Colorado Real Estate Journal - December 3, 2014
Greenwood Place sold for $6.79 million in what may be one of the best value-add deals of its kind in Denver this year. Denver-based Ogilvie Properties purchased the 72,093-square foot building at 5340 S. Quebec St. from an affiliate of the lender, Aegon USA Investment Management. The price equates to $94.11 per sf. Greenwood Place was approximately 25 percent vacant at the time of the sale, and rents were below market. “The average rents in place were about $3 a square foot below market, and it was 75 percent leased, so there’s a tremendous opportunity there to add value,” said JLL Executive Vice President Patrick Devereaux. “It’s one of the premier value-add opportunities under $10 million that Denver will see this year.” There were 18 offers for the property, according to Devereaux, who represented the seller with JLL Executive Vice President Jason Schmidt. The property is a short walk from restaurants and entertainment venues at The Landmark directly to the south. “We buy value-add office buildings and we try to turn them around and stabilize them,” said Stu Ogilvie of Ogilvie Properties. “What we liked about this property was the restaurants right there at The Landmark.” With so many office buildings to choose from in the Denver Tech Center area, “You need to have something a little bit different, and walkability is important,” Ogilvie said. That’s proven to be true in downtown Denver, and it’s becoming increasingly true in the suburbs, he said. “For us to buy a suburban building, it needs a walkability feature. It needs to be near the light-rail station,” Ogilvie said. Greenwood Place is just south of Belleview Station, a 42-acre transit-oriented development with apartments, Class A office construction and other development planned. “I think that’s where the activity is going, on that side of the highway along Belleview.” Greenwood Place was built in 1982 and last renovated in 2006. It’s been lender-owned for three years. Ogilvie Properties will update the common areas, put in a large conference room and athletic facility and improve the existing lunch/break area. Greenwood Place has 10 tenants ranging from 1,000 to 14,000 sf, the largest of which are Cable Audit Associates and Floyd’s Barber Shop, which has its administrative offices there. The three-story building has 3.5 parking spaces per 1,000 sf, showers and lockers, and an outdoor seating area with a water feature. If offers a “tremendous” location on South Quebec, with good access to Interstate 25, said Devereaux.