Legacy Acquires Stanford II for $35M

DENVER-Legacy Partners scooped up the class A Stanford II office tower in the Denver Tech Center for a bargain $35 million. Its partner in the deal for the 343,000-sf, 17-story building at 7979 E. Tufts Ave. is GI Partners, from the San Francisco area.

The replacement cost on the building would be in the neighborhood of $240 per sf, says Peter Llorente, regional VP of Legacy. The building, constructed by Bill Walters in 1982, is about 70% occupied, says Joe Serieno, who is leasing it for Legacy with fellow Trammell Crow broker Richard Bryant. The deal was handled by Cushman & Wakefield brokers Tim Richey and Mike Winn.

Walters was so big in the 1980s he was known as the Donald Trump of Denver until he became embroiled in the failed Silverado Banking Savings and Loan scandal. He ultimately filed for bankruptcy in California, after losing his local real estate empire.

Bryant originally leased Stanford II for Walters. Walters lost Stanford II, however, to Travelers Insurance, which later sold it to a Reichman-Soros partnership. The fund that owned the building, in turn, was bought by the Archon Group, which sold it to the Legacy Partnership.

“Stanford is a good, solid functional building,” Llorente tells GlobeSt.com. “And today tenants can lease it at bargain rates, of $17 to $19 per sf.”The Archon Group has put $2 million into it during the past two years. Legacy plans to embark on a major upgrade, he tells GlobeSt.com.”It’s been around since 1982, but when you walk into it, you’ll feel like it’s a 2003 building,” Llorente tells GlobeSt.com.