Colorado Real Estate Journal - August 19, 2015
ArciTerra Group recently paid just under $19.4 million for the 135,751-square-foot Seven Hills Plaza shopping center in Aurora. The purchase apparently was the first Denver-area acquisition by Phoenix-based ArciTerra. “I believe it was their first local acquisition,” said Matthew Henrichs, who listed, marketed and sold the property at East Hampden Avenue and Tower Road with fellow CBRE broker Brad Lyons. There was a lot of interest in the property from prospective buyers, which is typical in today’s hot Denver area retail market. “I will tell you, generally speaking, we always have quite a few offers on all of our listings and Seven Hills Plaza was no different when we ran it through the listing process,” Henrichs said. The sale price was the equivalent of $142.89 per sf. “ArciTerra is a syndication group and one of the things that really appealed to them is that they purchased it priced well below replacement cost,” Henrichs said. The head of ArciTerra could not be reached by press time. But according to ArciTerra’s website, among other asset types, it is interested in multitenant retail centers and well-anchored neighborhood community centers and value-add opportunities. ArciTerra targets properties priced from $2 million to $250 million. Seven Hills Plaza, built in 1985, was sold by a Minneapolis-based group called CRE Aurora LLC. It had a fairly high vacancy rate when it sold. “It was about 86 percent occupied at the time of the sale, which really gave it great value-add potential,” Henrichs said. “These types of assets are very sought after, because there is a very limited supply of them on the market,” Henrichs said. He said several letters of intent already were in the works at the time of the sale. The property is continuing to be leased by Rich Otterstetter and Jeff Germain of the Crosbie Group. Spaces are available from 1,200 sf to 8,510 sf, according to a Crosbie Group brochure. The anchor tenant is the Movie Tavern, which takes 35,974 sf. Other tenants include: • 24 Hour Fitness, 9,200 sf; • Napa Auto Parts, 6,152 sf; • Music Go Round, 6,000 sf; • Encore Dance, 5,100 sf; • Crossroads Bible Church, 4,000 sf; • Play it Again Sports, 3,680 sf; and • 7-Eleven, 2,560 sf. “There also is a Natural Grocer’s by Vitamin Cottage that is under construction nearby the property,” Henrich said. “The Natural Grocers wasn’t part of the collateral, but it kind of shadow anchors it,” he said. Seven Hills Plaza has a great location, he added. “It is at a very strong regional intersection of Hampden and Tower,” Henrichs said. “It is an area that has very strong demographics,” he said. Indeed, the average household income within a one-mile radius of Seven Hills Plaza is $75,781. Within a three-mile radius it is $79,968. Other News Sigma Systems Inc. paid $1.7 million for an 8,900-square-foot building on a 23,400-sf site at 2305 S. Colorado Blvd. in Denver. Sean Kulzer, Mike DePalma and David Dobek of SullivanHayes Properties represented the buyer in the transaction. n An unidentified buyer paid $968,400 for the 12,258-sf Ralston Trade Center at 9840 W. 59th Place in Arvada. The multitenant building was fully occupied at the time of the sale. Justin Krieger and Jeff Johnson of Pinnacle Real Estate represented the buyer from California that purchased the property as part of a 1031 exchange. “The demand for retail properties in metro Denver remains strong,” Krieger said. He said a number of buyers wanted the Ralston Trade Center, as it is a value-add deal. “The low in-place rents and nearby proposed developments created a lot of buyer interest in this property,” Krieger said. “In addition, the fact that the property was priced just below $1 million also got a lot of attention because it’s getting harder to find multitenant retail properties in metro Denver at that price point,” Krieger said. AutoZone leased 7,240 sf at 5365 S. Wadsworth Blvd. in Littleton. AutoZone was represented in the transaction by Courtney Dahlberg Key and Donald M. Miller of SullivanHayes Properties. Carefree Spas leased 6,500 sf from Kimco at the Market at Southpark at 7937 S. Broadway in Littleton. Courtney Dahlberg Key and Brian Shorter of SullivanHayes Properties represented Kimco in the transaction. Highland Tap & Burger leased 4,595 sf from Sloan’s Lake Apartment LLC at the Sloan’s Lake Alexan apartment community being developed by Trammell Crow Residential at 1565 Raleigh St. in the Sloan’s redevelopment of the former St. Anthony Hospital site across from Sloan’s Lake in northwest Denver. Sean Kulzer, Mike DePalma and David Dobek represented both sides in the transaction.