The three-story building has sold for the third time since 1990. (Courtesy NAI Shames Makovsky)
A small office building in Upper Downtown has traded hands for a fraction of its previous sales price.
Lawyer Siddhartha Rathod bought the 19,000-square-foot building at 1641 California St. on Tuesday for $2.6 million, or about $135 a square foot, public records show.
The sellers, Josh and Gregg Orlinsky, bought the approximately 130-year-old building in November 2017 for $5.3 million.
Rathod, the buyer, is a partner at civil rights, education and employment law firm Rathod | Mohamedbhai. He owns the firm’s existing offices at 2701 Lawrence St. in RiNo, according to public records. Rathod did not respond to a request for comment.
Broker Solomon Stark with NAI Shames Makovsky represented the sellers. The building was vacant when he first listed it for lease eight months ago.
“We weren’t getting the activity we were looking for, so we put it up for sale 100 days ago,” he said.
That got immediate attention, mostly from buyers looking to occupy the building with their own businesses, “which is the story of the market right now,” Stark added.
The building as seen in February 1983. It was once home to a floral shop. (Courtesy Roger Whitacre via Denver Public Library Digital Collections)
“Right now there’s so much vacancy in the office world downtown. And there are owner-occupants – they can buy a building and stabilize their buildings for years to come in this market,” he said.
Denver’s Upper Downtown, also known as the Central Business District, had a 44.5% vacancy rate at the end of last year, according to the brokerage Savills. Numerous office towers in the area are financially distressed.
The last time the office market was in a tailspin this bad was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a pair of Denver’s main industries – oil and gas – took a hit. Toward the end of the crisis in 1990, 1641 California St. was sold for $825,000. That’s a little over $2 million in today’s dollars.
The building, once known as the Gladstone Hotel, has fetched higher prices in its history, though. In late 1979, it was traded for $1.59 million, worth about $6.7 million today.
The three-story building has sold for the third time since 1990. (Courtesy NAI Shames Makovsky)
A small office building in Upper Downtown has traded hands for a fraction of its previous sales price.
Lawyer Siddhartha Rathod bought the 19,000-square-foot building at 1641 California St. on Tuesday for $2.6 million, or about $135 a square foot, public records show.
The sellers, Josh and Gregg Orlinsky, bought the approximately 130-year-old building in November 2017 for $5.3 million.
Rathod, the buyer, is a partner at civil rights, education and employment law firm Rathod | Mohamedbhai. He owns the firm’s existing offices at 2701 Lawrence St. in RiNo, according to public records. Rathod did not respond to a request for comment.
Broker Solomon Stark with NAI Shames Makovsky represented the sellers. The building was vacant when he first listed it for lease eight months ago.
“We weren’t getting the activity we were looking for, so we put it up for sale 100 days ago,” he said.
That got immediate attention, mostly from buyers looking to occupy the building with their own businesses, “which is the story of the market right now,” Stark added.
The building as seen in February 1983. It was once home to a floral shop. (Courtesy Roger Whitacre via Denver Public Library Digital Collections)
“Right now there’s so much vacancy in the office world downtown. And there are owner-occupants – they can buy a building and stabilize their buildings for years to come in this market,” he said.
Denver’s Upper Downtown, also known as the Central Business District, had a 44.5% vacancy rate at the end of last year, according to the brokerage Savills. Numerous office towers in the area are financially distressed.
The last time the office market was in a tailspin this bad was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a pair of Denver’s main industries – oil and gas – took a hit. Toward the end of the crisis in 1990, 1641 California St. was sold for $825,000. That’s a little over $2 million in today’s dollars.
The building, once known as the Gladstone Hotel, has fetched higher prices in its history, though. In late 1979, it was traded for $1.59 million, worth about $6.7 million today.
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