Page 16 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 2-December 15, 2015
Finance
by John Rebchook
When Josh Simon and his team
went looking for lenders to fund
a new, first-class industrial facil-
ity being developed by Denver-
based Corum Real Estate Group,
there was no shortage of lenders
willing to step up the plate.
“We had a ton of interest” from
lenders, for both equity and the
construction loan, said Simon, a
managing director for the Den-
ver office of Holliday Fenoglio
Fowler LP.
While Simon did not release
the amount of the loans or the
identity of the lenders, records
show that FirstBank provided an
$8.58 million construction loan
that is due in November 2017.
Corum paid $2.08 million, or
$6.32 per square foot, for the 7.55-
acre site at 495 E. 62nd Ave.,
which is at the northeast corner
of East 62nd Avenue and Inter-
state 25 in Denver.
That loan was provided by
RREEF Fund of America, a pen-
sionadviser, according to records.
The seller was A. Ficco & Sons
LLC, records show.
Corum plans to develop Cen-
tral 62 Distribution Center, a
124,600-sf, ClassAspec industrial
warehouse and distribution facil-
ity, on the site.
”Corum was able to find an
unbelievable industrial develop-
ment site in the heart of central
Denver,” Simon said.
The site is about 5 miles from
Denver’s central business dis-
trict.
In addition to overlooking I-25,
it also will be close to Interstates
70, 71, 76 and 270. The center
also is near rail access and is 24
miles from Denver International
Airport.
Ware Malcomb is designing
Central 62, which will include
a one-story, multitenant build-
ing with 28-foot clear height and
22-foot dock-high doors.
“Given the site attributes and
the scarcity of industrial oppor-
tunities in the market, we had a
tremendous amount of interest
from capital, creating a highly
competitive environment to capi-
talize the deal,” Simon said.
Lenders, he said, liked the
“great visibility” of the site, as
well as the size of Central 62.
They also were eager to make
the loan given the strength of
Denver’s industrial market, he
said.
“I believe the industrial vacan-
cy rate is sub 5 percent,” Simon
said.
“There is a tremendous need
for more functional, efficient
warehouse space in Denver.”
A lot of the industrial space in
the area is “functionally obso-
lete,” he said.
When completed in 2016, Cen-
tral 62 will be one of the only
Class A industrial buildings in
the northeast submarket, accord-
ing to HFF.
Lenders also were eager to
provide equity and construc-
tion loans for Central 62 because
of the strength and history of
Corum.
“Corum has developed a lot of
properties in a lot of asset class-
es over the last 30 or so years,
including a lot of industrial prop-
erties,” Simon said.
Indeed, Corum, founded in
1986, has developed more than
A rendering shows the Central 62 Distribution Center, which is being designed by Ware Malcomb.
