Former AT&T Building Getting $1-Mil Retrofit Into Class-A Tower

DENVER-CMD Realty Investors is spending $750,000 to $1 million to bring its 15-story building in the Downtown up to class-A office status. Last May, CMD bought the 185,737-sf building at 1875 Lawrence St. from Crescent Real Estate, which had purchased it from the investment arm of Denver Tech Center. CMD is one of the nation’s largest private office building investors. Formerly known as the AT&T building, the structure is CMD’s only Downtown holding, says Steve Mulhern, vice president and regional manger of CMD’s Western Region. The company previously had owned the Hudson Bay Centre in Denver’s CBD, but sold it for a huge profit.

“Hudson Bay was very unusual for us, because more than 95% of our portfolio is in the suburbs,” Mulhern tells GlobeSt.com. “When we sold it, we thought we’d replace it with a suburban office building, and then the 1875 Lawrence building became available.”

CMD General Manger Keith Neff says he would classify 1875 Lawrence as a class B-plus to A-minus building at this time. But by redoing the lobby, elevator cabs and a second-story outdoor patio, it will bring it up to class-A status, Neff says. The lobby is to be completed by the end of the second quarter end and the entire project by the end of the third quarter.