Metropolitan State University of Denver has purchased the building at 800 Kalamath St. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Class will continue to stay in session at 800 N. Kalamath St.
Metropolitan State University of Denver’s foundation purchased that property for $4 million last week, the university confirmed to BusinessDen. It’s a lime-green, roughly 10,600-square-foot rectangular building that the school had been leasing for some music department programming.
The deal works out to about $377 per square foot. The property was sold by NIMBL Holdings LLC, which bought the property in April 2013 for $1.61 million, records show. The seller listed it for sale last summer, asking $4.2 million.
“The building purchase will allow the university to continue using it as it does under its current lease agreement, ensuring a home for our longstanding and highly regarded music programs including the MSU Denver Jazz and Mariachi programs,” said Christine Márquez-Hudson, the school’s vice president of advancement.
Located at the intersection of Kalamath and 8th Avenue, just a block to the west of the Art District on Santa Fe, the property once operated as a partnership between MSU and the Detroit Institute of Music Education, or DIME. The partnership was piloted in the basement of the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus.
MSU signed a 10-year lease in 2017 for the Kalamath property, which was built in 2002. It was renovated to include a first-class music production studio in 2018, Márquez-Hudson said.
Students work atop a curb inside the building that dates back to when a gas station operated at the property. (Courtesy MSU Denver)
In March 2020, MSU announced it would part ways with DIME, largely due to a lack of enrollment in the program. Across both DIME locations in Denver and Detroit, just 168 students were registered in 2019, far less than the 349 required for the partnership to not lose money, Westword reported.
Since then, MSU’s music department, as well as other community musical organizations, has continued to utilize the space.
“The facility is used for MSU Denver Music Department concerts, summer workshops and performances, hosting more than 1,300 musicians from 10 different counties and a variety of school and community groups,” Márquez-Hudson said. “The Latino Cultural Arts Center, the Colorado Conservatory for Jazz Arts, the Art District on Santa Fe and other community organizations partner with MSU Denver at the facility; new partnerships are also in the works.”
While the outside is striking for its bright green paint job, the inside has its quirks as well. The center of the building is home to remnants of an old gas station that has been preserved, while the perimeter is outfitted with music studios, said NAI Shames Makovsky broker Craig Myles, who represented the seller.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that the property was specifically purchased by the university’s foundation.
Metropolitan State University of Denver has purchased the building at 800 Kalamath St. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Class will continue to stay in session at 800 N. Kalamath St.
Metropolitan State University of Denver’s foundation purchased that property for $4 million last week, the university confirmed to BusinessDen. It’s a lime-green, roughly 10,600-square-foot rectangular building that the school had been leasing for some music department programming.
The deal works out to about $377 per square foot. The property was sold by NIMBL Holdings LLC, which bought the property in April 2013 for $1.61 million, records show. The seller listed it for sale last summer, asking $4.2 million.
“The building purchase will allow the university to continue using it as it does under its current lease agreement, ensuring a home for our longstanding and highly regarded music programs including the MSU Denver Jazz and Mariachi programs,” said Christine Márquez-Hudson, the school’s vice president of advancement.
Located at the intersection of Kalamath and 8th Avenue, just a block to the west of the Art District on Santa Fe, the property once operated as a partnership between MSU and the Detroit Institute of Music Education, or DIME. The partnership was piloted in the basement of the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus.
MSU signed a 10-year lease in 2017 for the Kalamath property, which was built in 2002. It was renovated to include a first-class music production studio in 2018, Márquez-Hudson said.
Students work atop a curb inside the building that dates back to when a gas station operated at the property. (Courtesy MSU Denver)
In March 2020, MSU announced it would part ways with DIME, largely due to a lack of enrollment in the program. Across both DIME locations in Denver and Detroit, just 168 students were registered in 2019, far less than the 349 required for the partnership to not lose money, Westword reported.
Since then, MSU’s music department, as well as other community musical organizations, has continued to utilize the space.
“The facility is used for MSU Denver Music Department concerts, summer workshops and performances, hosting more than 1,300 musicians from 10 different counties and a variety of school and community groups,” Márquez-Hudson said. “The Latino Cultural Arts Center, the Colorado Conservatory for Jazz Arts, the Art District on Santa Fe and other community organizations partner with MSU Denver at the facility; new partnerships are also in the works.”
While the outside is striking for its bright green paint job, the inside has its quirks as well. The center of the building is home to remnants of an old gas station that has been preserved, while the perimeter is outfitted with music studios, said NAI Shames Makovsky broker Craig Myles, who represented the seller.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that the property was specifically purchased by the university’s foundation.
