Colorado Real Estate Journal - August 17, 2016
What may be the first Ace Hardware store in the metro area recently traded hands. “I don’t know if it is the first, but it has to be one of the earliest ones,” said Rob Edwards, who handled the sale with fellow Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors’ broker Tom Ethington. Officials from the hardware franchise, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, didn’t respond to an inquiry about the A&A Tradin’ Post/Ace Hardware at 4509 S. Broadway in Englewood. It opened in 1955. It is possible that Ace could have opened an earlier one in the metro area, but it is no longer an Ace store. It sold for $2.6 million, or $165.30 per square foot. The two-building center has 15,729 sf. “The buyer is a local group,” Edwards said. “They are basically coupon clipping,” from the steady income from the store, he said. The building had received more than $250,000 in improvements since October 2014. The A&A Tradin’ Post/Ace Hardware is a fixture in the neighborhood, he said, and is popular with both newcomers and longtime residents. “I think people who just moved here call it the Ace Hardware and residents who have been here for a long time call it the A&A Tradin’ Post,” Edwards said. There are 16,162 people living within a 1-mile radius of the store, according to research by Edwards and Ethington. Add 2 miles to the radius and that number grows exponentially to 102,748. The 5-mile radius serves 322,214. The average household income within a 3-mile radius is $72,036 and the median household income is $50,535. The A&A Tradin’ Post Ace Hardware is operated by a locally owned franchisee, the Ninth Avenue Hardware Co. NAHC owns the business, but not the building. NAHC acquired the A&A Tradin’ Post Ace Hardware in 2006. “Since then, we have worked hard to get it back to it Tradin’ Post heritage, while making sure we can also cater to the ever-changing needs of both residential and commercial companies,” NAHC said on its website. NAHC also operates its namesake store on Ninth Avenue in the Capitol Hill area. That was its first store. It has operated it since 1977. NAHC also has an Ace Hardware store at East 12th Avenue and Clayton Street and the Ninth Avenue Ace Locksmith operation. The A&A Tradin’ Post Ace Hardware sits on a 0.81-acre site. That could provide a long-term benefit to the owners, although NAHC has a long-term lease on the property, according to Edwards. At some point, if the hardware store ever left, it could end up being a prime development site. “It is hard to find that much contiguous land in the area,” Edwards said. “At some point, I could see something like what happened at Speer and Broadway, where the Diamond Shamrock was replaced by the giant apartment building,” he said. “One could argue that part of the South Broadway corridor is ready for some density,” Edwards said. “This site is between Broadway and Hampden, so it is ideally poised for growth,” he said. Of course, it also is an ideal spot for a hardware store, he said. “If you look at a map, there really is not a nearby hardware store, like a Home Depot, that is that convenient or easy to get to,” Edwards said. Other News An unidentified buyer paid $2.1 million, or $560 per square foot, for the 3,750-sf Shops on Midway, a retail center on a 0.6-acre site at 1690-1700 W. Midway Blvd. in Broomfield. The center was built in 1975. It is 100 percent occupied. Tenants include Little Caesar’s pizza and Midway Liquors, both which have triple-net leases. The property was a former bank building. The vacant bank building sold for $650,000 in March 2015. Justin Krieger of Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors represented the seller in the Shops on Midway transaction. Chris Saros of Dunton Commercial represented the buyer. The buyer purchased the property in a 1031 exchange. “This was a win-win deal for both parties,” Krieger said. “My client capitalized on an outstanding opportunity when he bought a vacant building that others passed on and renovated it and leased it up and made an impressive profit in a little over a year, and the buyer achieved his goal of buying a stabilized and well-located deal,” Krieger said. An unidentified buyer paid $1.13 million, or $457.37 per sf, for a 2,739-sf retail building on a 19,000-sf site at 4300 E. Eighth Ave. in the Mayfair neighborhood of Denver. The seller, M&N Co., received multiple offers for the property. Mark Lippitt, Scott Shwayder and Justin Herman of Unique Properties Inc. represented the seller in the transaction. The new owner plans to redevelop the site, which is across the street from the 9th and Colorado development by Continuum Partners. The retail and restaurant portion of the mixed-use 250 Columbine center in Cherry Creek North is 100 percent leased, according to its developer, Western Development Group. A majority of the shops and restaurants are now open for business, with others scheduled to open by October. The tenants include: Blue Island Oyster Bar, Sol Cocina, Arc’Teryx, Ibex, EverEve, Gnat Jewelers, Peter Millar, Eddie Bauer, Starbucks, Perch and Masters Gallery. “We’ve been very pleased with the amount of interest our retail space has received during the past several months and, as a result, our retail and restaurant space is completely full,” said Roy Kline, a partner at Western Development Group. “We’ve brought some exciting new concepts to Cherry Creek North, and people are beginning to discover great new dining and shopping experiences. Our ‘angle street parking’ and covered parking garage make visiting 250 Columbine especially convenient for people who are driving into the neighborhood.”