CREJ

January 3-16, 2018

Page 19

www.crej.com

Rebchook Real Estate Corner

artners Group is on a

roll.

The global private

market management firm, based

in Baar, Switzerland, has more

than $66 billion in assets under

management.

Its latest financial report shows

the Partners Group, with invest-

ments in private equity, real

estate, infrastructure and debt,

booked a 24.75 percent year-over-

year increase in revenues and a

41.6 percent jump in net income.

The truly global company

invested in everything from

a trophy office tower it bought

in Atlanta to the giant Sapphire

Wind Farm inAustralia.

And, by the way, it also broke

ground on its North American

headquarters in the Interlocken

A d v a n c e d

Technology

Environment

business park.

Interlocken is

roughly 5,172

miles from

Baar.

The cam-

pus, designed

by Open Stu-

dio Architec-

ture, is expected

to open in 2019.

The first phase of the $40 mil-

lion campus will have 92,290

square feet in three office build-

ings and 55,849 sf for a parking

structure.

The developer of the Partners

Group campus is Prime West

Development. The general con-

tractor is Swin-

erton Builders.

P a m e l a

Alsterlind, a

partner with

the Partners

Group, recent-

ly answered

some ques-

tions by email

from

Reb-

chook Real Estate Corner.

Rebchook:

When did the Part-

ners Group start its search for its

NorthAmerican headquarters?

Alsterlind:

The search started

in the fall of 2014 when our board

of directors decided to underline

our commitment to the Americas

by investing in the design and

construction of a U.S. headquar-

ters.

Rebchook:

How did Partners

Group do its due diligence in

researching cities?

Alsterlind:

Our approach to

business is to get on a plane our-

selves and go and see our clients

and management teams on their

home territory, wherever that

might be, rather than ask them

come to us. So it was important

to us that our new office be in a

fairly central location with good

air transport links, but other than

that wewere open to other factors

and looked at seven cities across

the U.S. before settling onDenver.

Rebchook:

What were the

factors that made the Partners

Group choose the Denver area?

DIA? Workforce? Quality of life?

Alsterlind:

We chose the Den-

ver metro area for our new head-

quarters because it not only had

the excellent national and interna-

tional connectivity we were look-

ing for, along with a business-

friendly government, but it also

offered a great quality of life for

our employees.

Unlikemany firms inour indus-

try of privatemarkets investment,

we did not feel that we needed to

base our U.S. headquarters close

to financial or political centers.

The nature of our business is

to invest in attractive companies

and assets all across theAmericas,

on behalf of a client base that is

also spread across the country.

Rebchook:

How many sites in

the Denver area did the Partners

Group consider before choosing

Broomfield?

Alsterlind:

We looked at all

the different business parks and

business nodeswithin theDenver

area and decided on Broomfield

because of its location between

Denver and Boulder. Within

Broomfield itself, we looked at a

total of five lots and settled on this

one because of the Interlocken

business park and also because

there are some clear parallels with

Partners Group’s home country

of Switzerland – most obviously

the beautiful view of the moun-

tains in the distance.

Rebchook:

Is there room to

grow on the site?

Alsterlind:

The site itself is

25.12 acres so, yes, there is room

to construct other buildings on

the site at a later date. Our ambi-

tion is to bring a unique campus

culture to the heart of our Amer-

icas business, and this location

allows us the space and the free-

dom to be able to do that.

Rebchook:

What are some of

the energy-saving and sustain-

able features of the buildings?

Will it be LEED certified, for

example?

Alsterlind:

There will definite-

ly be a sustainability focus with

these buildings, but we can’t

be more specific than that right

now – happy to come back to on

this at a later date.

Rebchook:

Is Partners Group

looking to add to its workforce

and, if so, howmany people and

in what areas will it be hiring?

Alsterlind:

Yes. We are already

at more than 100 employees in

our temporary office in down-

town Denver, which is more

than double our initial expecta-

tions. The new campus, which

will open in 2019, will be capable

of accommodating several hun-

dred employees. We are hiring

across all business lines, from

servicing institutional clients, to

sourcing and executing invest-

ments, to carrying out corpo-

rate functions.

▲

Partners Group underway on headquarters campus

How has Fox Rothschild grown to 800 attorneys across 50+ practices in 22 offices?

By listening.

Here, we put our Denver real estate lawyers on a national stage and equip them with the

platform to nurture innovation and drive client success.

Our result:

The client focus and values of a boutique paired with the reach and resources

of a national firm.

Happy clients. Better lawyers.

YOU WANT A NATIONAL FIRMWITH

REAL ESTATE KNOW-HOW.

WE HEAR YOU.

John Rebchook

Rebchook Real Estate

Corner

Pamela Alsterlind

A rendering of the headquarters under construction by Partners Group

in Broomfield