Colorado Real Estate Journal -
NorthMarq’s Denver regional office recently arranged a $3.5 million loan to refinance the historic Wheeler Block building, considered one of the premier historic buildings in the increasingly trendy Highland neighborhood near downtown. “There was a lot of interest from lenders,” said John M. Stewart, a senior vice president for NorthMarq, who arranged the financing with Ilan Reissner, an investment analyst in NorthMarq’s Denver office. “It’s a really nice building and the current owner did a great job renovating it,” Stewart said. “It is a historic building, constructed in 1896, and has beautiful views of Denver’s skyline and the mountains. It has these big windows on the top floor to take advantage of the views. It also has great parking. Parking is scarce in that Highland/LoHi area, so parking is really a great amenity in that neighborhood.” The six-story office building was renovated in 1986 and 2007. Its current owner, who declined to comment on the refinancing, purchased the Wheeler Block in 2007 for $4 million, according to public records. In 1991, the 39,250-square-foot building at 2150 W. 29th Ave., was purchased for $450,000, or $11.47 per sf, by the nonprofit Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. At that time, it was sold by IDS Certificate Co., a division of American Express. American Express had acquired the building in a foreclosure in 1988 and used the loss on the sale to offset gains on other sales. Several years before that fire sale, the building had been appraised at $3 million. When the Boys and Girls Clubs bought the Wheeler Block, it was only 40 percent leased. The building is now 100 percent leased and occupied by 17 tenants. “I can’t tell you the interest rate or who the lender is,” that refinanced the building, Stewart said. “But the lender is a portfolio life insurance company and one we do business with all of the time. They just really liked the building and with good reason.” The St. Charles Town Co., headed by Charlie Woolley, at one time managed the Wheeler Block. “It truly is one of the nicest historic buildings in northwest Denver,” Woolley said. “It sits high and has these great views. Literally, nothing obstructs the views. It is a nice place to work and is very convenient to downtown.” The current owner would have no problem leasing the building, if space became available, Woolley said. “It’s really hard to find anything like it in the area,” Woolley said. “It is a very handsome building and has a fantastic location. You can be downtown in minutes, but you don’t have the congestion of being downtown. And there are a lot of great restaurants within walking distance from it.” So why is called the Wheeler Block? “They called a lot of prominent, single buildings ‘blocks’ that were built around the turn of the century,” Woolley said. “Even though they often didn’t take up an entire block, if they were big, prominent buildings that stood out, they often called them ‘blocks.’”