CREJ - Journal

1 / 104

AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A Canadian real estate
investment trust picked up a
second trophy asset in Den-
ver for $71 million.
ArtisReal Estate Investment
Trust bought 161 Inverness,
a 256,767-square-foot Engle-
wood office building that is
100 percent leased to digital
TV provider DirecTV. Direc-
TV’s lease runs through 2025.
Artis REIT financed the deal
with cash and was arrang-
ing financing on it, according
to Kirsty Stevens, Artis chief
administrative officer.
The deal follows Artis Real
Estate Investment Trust’s
recent $98 million acquisition
of 1700 Broadway in down-
town Denver. “We do like
the Denver market, and we
would consider other oppor-
tunities in that market if they
fit our investment criteria,”
Stevens said.
A high-profile build-
ing along Interstate 25, 161
Inverness is a distinctive six-
story structure with a canted
front that makes it appear to
lean over Interstate 25. The
Class A building features a
two-story atrium lobby and
“superior finishes,” according
to the buyer. It offers pan-
oramic Front Range views.
The building has a gener-
ous, 6:1,000 parking ratio
and also is adjacent to the
pedestrian bridge for the
Dry Creek light-rail station.
It was constructed for ICG
Communications at a cost
of $34.5 million and also
housed Level 3 Communi-
cations before becoming
home to DirecTV. Because
of the changing nature of
the communications indus-
try, Fentress Architects and
W. Steven Wood Architects
designed the building with
floor plates that could accom-
modate numerous offices
and conference room config-
urations.
Denver-based Dividend
Capital sold the property in a
deal handled by Cushman &
Wakefield of Colorado brokers
Mike Winn and Tim Richey.
Artis Real Estate Invest-
ment Trust invests in office,
industrial and retail prop-
erties in Canada and the
United States. Its portfolio
comprises approximately
24.8 million sf.s
Photo by Havey Productions
A Canadian real estate investment trust paid $71 million for 161 Inverness.
by John Rebchook
The low apartment vacan-
cy rate in the Denver area
could drop even more, as
demand is expected to out-
strip the supply, even as
thousands of new units pre-
pare to hit the market.
“I think we could break the
4 percent vacancy rate, pos-
sibly in August,” said Ron
L. Throupe, a professor at
the University of Denver’s
Daniels College of Business
Burns School of Real Estate
and Construction Manage-
ment.
The lowest vacancy rate on
record was 3.6 percent in the
third quarter of 1994.
The Denver-area apart-
ment vacancy rate in the sec-
ond quarter fell to 4.2 per-
cent, hitting a 13-year low,
according to the Colorado
Division of Housing and the
Apartment Association of
Metro Denver.
During the second quar-
ter, the average monthly rent
in the Denver area rose to
$1,022, a 4.3 percent increase
from $979 in the second quar-
ter of 2012 and an all-time
high, in noninflation dollars.
But even with 15,000 new
apartment units in the pipe-
line, the market likely will
become even tighter, apart-
ment experts told the Colo-
rado Real Estate Journal.
“The new construction is
not going to give any relief to
renters,” said Jerry Kendall,
managing director of Multi-
family Capital Advisors.
That is because almost all
of the apartment communities
that recently opened, or are
under construction or on the
drawing board are “at the top
of the market,” Kendall said.
“The increased supply is
going to do nothing to help
consumers at the bottom of
the market,” Kendall said.
“The new construction is not
going to create this soft land-
ing for consumers. As I said
before, it’s TINA – There Is
No Alternative.”
The truth of TINA was
illustrated recently when
Terrance Hunt, an apartment
broker and principal with
ARA, toured an apartment
community in Boulder.
“One of the tenants had
come in and had given his
30-day-in-advance notice
that he was moving,” Hunt
said.
The next day, however, he
tried to rescind his decision
to move because he found
there were no other options.
The manager told him he
had already leased his unit
to someone else. There was
nothing else available in the
community.
“The manager sent a mes-
sage in writing to all of his
tenants after that,” Hunt
Despite the recent opening of new, luxury apartments such as Monaco Row in the Denver Tech Center
by Shea, the tight rental market is expected to continue.
CONTENTS
Colorado Springs 16
Inside
for what is touted as one of the nicest
outpatient facilities in the Denver market
Avenue corridor in Wheat Ridge are
beginning to pay dividends
a 1.2-acre garden at the newly opened
Castle Rock Adventist Hospital
expansion in the Denver market will
include a flagship store in Edgewater