There will several phases to the joint venture with the Tech Center and Northwestern Mutual, says Peter Culshaw, president of the Tech Center. The purpose will to buy distressed and value-added buildings, such as Ptarmigan, which is only about 40% occupied. Janus, the locally based family of mutual funds, used to rent most of the building, using it for a call center. But Janus recently vacated Ptarmigan, consolidating those offices in its new world headquarters in the heart of Cherry Creek.
The seller was Fort Worth, TX-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. Crescent will use proceeds from the sale to pay down a portion of the company's Bank of America Funding XII term loan.
Culshaw notes that the new fund is reminiscent of the Tech Center's actions in the early 1990s, when it bought a number of distressed buildings and turned them around. The replacement cost of the building would be at least double the amount paid, Culshaw says.
The Ptarmigan Place building, originally constructed in 1982 by Canadian-based Bramalea, needs to be renovated, Culshaw notes. He says it will be repositioned to appeal both to the Cherry Creek market and the South Colorado Boulevard/Glendale market.
The building, he notes, sports almost 50,000-sf floorplates on the lower level of the 10-story building. That makes it ideal for a company looking for a large block of contiguous space on one floor. "For executives who live in Cherry Creek or (nearby) Country Club, this is an ideal place to relocate their companies," Culshaw tells GlobeSt.com. "As part of the purchase, we also acquired some excess land along South Colorado Boulevard, which would be ideal for retail. It could take advantage of the 12 million cars that pass it each year."
Culshaw tells GlobeSt.com the new partnership will be looking for buildings throughout the metro area, including Downtown, the southeast and northwest corridors, as opportunities are available. The deal was handled by Mike Winn, Tim Richey and Peter Savoie of Cushman & Wakefield.
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