case if
a cellular company predated the
RadioShack.
However, RadioShack has been
around for such a long time, it
was there before smartphones
were even part of our vocabu-
lary, predating many of its newer,
more profitable rivals, he noted.
Addresses and the size of
RadioShack stores to be closed
in Colorado, according to court
documents, include:
• 5890 W. 44th Ave., Wheat
Ridge (court documents shows
mailing address of Denver), 5,040
sf.;
• 7450 W. 52nd Ave., Arvada,
2,740 sf;
• 7507 W. 80th Ave., Arvada,
2,100 sf;
• 7475 W. Colfax Ave., Lake-
wood, 2,400 sf.;
• 10705 W. Colfax Ave., Lake-
wood, 2,400 sf.;
• 14200 E. Alameda Ave., Auro-
ra, 2,209 sf;
• 6554 S. Parker Road, Aurora,
2,025 sf;
• 1265 Sgt. Tom Styles Drive,
Highlands Ranch, 2,236 sf.;
• 4949 S. Yosemite Road, Green-
wood Village, 2,100 sf;
• 3702 Riverpoint Parkway,
Sheridan, 1,891 sf;
• 7243 Federal Blvd., Westmin-
ster, 2,200 sf;
• 1710 Briargate Blvd., Colo-
rado Springs, 2,136 sf;
• 225 Ken Pratt Blvd., Long-
mont, 2,016 sf;
• 1670 E. Cheyenne Mountain
Blvd., Colorado Springs, 2,100 sf;
and
• 3285 Dillon St., Pueblo, 3,650
sf;
“Some of these are in some pret-
ty decent centers,” Larson said.
“I would say it is a mixed bag,”
with some in more Class B and C
locations, he said.
Previous closings or down-
sizing chains have had a bigger
impact on the retail landscape
than RadioShack, he said.
One reason is that often they
closed their doors at tough times
during the economy, so there
wasn’t as much demand for space
as there is today, he said.
“When you think back to some
of these bigger box guys, like Cir-
cuit City, there weren’t as many
active box tenants looking to fill
those spaces,” Larson said.
“So it took a bit longer to backfill
them,” he said.
Also, there are a lot of tenants
that are interested in the small
footprint of a RadioShack, he said.
“Two thousand square feet is a
very leasable size,” Larson said.
“That should be an easier size
to re-lease than the bigger Circuit
City or Office Depot/OfficeMax
stores,” he said.
However, he said one recent
case bucked that trend.
“I think Blockbuster Video was
a bit unique,” Larson said.
“Personally, I think Blockbuster
tended to have better retail sites
than RadioShack,” Larson said.
“I think Blockbuster typically had
pretty prominent locations.”
Susan Karsh, a retail broker
with Newmark Grubb Knight
Frank, agreed that Blockbuster
stores tend to have had better
locations than RadioShack stores.
Blockbuster declared bank-
ruptcy in 2010
and later was
purchased by
locally based
Dish Net-
work.
“Blockbust-
er made more
of an impact
b e c a u s e
they tended
to be about
5,000 or 6,000 square feet, while
RadioShacks tend to be around
2,100 square feet,” Karsh said.
“Blockbuster stores tended
to have sexier locations than
RadioShacks,” she added.
Like Larson, she doesn’t think
RadioShack closing stores will
have much of an impact on the
Denver-area retail market.
“I don’t think it is going to have
much of an impact at all,” Karsh
said.
Also, its demise is not unex-
pected, she said.
“It is not a surprise at all,” Karsh
said.
“Look, RadioShack is a 95-year-
old company. If you asked any
company starting out today and
you could promise it a life of 50
years − half of RadioShack’s –
the company would be thrilled.
Everybody would take it.”
RadioShack, she said, simply
faced too much competition.
“RadioShack had a great run,”
Karsh said. “But they are just
competing against too many big-
ger brick-and-mortar retailers, as
well as everyone on the Internet,
like Amazon.”
For the outlier RadioShacks
that aren’t in established malls, it
might be a little difficult to backfill
them, she said.
“If you are looking to fill a space
that is 2,500 square feet or less, and
itʼs not fast food, it’s not a slam
dunk to find a tenant,”Karsh said.
“A lot of these little neighbor-
hood centers where you find a
RadioShack already have a liquor
store and a nail salon and a clean-
ers,” Karsh said. s
Susan Karsh
RadioShacks that are closing are having sales.