Colorado Real Estate Journal -
At some point in the future, people visiting the 8,000-square foot building in the Denver Tech Center will be inquiring about CDs tied to the prime rate, rather than Prime Platters. That is because the building at 8480 E. Belleview Ave. in Greenwood Village, which housed Morton’s The Steakhouse for about a dozen years before closing last February, has been purchased by First Citizens Bank. Prime Platters are signature dishes at Morton’s. “We are very excited,” Terry Haggerty, spokeswoman for the bank, based in Raleigh, N.C., said about its latest branch site in the Denver area. “We love the state of Colorado and the Denver area and we love its location in the Denver Tech Center,” Haggerty said. “There is a very good client base around there and the area is the business hub for that part of the Denver area.” While no timetable has been set for the opening of the bank branch, it will mark the sixth branch for the bank in the Denver area. The bank’s parent is First Citizens BancShares Inc., which has more than $21 billion in assets. The other bank branches in the Denver area are at 700 17th St., Suite 100, downtown Denver; 311 Steele St., Cherry Creek North; 13700 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora; 11901 E. Arapahoe Road, Centennial; and 10005 Commons St., Lone Tree. Colorado is an important market for the company. “Net income was very strong due in large part to gains from the 2011 FDIC-assisted acquisition of United Western and Colorado Capital banks based in Denver and Castle Rock, respectively,” Frank B. Holding Jr., BankShares’ president and CEO, wrote in a recent letter to shareholders filed with the SEC.
United Western Bank had assets of $2.1 billion, net loans and leases of $1.3 billion and total deposits of $1.7 billion when First Citizens took it over. Colorado Capital was smaller, with total assets of $717.5 million, net loans and leases of $598.7 million and deposits of $672.7 million. Lisa Vela and Jay Landt of Colliers International sold the Denver Tech Center building, with assistance from Blake Skinner of the Legend Retail Group. The sales price was not released and the information was not yet available through public records Parking, or rather a lack of it, kept the building from being snapped up by another restaurant, Vela said. “It only has 40 parking spaces on site,” Vela said, which is not enough for a restaurant that also has a lunch crowd. The Morton’s, which opened in 2000, only served dinner. While it depends on the restaurant, most need about 80 to 125 spaces. In order to have enough spaces for lunch, a restaurant would need a “cross-parking agreement” with a nearby business, but most of the offices in the area need all of their parking during the day, she said. “We had a fair amount of interest for it, but the main challenge was the parking requirements,” she said. “If it had more parking spaces, without a doubt we would have sold it to a restaurant.” Still, it is an excellent site for a bank, Vela said. “It is going to take a substantial renovation, I’m sure,” she said. “I imagine they are going to completely gut it. Still, they seemed very excited about buying it. It is really a great Denver Tech Center location.” A private investor from Hawaii owned the building, she said.