Colorado Real Estate Journal - May 4, 2016
The top of a Colorado Boulevard office tower is opening up to become one-of-a-kind office space for a single tenant. “We think it’s going to be some of the most amazing space in Denver because it will be 26 feet of glass,” Stuart Ogilvie of Denver-based Ogilvie Properties said of the forthcoming space at Tower Colorado. Ogilvie Properties bought the 15-story, 128,000-square foot building at 1720 S. Bellaire St. in Denver for $13.4 million. A fitness facility with racquetball and basketball courts, originally an amenity for the old Writer’s Manor development, occupies the top two floors. Ogilvie will covert the space to open-floor-plan office with mezzanine features and build a new fitness center on the first floor. “We will build a very nice facility down there,” said Ogilvie, who wants tenants to have a great athletic facility to replace what now is underutilized space. Ogilvie Properties is considering naming the “new” office space the Sky Box and will ask somewhere in the low- to mid-$30s per sf gross. Building signage will be available. “That building is pretty prominent. You can see it well down the highway,” said Ogilvie, who likes the location midway between downtown and the Denver Tech Center. John Marold, Sergio Castaneda and Laura Cain of CBRE Inc. are the leasing brokers. Asking rates for existing office space at Tower Colorado are $23 to $25 per sf gross. Another big change for Tower Colorado will involve extending the lobby, which is covered by an overhang, out toward the street to create a light-filled “glass box” that will improve the building’s presence. Ogilvie Properties hopes to attractive a coffee company to the space. Also, aluminum cladding between the building’s windows will be replaced with more modern exterior treatment. Ogilvie Properties expects to spend between $2.5 million and $3 million on improvements. Tower Colorado is home to 54 tenants and was 89 percent leased at the time of the sale. “This building caters to small to medium-size users that need to be in a central Denver location with access to Interstate 25 at Colorado Boulevard. You have a tremendous amenity base up and down Colorado Boulevard and it’s within two miles of Cherry Creek,” said Patrick Devereaux of JLL, who represented the seller, an affiliate of Felton Properties, with Jason Schmidt. Both are JLL executive vice presidents. “We had great interest just because of that central Denver location and all the buildings along that Colorado Boulevard location benefitting from the explosive growth that’s occurring in Cherry Creek,” Devereaux said. Office lease rates generally are more affordable along Colorado Boulevard than downtown or in Cherry Creek, and Devereaux said a high percentage of tenants at Tower Colorado have been there for many years. “The sticky nature of the tenants in that building is unbelievable,” he said. “It’s convenient access to all the retail amenities that are up and down Colorado Boulevard. Once tenants get into that location, they tend not to leave.” Tower Colorado was built in 1976 and renovated in 1998 and 2014. The new improvements will be completed over the next year. Ogilvie Properties also is completing renovation of the former Key Bank building at 3300 First Ave. in Cherry Creek, which includes 64,000 sf of office space and 36,000 sf of retail.