Colorado Real Estate Journal -

Driven by MAX, developer buys third building in Midtown area

by Jill Jamieson-Nichols

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A Fort Collins developer who has been redeveloping retail properties on South College Avenue has acquired a third Midtown building.

Highland Properties 711 LLC, led by Les Kaplan of Imago Enterprises, purchased the Chuck E. Cheese’s building at 1623 S.

College Ave. from Rainier Sunwest Portfolio I LP for $1.8 million. Located at the corner of College and West Prospect Road, the building has 22,350 square feet of space, approximately 10,000 sf of which is available for lease.

Kaplan previously redeveloped the old Kelly Moore building at 2101 S. College and leased it to Full Cycle, a bicycle shop. He also redeveloped the former Maytag building at 1801 S. College for multiple tenants and has letters of intent for spaces in that building, according to Cassidy Turley Fuller Real Estate broker Nate Heckel.

“He’s bringing life back to these buildings, and he’s doing a really good job of it,” said Heckel, who represented Kaplan in the acquisition and is offering the available space for lease.

Kaplan’s interest in the Midtown area is driven in large part by the city’s focus on the Mason Corridor, which will have bus rapid transit (called MAX) beginning in 2014. MAX, which will be accompanied by a bike and pedestrian trail, will transport people five miles between downtown and southern Fort Collins with stops along the way, including at Prospect.

“That’s the reason Midtown is such a great place to be,” said Kaplan, adding it is close to the Colorado State University campus, and The Commons, a 676- bed student housing/apartment complex is under construction on College just south of Prospect.

There also is an urban renewal area, something the Commons’ developer took advantage of and that makes the area attractive for redevelopment, said Kaplan.

“I think it’s an incredible opportunity here,” he said, adding he plans to continue to seek opportunities and also would like to see other investors jump on the bandwagon.

Kaplan’s latest investment is a former Safeway store. The vacant space used to be occupied by Harbor Freight Tools. “There is a lot of interest in it,” Kaplan said.

Chuck E Cheese’s is a longtime tenant that has several years remaining on its lease, said Heckel.

Other News

Timberline Shops LLC, an entity related to Chrisland Commercial Real Estate, is developing an approximately 4,500-square-foot retail building for tenants Qdoba Mexican Grill and TCBY near the intersection of Drake and Timberline roads in Fort Collins.

The building at 2638 S. Timberline Road is on a pad at the King Soopers-anchored grocery center at Timberline and Custer Drive.

Qdoba will occupy approximately 2,700 sf. TCBY will occupy 1,800 sf. Both tenants expect to open in late summer.

The Architects’ Studio designed the building. Dohn Construction is the general contractor, and financing is being provided by FirstBank.

Terrazza Bakery & Italian Bistro leased 7,761 sf of restaurant space at 4333 E. Mulberry St. in Fort Collins.

ZER Inc. is the landlord.

T.J. Antinora and Pete Kelly of Realtec Commercial Real Estate Services were the listing brokers.

Antinora also represented the tenant.

Fort Collins’ office vacancy rate is approximately 12 percent, but the supply of large blocks is growing smaller, according to Realtec broker Peter Kast.

Kast expects lease rates for spaces greater than 10,000 sf to begin to increase this year, he said in reference to the firm’s recent market update. Average asking lease rates range from $11 per sf triple net for Class C space to $16.50 per sf triple net for Class A product.

“If you’re looking for something over 10,000 sf, I think you will see lease rates rise, and it doesn’t matter what class it is,” said Kast.

For users under that threshold, plenty of options remain.

“If you’re looking for 1,500 sf, you’ve got thousands and thousands of things to look at,” said Kast. “Until we see small businesses absorb some of the smaller spaces, those rates are going to remain flat.”