Colorado Real Estate Journal -

Westfield enters Fort Collins in big way

Westfield Company Inc. has acquired the largest office building in Fort Collins for $32 million.

The acquisition of Harmony Corporate Center, a 177,500-square-foot asset, marks the Denver-based firm’s foray into the Fort Collins market.

“We have been trying to get into Fort Collins for a number of years and just haven’t been able to find the right asset. This particular asset is the largest office building in the marketplace, and it is just a real quality asset. We felt this would give us a good entry into the market to look at future expansion in Fort Collins with further investments and/or development,” said Westfield Chief Operating Officer Randy Schwartz.

“It was a good opportunity to buy a premier asset in Fort Collins,” added Kevin McClintock, Westfield’s vice president of acquisitions. “We obviously are attracted to all the growth happening in that part of the city and the state.” Harmony Corporate Center is a three-story building that was built for Symbios Logic, now LSI Corp., in 1999.

After LSI moved out in 2006, Casa Grande Capital Group acquired the vacant building, converted it to multitenant space and, in 2008, added a second building attached by a walkway.

Located at 2950 E. Harmony Road, it is at a main gateway to Fort Collins, surrounded by major employers including Hewlett-Packard and Intel, as well as Front Range Village, a major retail/entertainment center.

“It has a great location,” said McClintock. “It is clearly one of the best quality office buildings up there.” The property is 94 percent leased. AMD is the largest tenant, with a little more than 60,000 sf. Kaiser Permanente occupies approximately 21,000 sf, Stantec has 11,000 sf, and Broadcom leases 9,200 sf. “It’s got a nice mix of Fort Collins-based companies as well,” said McClintock.

CBRE broker Peter Kast represented Casa Grande Capital Group in the sale of Harmony Corporate Center, which he called an “institutional property in a noninstitutional area” that is gaining traction within the investment community.

“Fort Collins has got a good reputation right now, and people are interested in investing in these kinds of assets,” said Kast.

Gary Hollenbeck of Palmer McAllister, a Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, and Mary Frances Cowan of Quantum Commercial worked with Westfield on the acquisition.