Colorado Real Estate Journal - October 7, 2015
It’s out with the old and in with the new for the Cottrell’s building on the 16th Street Mall. Kin Yon LLC, led by Denver owner/developer Evan Makovsky, bought the approximately 20,000-square-foot building at 601 16th St. in Denver and an adjacent 6,200-sf parking lot from separate entities for $8.7 million. Makovsky intends to tear down the building and redevelop the corner. “We’re very involved with the property across the street, and I believe that the building doesn’t add to the mall and doesn’t add to the environment. I really see it as a teardown and a redevelopment that will hopefully add to bettering the environment on the mall and create a better atmosphere for the surrounding properties, including some that we own and some that we don’t own,” said Makovsky. “I’m not at this point in a place to tell you there is a firm plan or project that is in place to go forward,” he said, adding retail, office, hospitality and other uses are being explored. “I’m investigating several different possibilities right now, and I would hope within a year we would know which way we are going.” The property has B-5 zoning, which allows a variety of uses. Makovsky said somewhere between 150,000 and 250,000 sf potentially could be built on the site. The building houses a souvenir shop that has been there for many years. Makovsky said the shop, which is the building’s sole tenant, probably will stay until the property is redeveloped. Public records show the building was built in 1927. According to Historic Denver Inc., in 1950 Cottrell’s, a clothing store whose signage remains, completed an “elegant design” that incorporated Virginia greenstone and travertine marble. The design probably isn’t “elegant” by today’s standards; a posting on CityData.com calls the building “UUUUG-A-LEEEEEE.” Makovsky, managing partner of NAI Shames Makovsky, has ownership in the block across the mall at 16th and Welton Street, where Sage Hospitality has its offices, and developed the Marriott Residence Inn in downtown Denver, along with other projects. Tom Mathews of CBRE represented the sellers in the Cottrell’s transaction.