JV Buys High-Profile Meridian Building

Viking Insurance Co of Wisconsin, a subsidiary of Royal & SunAlliance,which is based in the United Kingdom, currently leases about 46,000 sf, but plans to transition out of the space over the next two years. The fourth floor is leased to Insurance Shopping Network, which does business as InsureMe.

"We believe there are relatively few large blocks of class-A space available for lease or sale," notes CLH principal Chris Ludeman. "With job growth and absorption on the rise and no new construction underway, our strategy is to meet what we believe will be the demand by larger users during the next 24 months who need high quality, contiguous space of plus or minus 100,000 sf."

He estimates the replacement cost of the 10-year-old building at $25 million. Sergio Castaneda, who is marketing the building with fellow CB Richard Ellis broker John Marold, agrees, placing the replacement cost at least $200 per sf. The CB Richard Ellis investment team of Mary Sullivan, Ron Urgitus and Tim Swan handled the sale.

In its second year, CLH is focusing on making acquisitions of surplus and non-strategic corporate assets in the Western US. During the past 90 days, CLH has bought more than $50 million of properties in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver.

Ludeman, the former president of transaction management and globalcorporate services for CB Richard Ellis, says the company is looking for other properties in the Denver metro area where it can add value. It primarily is looking for class-A properties selling at a discount to their intrinsic value, but also would consider class-B properties that it could bring up to class-A stature with an infusion of capital and better management.

The other principals of CLH, Phil Cyburt and Brad hall, are the former president of Boeing Realty Corp. and a former managing partner with Ernst & Young's real estate advisory practice, respectively.