Colorado Real Estate Journal - January 21, 2015
A California-based company recently made its first real estate purchase in Colorado. JS Western Retail Investments, based in Placerville, outside of Sacramento, paid $8.2 million for the Greenbriar Plaza Shopping Center. The 114,120-square-foot center is on nine acres at 7041 and 7181 Pecos St. Twenty-one tenants lease 100 percent of the space. Tenants include Family Dollar, Ace Hardware, Pizza Hut and Grease Monkey. JS Western Retail Investments was represented by Chris Wiedenmeyer of Legacy Retail Group. The seller was Denver-based Real Capital Solutions, headed by Marcel Arsenault. Real Capital was represented by Barry Higgins of Marcus & Millichap. “We had about a dozen offers for it,” Higgins said. Arsenault had owned it for a long time, he said. “Marcel picked it up in the early 1990s,” Higgins said. “He bought it as a part of a portfolio from the RTC,” he said. The RTC, or Resolution Trust Corp., was created to dispose of assets owned by failed savings and loans. “I don’t know what price Marcel attributed to this, but his cost basis was really low,” Higgins said. Arsenault didn’t sell it because he wanted to take advantage of the hot real estate market, Higgins said. “Actually, it was part of an internal partnership,” Higgins said. “It was one of the last properties that a couple of his longtime partners were in and because they are pretty much retired now, they wanted to sell it,” Higgins said. “He sold it to accommodate them,” Higgins added. “It was doing so well and providing such great cash flow, that Marcel didn’t want to sell it,” he said. “We liked this property as it suited our investment appetite to acquire well-located retail assets in growing markets in the Western states,” said Scott Tiano, president of JS Western. “The Denver market continues to improve as a whole and Greenbriar Plaza is well-positioned to continue to fulfill the demand for discount retailers in this working-class neighborhood,” Tiano said. “With the Denver area becoming increasingly less affordable, young couples and families are moving outward,” he continued. “This property is in the direct path of growth and we see this asset increasing in value over the next five years,” he said. Greenbriar Plaza is located within two blocks of residential development, including Brookfield’s Midtown project, which has approximately 1,500 residences slated for development with more than 200 already completed and sold. Additionally, it is near U.S. 36 and Interstate 25, providing easy access to the Boulder corridor as well as Denver. It also is near I-70, providing east-west access. Bryan Gortikov, director at the Los Angeles-based George Elkins Mortgage Banking Co., arranged financing for the acquisition of Greenbriar Plaza. “With the property located in an area of transition, it was important for us to select a lender who truly understood the real estate,” Tiano said. “GEMB really understood our needs and was able to produce the perfect lender for the situation,” he said. “Further, the nonrecourse loan allowed us to optimize returns while insulating ourselves from unnecessary risk,” Tiano said. Although this marks the first acquisition by JS Western in Colorado, it likely won't be its last. The company plans to acquire several more retail properties in Colorado during the next 12 to 18 months. The price range of its target properties would be from $5 million to $15 million and it is interested in properties throughout the Denver metropolitan statistical area. JS Western is interested in buying value-add properties as well as stabilized retail centers in areas experiencing positive demographic change. Other News:M&M Corp. LLC paid $1.8 million for the five-building, 34,589-square-foot strip shopping center at 3113-3191 Peoria St. in Aurora. The center was leased to 16 retailers, many of which are long-term tenants. The center also is near a FasTracks light-rail station that is under construction. The station will lease to a “surge” in foot traffic, according to Marc Lippitt, Scott Shwayder and Justin Herman of Unique Properties LLC -TCN Worldwide. The Unique team represented the seller, THS Properties LLC, in the transaction. Lan Than of Landmark Real Estate Services represented the buyer.