Page 10 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— September 2-September 15, 2015
Turnkey Buildouts,
No Turmoil
End the headaches with one stop,
full-service buildouts.
Services include: architectural plan creation,
design and engineering through zoning,
permitting, construction, inspection,
and approval.
Greater Denver
with DTZ industrial advisers
Craig Myles and Tyler Smith,
handled the sale.
The seller had owned the
property since 1985 and com-
pleted extensive renovations.
The Colorado Trade Center is
integral to Denver’s develop-
ment. In 1922, the Chicago Bur-
lington and Quincy Railroad
built a major facility for steam
locomotive repairs on the site
that, at the time, encompassed
nearly 300 acres. “It was big
news for Denver to land that
facility. It really put Denver
on the map,” said R.C. Myles.
The locomotive shops operated
through the Depression as well
as the railroad industry’s con-
version to diesel engines. They
were shut down in 1953.
Associated Grocers of Colo-
rado bought most of the prop-
erty a few years later, add-
ing buildings and converting a
portion of the property to cold
storage for food and produce
distribution –
uses that con-
tinue today.
Much of the
produce con-
sumed
in
metro Den-
ver travels
through the
trade center
on its way
to
grocery
stores and restaurants.
Over the years, the property
has housed tenants including
Miller-Coors, Nestle Purina,
Owens Corning and Nash
Finch.
The trade center was offered
to a handpicked group of
investors, according to Myles.
“The majority of all the buyers
we went to ended up making
offers on it, and there were
several that were very aggres-
sive about wanting it,” he said.
It’s rare for a large, quality
industrial investment property
so close to downtown to come
on the market, Myles noted.
“It’s 40 acres
of infill in the
central mar-
ket in Den-
ver. It doesn’t
happen every
day.”
“It
was
amazing, all
of the inter-
est we had,”
said Smith.
The Colorado Trade Center is
one of the largest industrial-
zoned properties in Denver
County, he said. It’s stabilized
with long-term leases in place,
but also offers future upside in
rents. Plus, “There are pock-
ets of yard space that are on
month-to-month leases that
could be repurposed now,” he
said, adding the coal plant on
site also could be repurposed.
Smith and Craig Myles will
continue to handle leasing.
Conscience Bay Co. invests in
“unique” real estate assets that
generate dependable income
and long-term capital appreci-
ation. It owns office and indus-
trial properties, as well as land,
in Boulder. The Colorado Trade
Center is its first Denver asset,
and it is interested in acquiring
more.
“At CBC, we focus on great
pieces of real estate with sig-
nificant cash flow, good credit
tenants and irreplaceable loca-
tions. CTC has all of these attri-
butes and more,” said Woolf.
“We are excited to acquire our
first Denver asset and look for-
ward to being a part of the
North Denver community.”
s
A historical photo of the Colorado Trade Center shows little development
surrounding it.
Ben Woolf
R.C. Myles
shops and restaurants in Olde
Town, as well as larger retailers
including Lowe’s, OfficeMax
and Costco.
“The goal was to create new
buildings that blended in with
the historic nature of the Olde
Town Arvada area from the
early 1900s and Landon did a
wonderful job in accomplishing
this goal,” said Riki Hashimo-
to of Newmark Grubb Knight
Frank, who, with NGKF’s Dan
Grooters, represented the Land-
on partnerships that sold the
properties.
“With the opening of the
RTD Gold Line and Olde Town
Arvada Station commuter line
in 2016, this location is truly
a Main and Main development
site with connectivity to down-
town Denver. The fundamentals
of this real estate are really on an
excellent trajectory and fit well
for our investor groups seeking
long-term investment opportu-
nities,” Hashimoto said.
“This is a class property in
a prime location,” added John
Winslow of Winslow Prop-
erty Consultants, who was
not involved in the deal but is
familiar with the site. “Over the
last 30 years, the Arvada Urban
Renewal Authority has done a
bang-up job in encouraging the
regentrification of this neighbor-
hood and has attracted some
of the top developers in Colo-
rado, such as Richard Landon
of Landon Enterprises,” he said.
Sidford Capital LLC is a local
commercial real estate firm that
owns and manages approxi-
mately 750,000 sf of retail, office
and industrial properties across
the Front Range.
s
