Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 3, 2018
Cress Capital acquired a prominent office building on the Union Boulevard corridor in Lakewood with plans for a nearly $1 million capital campaign to include a new tenant amenity center. The Newport Beach, California, investor bought Union Tower, a 210,000-square-foot building at 165 S. Union Blvd., from TA Realty in a $25.25 million off-market deal. TA Realty had owned the building since 2010 and in 2016 began a renovation that included updating the lobbies and several floors. Cress plans to pick up where TA left off and will add an amenity center featuring a tenant lounge, gym and conference center. “Union Tower is one of the top office assets in West Denver,” said Tom Parnell, a partner in Cress Capital. “The new amenity center will be a true differentiator, putting the building in a class of its own among the competition.” “We see a lot of potential in the West Denver submarket,” added Parnell. “With downtown rents rising and commute times worsening, it’s a market in which we are seeing increased attention and expect to see substantial growth.” Union Tower is a 10-story building within a short walk of the Federal Center light-rail station. It is surrounded by restaurants and sits next to a newly built luxury apartment building. “With so many walkable amenities, including more than two dozen restaurants, the light-rail stop and the new Beacon85 apartment building, Union Boulevard is unique for a suburban office location,” said Parnell. “We’re seeing more demand from office tenants for these types of amenities, particularly when moving outside of downtown.” Constructed in 1982, Union Tower was 51 percent occupied at the time of the sale. A couple of large tenants, Enserca Engineering and Maptek, vacated the top two floors over the last couple of years. Michael Baker International, the largest existing tenant, recently signed a long-term lease for the building’s top floor. New West Physicians and Cherokee National Business also are among multiple tenants in the building. Parnell said Union Tower has seen interest from tenants representing a wide range of industries, including law, business services, engineering and technology. “Often, executives and employees live on the west side of town, making Union Boulevard an ideal and logical place to commute, especially given it is still less than 15 minutes to downtown Denver,” he said. CBRE’s Mike Winn, Tim Richey and Chad Flynn represented TA Realty in the sale of Union Tower. The building is the second office asset Cress Capital has purchased from TA Realty this year; the sale of two Orange County, California, buildings totaling more than 300,000 sf closed in May. “Cress’ relationship with TA has strengthened with our recent transactions,” said Ryan Parkin, Cress Capital managing partner. “Relationships and reputation are incredibly important in our industry, and we look forward to continuing to work together on future deals.” In Colorado, Cress Capital owns 505,000 sf of office/flex space in Prospect East Business Park in Fort Collins and 3800 Arapahoe, a 15,474-sf office building in Boulder. The company has acquired more than 1 million sf of office properties in California and Colorado this year.