Colorado Real Estate Journal - August 19, 2015
Northstar Commercial Partners has stepped up once again to buy a building with an unclear future. With CoBank set to move to its new headquarters building in March, Northstar bought its existing 204,945-square-foot building at 5500 S. Quebec St. in Greenwood Village. It paid $16.15 million, or $78.80 per sf, and has set about finding a new user or users for CoBank’s nearly 180,000 sf. “Our successful closing of 5500 S. Quebec brings us all a good deal of excitement here at Northstar,” said company founder and CEO Brian Watson. “In the near future, we look forward to partnering with local community and business leaders to bring over 800 jobs to this location, which will create opportunity for the employees, local businesses and the community at large. In sum, we are in the business of creating opportunity for others through quality work environments,” Watson said in an announcement. Northstar’s forte is buying vacant and distressed properties and filling them up. It says it already is working with several prospective tenants and user buyers for the building. The asset represents a unique opportunity to secure a large office space in the southeast suburban submarket. “We’re enthusiastic to find a replacement tenant for CoBank, in approximately 180,000 square feet of office space. This will be one of the largest blocks of standalone contiguous office space in the market, at a lease rate that will be significantly below newly constructed buildings. In addition, this building has unimpeded Western views and is within walking distance of the Landmark retail project,” said Watson. “This is a great buy, even though the anchor is moving in March 2016,” said John Winslow of Winslow Property Consultants, who was not involved in the transaction. Winslow noted the property is close to Greenwood Athletic Club, one of the premier athletic clubs in the country. CoBank occupies 178,980 sf of the building. Waste Management occupies the remaining 21,707 sf on a lease that extends through first-quarter 2019. The three-story building was constructed in 1982-83 and offers 68,315-sf floor plates. It has immediate access off of Interstate 25 and is within walking distance of the Orchard light-rail station. There are 230 underground parking spaces, a full-service café space and mountain views. In addition to turning around vacant and distressed commercial real estate, Northstar Commercial Partners also purchases real estate for and from national corporations in Colorado and nationally.