Paul Powers, president of the Pauls Corp., says dividing the ownership and development of the block makes sense. "We had some priorities with our own shop," Powers says. "We have a lot of other things going on. We needed to prioritize the direction of our capital."

Its biggest project is an $800-million joint venture in northern California that will include about 500,000 sf of office and several thousand residential units, he says. Pauls will develop that project with Glenborough Realty and a division of General Electric. The Pauls Corp. has a relationship with both those entities at the 1,200-acre Gateway Park project south and east of the Denver International Airport, which the company is developing into a multi-billion dollar mixed-use project.

The Pauls Corp.'s option to buy the LoDo land had been set to expire Mar. 15, but the company had received an extension on the purchase to put together the new deal, Powers says. "We'll start the lofts as soon as First Century completes their parking garage," Power says. "Hopefully, we'll be started by early next year. It will take about 12 months to complete it."

The office building will have 280 underground parking spaces. The loft project will have surface parking for residents.

Haselden says he had tried to buy the land last year, but Pauls already was negotiating to buy it. "As luck would have it, the broker they engaged, Nick Pavlakovich with Cushman Realty, was the same broker we used for Millennium," Haselden says. "About two weeks ago, Nick called me up and said there might be an opportunity to do something with Bill Pauls and Paul Powers."

Pauls had been planning a spec office building. Legacy Partners also plans a spec office building in the nearby Central Platte Valley.

"We're going to try to do some pre-leasing, but the start of construction isn't dependent on pre-leasing," Haselden says. "I really think we're going to be the next office tower out of the box."

Instant Insights /

Pauls, First Century Divvy Up LoDo Project

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