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Page 6 — COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL — December 7-December 20, 2016
by John Rebchook
Two venerable and veteran
Colorado multifamily compa-
nies recently made a deal.
Griffis/Blessing, based in Col-
orado Springs, paid $33.4 mil-
lion for the 252-unit Glenbrook
apartment community in Den-
ver.
The community, built in 1985
at 9999 E. Yale Ave., was sold by
Denver-based Grand Peaks.
Grand Peaks, formerly Simp-
son Housing, paid $14.1 mil-
lion, or $55,952.38 per unit, in
2006 for Glenbrook, according
to public records.
Griffis/Blessing paid $132,540
per unit and $176.22 per square
foot.
The property was listed by
Jeff Hawks, DougAndrews, Ter-
rance Hunt and Shane Ozment
of ARANewmark.
“This was a legacy property
for Grand Peaks,” Hunt said.
“The story behind it was that
it was probably a third-gener-
ation Simpson property,” with
either the grandfather or father
of Luke Simpson, the CEO and
co-founder of Grand Peaks,
initially developing it, Hunt
explained.
Grand Peaks received numer-
ous offers for the community,
many of them from California.
“There was some familiarity
(between the buyers and sellers)
and Grand Peaks knew Griffis/
Blessing would perform,” help-
ing it to beat out competitors,
he said.
This was the first deal that
ARA had brokered between
Grand Peaks and Griffis/Bless-
ing.
Grand Peaks was created in
2003, but Simpson Housing has
a track record stretching back
almost 50 years.
“Whether Simpson at some
point had ever done a trans-
action with Griffis/Blessing, I
don’t know, but this is the first
one I have heard of,” Hunt said.
Griffis/Blessing was founded
in 1985.
Glenbrook was especially
attractive to investors because it
is a true value-add deal, he said.
“It was a really untouched
value-add deal along the south-
east corridor, as the seller really
hadn’t done anything with the
units,” Hunt said.
“It is a blank canvas, if you
will,” Hunt said.
He said the majority of the
capital looking to place money
in apartments is seeking value-
add properties, because the rate
of the return on the improve-
ments is so much more than the
return expected on the invest-
ment.
“This asset fits right into our
proven value-add investment
strategy,” according to Gary
Winegar, president of invest-
ment services for Griffis/Bless-
ing.
“This community has been
held by the original owner since
its development in the ‘80s and
presents an opportunity to real-
ly add value to a well-located
property in the Denver market,”
Winegar added.
William J. Hybl Jr., president
and chief operating officer of
Griffis/Blessing, said the pri-
vately held company is excited
to add Glenbrook to its portfo-
lio.
“Its location in a very strong
Multifamily
Griffis/Blessing bought Glenbrook from Grand Peaks.