Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 21, 2015
A global company will make a big statement in Denver with a move to a high profile building near Denver International Airport. Kärcher North America leased an 87,000-squarefoot Class A office building at Interstate 70 and Peña Boulevard for its North American headquarters. The building at 4555 Airport Way is next to Prologis’ operational headquarters, and, like Prologis, Kärcher will have building signage that announces its presence to people heading into the city from the airport. Prologis, a global distribution facilities provider, leased the building to Kärcher. “We are pleased to lease this prime office building to Kärcher. We share a similar international focus, so it’s easy to see why a company like Kärcher would be drawn to this stateof-the-art space and want to use it as their new North American headquarters,” said Wayne Barrett, Prologis vice president and market officer. Prologis said it wasn’t fully utilizing the space, so it made more sense to put it on the market. Kärcher signed a 10-year lease and will move its 148 local employees into the building in April. The company currently is housed in a significantly smaller space at 750 W. Hampden Ave. in Englewood. Kärcher has been growing in Denver and needed to expand out of its existing space, according to Valarie Johnson, Kärcher communications manager. “We needed to grow in order to accommodate our company’s growth. We also were looking for something that was more reflective of the type of company we are in terms of innovation and sophistication and to have that kind of an image when we deal with clients and people who are coming here from all over the world when we have our board meetings,” she said. Kärcher is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and providers of floor care cleaning equipment and services for the industrial, commercial and residential markets. Its expansion is symbolic of growth of manufacturing companies in Colorado, said Johnson. “I think it speaks volumes in terms of what is happening in the growth of manufacturing and how that contributes to the Colorado economy,” she said. JLL brokers Joe Heath, Andy Ross and Don Misner represented Prologis in the lease transaction. Andy Cullen and Tim Bourdelais, also of JLL, represented Kärcher. The four-story building has a fitness facility, conference and employee dining facilities, a grand lobby with granite floors and an outdoor plaza with seating and a water feature.