Page 8 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— August 5-August 18, 2015
Greater Denver
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc. sold the Element
Denver ParkMeadows to a Texas-
based group for $15.5 million.
The hotel will continue to be
affiliated with Starwood Hotels &
Resorts.
“The sale of Element Denver
Park Meadows follows the recent
high-profile sales of two of our
hotel properties in The Luxury
Collection, namely The Phoeni-
cian and the Gritti Palace,” Adam
Aron, Starwood CEO, said in an
announcement. “While this is a
smaller sale, nonetheless it also
marks continued progress in ful-
filling our asset-light strategy and
achieving our stated goal of $800
million in hotel sales by the end
of 2015.”
The purchaser, Denver II Hos-
pitality LLC, didn’t return phone
calls about the transaction.
The Element Denver Park
Meadows is a 123-room hotel
with fully equipped kitchens, a
450-square-foot meeting space,
indoor saline swimming pool and
outdoor patio. Located at 9985
Park Meadows Drive in Lone
Tree, just off C-470 and Interstate
25, it has quick access to the inter-
state and downtown Denver.
“We look forward to working
with Denver Hospitality to ensure
the continued success of this prop-
erty, which was one of our first
Element hotels and remains an
excellent representation of this
stylish, eco-minded brand,” said
BrianMcGuiness, senior vice pres-
ident of Starwood Specialty Select
Brands.
s
The Element Denver Park Meadows
an 87.5 percent increase in the size.
However, about 2,500 sf of it
will be for banquets andmeetings,
“so unless we open all of it up, the
new store won’t feel that much
bigger,” he said.
The current store has a 2,500-
sf patio, while the new Tavern
Uptown will have a 4,000-sf,
eighth-floor patio.
“There will be fantastic views
from the patio,” Howell said.
In addition, Schultz will be in
chargeof all 14,000 sf of retail space
in the new apartment community.
“I plan to bring in other restau-
rants, such as a coffee shop or a
breakfast place, which will com-
plement Tavern Uptown,” which
he opened in 2001.
Unfortunately, the current build-
ing for the Tavern Uptown, which
opened around the turn of the
century, will bedemolished, under
the current plans.
Historic Denver Inc. has con-
tacted Southern Land about trying
to incorporate the building, which
the city has said is not historic, into
the new development.
A meeting on the matter is
scheduled for mid-August. How-
ell said it is too early to determine
whether the existing building can
be saved.
Another idea is to save the
bricks from the building and try to
re-create a facsimile of the existing
building in the new development.
However, bricks that are more
than 100 years old often crumble
when the existing mortar binding
them is removed.
The new building, being
designed by Shears Adkins Rock-
more, will not allow the existing
structure to remain.
“My first hope was that it could
be saved,” Schultz said. He said
the existing building could not
withstand the weight of an eight-
story structure on top of it.
“We almost didn’t do the sale
because” the existing building
could not be saved, he said.
However, he said he is pleased
the Tavern Uptown will remain
at its current location. Also, 50
covered parking spaces will be
dedicated to patrons of the Tavern
Uptown, he noted.
He also saidhe is thrilled tohave
a large patio on the eighth floor.
A portion of the new building
that abuts East 16th Avenue will
have five stories, with the rest of
the project having eight floors.
Units will range from about 500
sf to 1,400 sf.
“Rents will be set at the market,
which is now in the $2.50 to $2.60
per sf,” Howell said.
“We’ll have the typical amenities
like a fitness center, bike storage
and bike lockers and at least two
or three courtyards with grass and
fire pits and grills and an outdoor
kitchen,” he said.
One thing Southern Land dis-
covered during its due diligence,
is that young professionals who
will be the likely tenants don’t
need or want a giant swimming
pool.
“We surveyedother projects and
talked to a lot of managers and
one of the questions we always
ask is, “What would you do dif-
ferently, if you could do it over?”
He said the answer is that they
would make the swimming pool
smaller and the hot tubs larger.
“So we are going to have over-
sized hot tubs that might hold
35 or 40 people instead of 18 and
what I would call a midsized
pool,” Howell said.
“We’ll probably put the pool on
the fifth-floor roof, because that is
where it will get the best light,”
he said.
The building will be energy-effi-
cient, but it has not been decided
yet whether they will seek LEED
certification, he said.
“It certainly will be built to
ʻIt also marks continued
progress in fulfilling our
asset-light strategy and
achieving our stated goal
of $800 million in hotel
sales by the end of 2015.ʼ
– Adam Aron,
Starwood Hotel & Resorts
