Thorn Forms Joint Venture With Transwestern

Transwestern did, however, buy out Thorn's former partner, Richard O'Brien, who with Thorn owned Wilson Thorn Properties. The firm, with a 2.5-million-sf portfolio, previously was called Mile High Properties.

The new venture is called Transwestern/Mile High. Mile High's leasing and management portfolio of office, retail and industrial properties, brings Transwestern's metro-area management portfolio to about 6.5 million sf.

"We have long admired Mile High's deep client relationships and we look forward to integrating their very talented team into our platform," says Chip Clarke, who formerly worked in Denver and now is president of Transwestern's Southwest region. Indeed, Thorn has known Clarke since 1985, when he was the Trammell Crow Co. in Denver.

"Transwestern and Chip share the same philosophy and way of doing business that I have," says Thorn, who is the current chairman of the Downtown Denver Partnership. It's also a good match by geography, as most of Transwestern's portfolio is in the suburbs, while Thorn manages a number of buildings Downtown, including Independence Plaza and the Wellington E. Webb municipal building. Thorn's sister company, Mile High Development, developed the Webb building.

Transwestern will provide property management, agency leasing, engineering and consulting services to existing clients of both Transwestern and the new Transwestern/Mile High."This will also give us a platform to expand into industrial properties in Denver," Clarke tells GlobeSt.com.

During the past two years, Transwestern has leased more than 39 million sf, representing clients in $4.2 billion of investment sales and financings. It also oversaw the management and leasing of more than 500 properties representing more than 89 million sf.