Owner says downtown office tower will sell for $132M

The 17th Street Plaza building on March 13, 2024. (BusinessDen file)

The owner of the 32-story 17th Street Plaza office tower in downtown Denver says a deal to sell it should close later this month.

Chicago-based Equity Commonwealth said in a news release Monday that a buyer, whom it did not identify, has agreed to pay $132.5 million gross for the 709,000-square-foot tower at 1225 17th St. That works out to about $186 a square foot.

Salesforce signage was installed atop the building in 2020. (BusinessDen file)

The net purchase price is expected to be about $124.4 million after credits, primarily for contractual lease costs, according to the firm.

The tower last sold for $134.25 million in 2009, records show.

Equity Commonwealth agreed last summer to sell the building, and three others in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, after a push from activist investors.

CBRE and Newmark were ultimately hired to market 17th Street Plaza. In marketing materials, they said the tower was 81% leased and called it “one of the highest quality and best located office assets available in the entire U.S.”

The tower was built in 1982 and is the 13th-tallest building in Denver. Tenants include Salesforce, Trammell Crow Co. and the real estate brokerages CBRE and JLL.