The Metropoint I and II buildings in Denver have sold. (Courtesy Koelbel & Co.)
A pair of office buildings in the Denver Tech Center have sold for the first time in nearly two decades — revealing their worth has plummeted 73 percent.
The Metropoint I and adjacent Metropoint II at 4600-4610 S. Ulster St. in Denver sold for $22 million last week to Denver-based Koelbel and Co. and Louisville-based Real Capital Solutions.
The two buildings span a combined 433,000 square feet, which works out to $51 a foot.
Both buildings were sold by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which bought them in 2006. The sale price then: $81 million.
“It’s certainly telling for the type of climate we’re in as it relates to how the capital markets are looking,” said Walt Koelbel, vice president of commercial real estate at Koelbel and Co.
Walt Koelbel
Koelbel said the property is 60 percent occupied across the two buildings, with a tenant mix of financial and business services, tech firms and design/engineering groups.
The 14-story, 281,000-square-foot Metropoint I was built in 1985. The six-story, 153,000-square-foot counterpart was erected in 1999. The two structures share a surface parking lot with 700 spaces, and are located just south of the interchange between Interstates 25 and 225.
A real estate brochure obtained by Businessden advertised starting rent at Metropoint I was set at $29.50 a square foot, with $12.85 a foot in operating expenses. A Loopnet listing for the other building showed rent between $25 and $26 a foot.
Koelbel said the price his firm paid reflected the property’s need for improvements, maintenance and renovations.
“This building is one of the marquee ones in the north Denver Tech Center, and it just needs to have a little improvement, a little renovation to bring it back to where it’s been historically,” he said.
The executive said he hopes to “activate” the property’s large outdoor patio, improve elevators and common areas, and the lobby. Some amenities onsite include a fitness center and tenant lounge.
It’s the second time in three months that Koelbel has scored suburban office space at a steep discount.
The firm purchased the 12-story, 229,000-square-foot Axis Tower at 5613 DTC Parkway in Greenwood Village in June for $26 million, a 21 percent cut from its previous $32.75 million sales price.
(Metropoint I and II are) a little bit more of a heavier lift compared to what Axis was,” Koelbel said.
Elsewhere in town, Koelbel is building Innovus, a 200,000-square-foot office building near Aurora’s Buckley Space Force Base that will serve military and defense contractors.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which sold Metropoint, has endured its real estate holdings taking a 10 percent hit in the past year, per its semi-annual report.
“CalSTRS staff and consultants believe it is prudent to take a slightly more conservative view and note that benchmark values may continue to reflect an additional quarter or two of modest declines, with the bulk of write downs having occurred,” reads the report.
The Metropoint I and II buildings in Denver have sold. (Courtesy Koelbel & Co.)
A pair of office buildings in the Denver Tech Center have sold for the first time in nearly two decades — revealing their worth has plummeted 73 percent.
The Metropoint I and adjacent Metropoint II at 4600-4610 S. Ulster St. in Denver sold for $22 million last week to Denver-based Koelbel and Co. and Louisville-based Real Capital Solutions.
The two buildings span a combined 433,000 square feet, which works out to $51 a foot.
Both buildings were sold by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which bought them in 2006. The sale price then: $81 million.
“It’s certainly telling for the type of climate we’re in as it relates to how the capital markets are looking,” said Walt Koelbel, vice president of commercial real estate at Koelbel and Co.
Walt Koelbel
Koelbel said the property is 60 percent occupied across the two buildings, with a tenant mix of financial and business services, tech firms and design/engineering groups.
The 14-story, 281,000-square-foot Metropoint I was built in 1985. The six-story, 153,000-square-foot counterpart was erected in 1999. The two structures share a surface parking lot with 700 spaces, and are located just south of the interchange between Interstates 25 and 225.
A real estate brochure obtained by Businessden advertised starting rent at Metropoint I was set at $29.50 a square foot, with $12.85 a foot in operating expenses. A Loopnet listing for the other building showed rent between $25 and $26 a foot.
Koelbel said the price his firm paid reflected the property’s need for improvements, maintenance and renovations.
“This building is one of the marquee ones in the north Denver Tech Center, and it just needs to have a little improvement, a little renovation to bring it back to where it’s been historically,” he said.
The executive said he hopes to “activate” the property’s large outdoor patio, improve elevators and common areas, and the lobby. Some amenities onsite include a fitness center and tenant lounge.
It’s the second time in three months that Koelbel has scored suburban office space at a steep discount.
The firm purchased the 12-story, 229,000-square-foot Axis Tower at 5613 DTC Parkway in Greenwood Village in June for $26 million, a 21 percent cut from its previous $32.75 million sales price.
(Metropoint I and II are) a little bit more of a heavier lift compared to what Axis was,” Koelbel said.
Elsewhere in town, Koelbel is building Innovus, a 200,000-square-foot office building near Aurora’s Buckley Space Force Base that will serve military and defense contractors.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which sold Metropoint, has endured its real estate holdings taking a 10 percent hit in the past year, per its semi-annual report.
“CalSTRS staff and consultants believe it is prudent to take a slightly more conservative view and note that benchmark values may continue to reflect an additional quarter or two of modest declines, with the bulk of write downs having occurred,” reads the report.
