AUGUST 5-AUGUST 18, 2015
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A Class A office asset that
offers high-end space to small
tenants sold to a Boston-based
real estate investment com-
pany.
Colony Realty Partners
paid $20.1 million, or $167.26
per square foot, for Plaza at
Inverness, according to pub-
lic records. The property con-
sists of two four-story build-
ings at 383 and 385 Inverness
Parkway in Englewood.
“If you are a smaller user
looking for quality space, this
is a building that caters to
you,” said John Jugl of HFF,
who represented the seller
with HFF’s Mary Sullivan. “I
think the building has really
carved out a niche.”
The 120,171-sf property
was 93 percent occupied at
the time of the sale.
“We had 46 tenants in the
buildings, so they were very
heavily multitenanted build-
ings. The average tenant size
was 2,400 square feet,” Jugl
said.
Xorail, which occupies
8,000 sf, is the largest ten-
ant. Peak Exploration & Pro-
duction and Mowatt Finan-
cial Inc. also occupy space at
Plaza at Inverness.
While some investors prefer
buildings with larger tenants,
“Some investors like the fact
that there’s a real diversifica-
tion in the tenancy profile,”
said Jugl.
There was considerable
interest – as there is withmost
Denver investment proper-
ties – said Jugl. More than 60
parties signed confidentiality
agreements, a typical number
these days, he said.
The Plaza at Inverness
offers amenities not usu-
ally available to small ten-
ants, including underground
parking, conference rooms
in each of the two buildings
and quick access to the Colo-
rado Athletic Club across the
street. It also is within walk-
ing distance of the County
Line light-rail station.
“I think Colony did a great
job in their due diligence in
acquiring the property, and
I think all the parties were
happy with the outcome,”
said Jugl.
Lincoln Property Co., on
behalf of the Illinois Teachers
Retirement System, sold the
Plaza at Inverness.
Colony Realty Partners’
other Denver office assets are
Dry Creek Corporate Center
Two and Three. The compa-
ny also owns industrial and
multifamily properties in the
Denver area.
s
Plaza at Inverness offers high-end space to small users.
by John Rebchook
Nate Gart was right.
“Nothin’ happens if you
don’t do nothin’,” Nate Gart,
who founded the iconic Gart
Sporting Goods in Denver in
1928, once said.
Eight decades after the
founding, Tom Gart, one of
Nate’s grandchildren, pulled
out the quote to help convince
an institutional partner that
investing in the Denver Pavil-
ions, the retail anchor at the
upper end of the 16th Street
Mall, was the best course of
action during the dark days of
the Great Recession.
The Gart family bought the
Denver Pavilions in a $95.5mil-
lion deal in July 2008.
The one-of-a-kind retail cen-
ter needed about $20 million in
improvements and upgrades.
But it was a time when insti-
tutional investors all across the
country were walking away
from big real estate invest-
ments.
In fact, Bill Denton, the origi-
nal developer of the Pavilions,
didn’t want to sell, but his insti-
tutional partner demanded it.
The problems, of course,
weren’t just in Denver.
Bear Stearns had been pur-
chased for a song and Lehman
Brothers had just collapsed.
The Garts’ 80 percent part-
ner in the Pavilions was ING
Clarion (later just Clarion.) The
Gart family owned most of the
rest of the remaining 20 percent
of the Pavilions with another
Denver-based company, Rifkin
& Associates, which was start-
ed by cable TV pioneer Monty
Rifkin.
The Gart family, which man-
ages the Pavilions, was unusu-
al in that it had such a big stake
in the Pavilions.
Operators of big real estate
developments such as the
Pavilions often have only a
2 percent to 5 percent equity
stake.
By ponying up its own
money, the Gart family was
demonstrating its commitment
The Garts recently brought in a new partner for the Pavilions.
CONTENTS
Law &Accounting
18
Senior Housing
37
Inside
