by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A company with plans to
move into approximately
504,000 square feet of new
distribution space in Den-
ver sold its existing head-
quarters building for $11.04
million.
Beverage Distributors Co.
sold its 224,597-sf building
on 14.05 acres at 14200 E.
Moncrieff Place in Aurora
to LBA Realty for $49.15
per sf. The company leased
back the building for two
years, pending completion
of its new facility at Enter-
prise Business Center.
LBAplans to make capital
improvements to the prop-
erty and either sell or lease
it to a new user or tenant,
said Mike Wafer of New-
mark Grubb Knight Frank,
who represented Beverage
Distributors in the trans-
action. Wafer will market
the building for the new
owner.
“LBA was attracted to
t h i s
p r o p -
erty due
to
the
n ume r -
ous fea-
t u r e s ,
i n c l ud -
ing over
50,000 sf
of office
b u i l d -
out, heavy power, rail
service, surplus land for
expansion and income
in place for the next two
years while trying to iden-
tify a replacement tenant
or buyer,” said Wafer.
The transaction was the
last of three deals Wafer
handled for Beverage
Distributors’ relocation,
which will take place in
April 2017. Those includ-
ed the land sale to United
Properties for the new
building, Beverage Dis-
tributors’ lease with Unit-
ed Properties and the sale
of the existing building.
Other News
n
Anderson Drilling
(Hayward Baker)
leased
26,403 square feet of
industrial space on 3.75
acres at 5665 Eudora St. in
Commerce City.
Drew McManus
and
Mike Viehmann
of
Cush-
man & Wakefield
repre-
sented the landlord,
John
Owens.
n
Spec Building Mate-
rials
leased 20,000 sf of
industrial space at 14777 E.
by John Rebchook
Florida-based Advenir recently
paid $52 million for the 351-unit
Del Arte Lofts & Flats in Aurora.
Advenir renamed the commu-
nity as Advenir at Del Arte.
Advenir has acquired about
3,100 apartment units in the Den-
ver area since 2011.
Advenir at Del Arte is an 11.42-
acre, 17-building apartment com-
munity at 151 S. Joliet Circle.
It was built in 1986 but all of the
units had recently been renovat-
ed by the sellers, Wood Partners
and E2M Partners.
It was 93 percent occupied at
the time of the sale.
"The greater Denver region is
one of the country’s top-perform-
ing apartment markets," said
Todd Linden, chief acquisition
officer of Advenir.
"Advenir at Del Arte is a stra-
tegic acquisition for us as it offers
quality residences, on-site ameni-
ties and easy access to retail, din-
ing and job centers,” Linden said.
“It is also located in the heart
of the region’s fastest-growing
employment center,” he said.
Advenir at Del Arte is close
to the Denver Tech Center, the
Fitzsimons medical center rede-
velopment, Buckley Air Force
Base and Denver International
Airport.
Combined, these four employ-
ment hubs represent 486,000 jobs.
The community also is less
than 10 minutes from the future
Aurora City Center Station on
the new Interstate 225 light-rail
line, which is scheduled to open
in 2016.
The I-225 Line will provide a
key linkage between the South-
east rail line, which serves the
Denver Tech Center, and the East
Rail Line, which also is sched-
uled to open in 2016 andwill con-
nect downtown Denver directly
to Denver International Airport.
“Del Arte is a great example of
a successful repositioning of an
asset that has a strong location
with great drive-by access to jobs
and proximity to retail and ser-
vices but that was not meeting its
potential,” said Jane Maushardt,
Wood Partners’ senior vice presi-
dent of acquisitions.
“Through a thoughtful renova-
tion of the 1980s-era unit interiors
and common areas, we were able
to appeal to Denver city-dwellers
looking for quality apartments
and amenities at a more reason-
able price in an ideal location,”
she said.
Wood Partners paid $33 mil-
lion for the community in May
2013.
Over the next two years, Wood
Partners fully renovated the leas-
ing office, clubhouse and the fit-
by Jennifer Hayes
It isn’t the work Karla
Nugent is most proud of but
what the work allows her to
give back.
Nugent, alongside her
partners Seth Anderson,
James Selecky and Pete
Farreny, founded Weifield
Group Contracting in 2001
– and key to the foundation
of the full-service, privately
held electrical company was
the commitment to give
back.
“We wanted to focus on
the people, the culture of the
company and incorporating
philanthropy,” said Nugent,
chief business development
officer for Weifield Group,
who is responsible for busi-
ness development, market-
ing, sales and the charitable
efforts of the firm. “From
day one, we thought we had
a responsibility to give back.
It really is who we are as a
company.”
As Weifield Group has
grown from four partners
planning a business in a
basement to nearly 250
employees today, so has the
company’s philanthropic
efforts, which focus on four
categories the firm defines as
head of household, women
and children, the U.S. mili-
tary, and the disabled and
less fortunate.
And it is one category
in particular that under
Nugent’s direction has
reached heights even she
didn’t think possible.
“It started as a way to con-
nect the head-of-household
group, a challenged group
that had faced homeless-
ness, substance abuse or a
criminal past and get them
into an internship with the
company,” Nugent said of
the apprentice program that
supports individuals from
the Stout Street Foundation,
Peer 1 Residential Program,
Denver Rescue Mission and
other organizations.
“We felt it was the right
thing to do and it really has
made an impact,” added
Nugent. She had expected
that the program, which
matched individuals with
Weifield Group to work in
prefabrication and, if they
showed initiative and suc-
cess, place them into its
four-year apprenticeship
program, would lead to the
addition of a few individu-
als to the firm and not the
40-some employees working
for Weifield Group today.
“It has been tremendous,”
Nugent said of the response.
“Individuals who couldn’t
find a job at Taco Bell now
have a job with good pay
and benefits, where we
pay for night school and
show them that we believe
in them and will invest in
them.
“In turn, we get employees
who have found their place
and are very loyal,” she
added.
The firm also is actively
involved with other chari-
ties, including The Gather-
ing Place, Hope House of
Colorado, Boys and Girls
Club, Mile High Youth
Corps, A Precious Child,
Rocky Mountain Children’s
Law Center, Alliance for
Choice in Education Schol-
arships, Colorado State
University, USO, Wounded
Warrior Project; Ameri-
can Military Family.org,
National Sports Center for
the Disabled, The Spark of
Life Foundation, Habitat for
Humanity, Avista Hospital
Foundation, Bike MS Colo-
rado chapter, American Dia-
betes Association, Goodwill
Industries International, and
Thirst Living Waters Fund,
among others.
Not surprisingly, Nugent
said her biggest hobby is
fundraising for charities.
“It sounds sad but it’s
hardly unexpected,” laughed
Nugent, who, admittedly
chairs “a lot” of boards and
fundraisers, including serv-
ing on the executive council
of the Emily Griffith Tech-
nical College, serving as
chair of the Avista Hospital
Foundation Board for Cen-
tura Health, serving as one
of the founding members of
Skills2Compete and serving
as a board member of Rocky
Mountain Christian Acad-
emy.
She also keeps busy with
her husband, Jack, and their
children, ages 10 and 7.
Born in Illinois, Nugent
grew up in Woodland Park
and attended Colorado State
University, where she gradu-
ated with a degree in psy-
chology.
After graduation, she
worked with CareerTrack, a
training and seminar compa-
ny, then a distribution com-
pany and also a data center
company, where she gained
leadership experience in
distribution, data center con-
struction, business expan-
sion, operation automation
and ISO certification – all of
which fostered her interest
in co-founding the electrical
contracting firm.
“When we came together
to found Weifield Group,
Karla Nugent
SECTION AA
Advenir has changed the name of this community to Advenir at Del Arte.
Mike Wafer
