One of the anchors in the 220,000-sf center at Folsom and Arapahoe streets is the local landmark, McGuckin Hardware. The hardware store carries more than 200,000 items, about three times as much as a typical hardware store. It has so many unique items. Another anchor is Boulder Ski Deals.

Gart Properties will manage the center. Paulajane Collins, the longtime property manager for the center, joined Gart Properties as an employee and will continue to manage the center from her office there.

The center was acquired from the Estate of James Campbell in Hawaii, a huge landowner in Hawaii and other parts of the US. Steve Suechting and Leslee Superchi of the Trammell Crow Co. listed the property.

"This center was highly competed for," Sidell tells GlobeSt.com. "There were 16 different groups and individuals that wanted it. They ended up interviewing half of them and they determined we had the best offer."

Sidell says he is pleased the center has returned to local ownership. "Our intention is to continue building on the successful evolution of this center has enjoyed since its original construction in 1947," Sidell says. He notes that it has many long-term tenants that have "survived, persevered and thrived through our many economic cycles, creating one of the best-performing shopping center in this state."Long-term plans will call for redevelopment in the center of one or two 20,000-sf to 40,000-sf tenants. The center has about 50 tenants, many of them locally owned. Typically, the center is at least 98% leased.

Gart Properties is the owner, manager and developer of more than two million sf of commercial space in Colorado. It is the real estate arm of the Gart Cos., owned by Ken, Tom and John Gart. Sidell joined the Garts more than five years ago from Trammell Crow. The Garts' retail company, Specialty Sports Ventures, owners Boulder Ski Deals.

The Rifkin Family Investment Co., which made its fortune in cable TV, has invested in numerous properties with the Garts during the past 13 years.