Coworking chain expects to give downtown tower back to lender

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Trinity Place is located at 1801 Broadway. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)

Five months after saying in a lawsuit it planned to do so, a lender has filed to foreclose on the 17-story Trinity Place office tower downtown.

And the coworking chain that bought it in 2019 doesn’t expect to own it much longer.

“We expect that we will have some sort of friendly transaction of the property to the lender,” said Chris Klare, chief financial officer of Chicago-based Expansive. “It’s all amicable.”

The foreclosure paperwork was submitted last Wednesday for the 198,000-square-foot building at 1801 Broadway. It is the third downtown office property to enter foreclosure since the pandemic began.

Expansive, then known as Novel Coworking, paid $40.2 million in spring 2019 for the property, taking out a $35.4 million loan from LoanCore Capital to do so.

In its August lawsuit, LoanCore said that the loan matured in April but Expansive had failed to repay it. Expansive still owes $34.6 million, plus accruing interest and fees, according to the lender. Steve Schwab of Cushman & Wakefield was appointed as receiver of the property at LoanCore’s request.

Expansive says it has 3.8 million square feet of space in 34 cities. The company is unusual among coworking companies in that it generally owns its spaces. In addition to 1801 Broadway, the company owns and operates at 1630 Welton St. in Denver, 1495 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder and 8400 E. Crescent Parkway in Greenwood Village, where competitor Regus closed last year.

Schwab, the receiver, told a judge in a December report that the building was 76 percent leased at the end of November, with Expansive itself using 55,500 square feet. But Klare said Expansive is giving up some floors, trimming its presence to about 25,000 square feet.

“The investment certainly hasn’t performed as we would like,” Klare said, noting the future of the property really is up to the lender.

Attorney Craig Allely in the Denver office of Perkins Coie represents LoanCore. He did not respond to a request for comment.

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The Trinity Place building at 1801 Broadway is 17 stories. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)

The receiver has made some changes. Schwab said in his report that the building now has on-site security for the bulk of the day, which tenants seem to appreciate, and that measures have been undertaken to address tenant feedback that the building’s garage “would often smell like sewage.”

Trinity Place isn’t the only location where Expansive has run into loan trouble. A building the company owned in Washington, D.C. sold at auction last year after Expansive defaulted on a $65 million loan, according to the Washington Business Journal. The company also recently surrendered one of its Chicago properties via a deed in lieu of foreclosure, according to The Real Deal.

A contractor is also feuding with Expansive over Trinity Place. In October, Renu, a restoration company in Texas, sued the coworking firms. Renu said that it renovated 1801 Broadway between July 2022 and April 2023 and is still owed $403,000 for its work. Renu wants to foreclose on its mechanic’s lien at 1801 Broadway.

Last month, Judge Sarah Wallace consolidated the case into the lawsuit initiated by LoanCore. She also added Schwab as a defendant, at Renu’s request. Schwab’s attorneys are now asking her to reconsider.

“The receiver is neither an owner nor lienholder of the property and should have never been a named defendant,” they wrote Dec. 21.

The other two downtown office properties that have entered foreclosure since the pandemic began are the Denver Energy Center and 410 17th St. 

Denver Energy Center, which consists of two towers at 1625 and 1675 Broadway, reverted to its lender in 2022 when no one else bid at an auction. The 24-story 410 17th building, meanwhile, entered foreclosure in July.

A number of other office properties are distressed in some fashion but not technically in foreclosure.

Read more: Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties

P1074156 scaled

Trinity Place is located at 1801 Broadway. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)

Five months after saying in a lawsuit it planned to do so, a lender has filed to foreclose on the 17-story Trinity Place office tower downtown.

And the coworking chain that bought it in 2019 doesn’t expect to own it much longer.

“We expect that we will have some sort of friendly transaction of the property to the lender,” said Chris Klare, chief financial officer of Chicago-based Expansive. “It’s all amicable.”

The foreclosure paperwork was submitted last Wednesday for the 198,000-square-foot building at 1801 Broadway. It is the third downtown office property to enter foreclosure since the pandemic began.

Expansive, then known as Novel Coworking, paid $40.2 million in spring 2019 for the property, taking out a $35.4 million loan from LoanCore Capital to do so.

In its August lawsuit, LoanCore said that the loan matured in April but Expansive had failed to repay it. Expansive still owes $34.6 million, plus accruing interest and fees, according to the lender. Steve Schwab of Cushman & Wakefield was appointed as receiver of the property at LoanCore’s request.

Expansive says it has 3.8 million square feet of space in 34 cities. The company is unusual among coworking companies in that it generally owns its spaces. In addition to 1801 Broadway, the company owns and operates at 1630 Welton St. in Denver, 1495 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder and 8400 E. Crescent Parkway in Greenwood Village, where competitor Regus closed last year.

Schwab, the receiver, told a judge in a December report that the building was 76 percent leased at the end of November, with Expansive itself using 55,500 square feet. But Klare said Expansive is giving up some floors, trimming its presence to about 25,000 square feet.

“The investment certainly hasn’t performed as we would like,” Klare said, noting the future of the property really is up to the lender.

Attorney Craig Allely in the Denver office of Perkins Coie represents LoanCore. He did not respond to a request for comment.

P1074150 scaled

The Trinity Place building at 1801 Broadway is 17 stories. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)

The receiver has made some changes. Schwab said in his report that the building now has on-site security for the bulk of the day, which tenants seem to appreciate, and that measures have been undertaken to address tenant feedback that the building’s garage “would often smell like sewage.”

Trinity Place isn’t the only location where Expansive has run into loan trouble. A building the company owned in Washington, D.C. sold at auction last year after Expansive defaulted on a $65 million loan, according to the Washington Business Journal. The company also recently surrendered one of its Chicago properties via a deed in lieu of foreclosure, according to The Real Deal.

A contractor is also feuding with Expansive over Trinity Place. In October, Renu, a restoration company in Texas, sued the coworking firms. Renu said that it renovated 1801 Broadway between July 2022 and April 2023 and is still owed $403,000 for its work. Renu wants to foreclose on its mechanic’s lien at 1801 Broadway.

Last month, Judge Sarah Wallace consolidated the case into the lawsuit initiated by LoanCore. She also added Schwab as a defendant, at Renu’s request. Schwab’s attorneys are now asking her to reconsider.

“The receiver is neither an owner nor lienholder of the property and should have never been a named defendant,” they wrote Dec. 21.

The other two downtown office properties that have entered foreclosure since the pandemic began are the Denver Energy Center and 410 17th St. 

Denver Energy Center, which consists of two towers at 1625 and 1675 Broadway, reverted to its lender in 2022 when no one else bid at an auction. The 24-story 410 17th building, meanwhile, entered foreclosure in July.

A number of other office properties are distressed in some fashion but not technically in foreclosure.

Read more: Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties

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