CREJ - Office Properties Quarterly

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by Michelle Z. Askeland
The Union Station wing office
buildings – often referred to as One
Union Station and the IMA Build-
ing – exemplify many of the trends
the Denver office property market
is witnessing. A large part of both
buildings’ success – each sold for
over $600 per square foot to GLL Real
Estate Partners, a German-based
international asset manager in 2014
– can be attributed to the old adage
that real estate is all about “location,
location, location.”
“Because of its reinvention as an
intermodal transit hub with rail,
light rail to Denver International
Airport and buses, Union Station has
really become the “new center” of
Denver and the two buildings that
we purchased sit directly adjacent
to that transit hub; there are no two
other buildings that can boast the
location that these buildings enjoy,”
said Eric Ramm, acquisition officer
for GLL Properties, the U.S. sub-
sidiary of GLL Real Estate Partners
Gmbh. Ramm said the renovation
of Union Station is one of the most
appealing transit-focused develop-
ments in the country.
Across the city, most Class A office
properties are experiencing record
prices, however the price paid per
sf for the two wing buildings set
Colorado office property records by
nearly $160 per sf, said Chris Framp-
ton, managing partner for East West
Partners. East West Partners was one
of the master developer partners for
the whole project, and developed
One Union Station (the south wing
building).
Frampton said he believes the
entire Union Station area will move
in the same price direction. “The
train station has made us attractive
to foreign capital, and foreign capital
is a huge deal,” he said. “We are get-
ting compressed cap rates as a result
of it. People view this submarket as
a core market, or close to it, so we’re
getting a great value of our land
Courtesy JC Buck
April 2015
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