MAVD News: 2006

Colorado Real Estate Journal
The communication channel of the commercial real estate community

Greater Denver 07/05/2006 - 07/18/2006 

Investor settles into market with purchase of Blake Street Terrace  

By Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Editor Colorado Real Estate Journal 

A developer/investor that just paid $15.4 million for a Lower Downtown office building plans to spice up the Front Range market with $50 million in investments this year. Michigan-based MAVDevelopment Co., whose investors are members of the Vlasic family of Vlasic pickles fame, has opened an office in Blake Street Terrace. The building at 1860 Blake St. is its first investment in the Denver market.

An owner of 600,000 million square feet of office space and land worth $155 million, primarily in and around Ann Arbor, Mich., MAVD has been looking to expand outside that market. It chose Colorado because it has three of the best metropolitan statistical areas for growth: Denver/Boulder, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, said Randy Hughes, director of acquisitions for MAVD’s local company, MAVD West, LLC. Hughes formerly was vice president of Prentiss Properties in Denver.

The company initially will focus on acquiring investment-grade office properties and land parcels for long-term development, according to MAVDevelopment Co. President Rob Aldrich.

Blake Street Terrace is a 92,000-sf building that combines a historic structure with a 10-story office tower built in 1983. The original three-story portion of the building, built in 1887, housed the F.W. Crocker cracker factory and, in later years, Nabisco. Today’s tenants include Ceridian Recruiting Solutions, which occupies 10,000 sf; Net Quote, which has just over 7,000 sf; Capmark Financial Group, an approximately 3,800-sf tenant; and Haworth Financial, which occupies 3,000 sf.

The building has opportunity for rollover within the next three years, said Hughes. Plus Lower Downtown has the lowest vacancy rate in the Denver area.

“It’s an edgy, up-and-coming area, and I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunity there,” Hughes said.

Blake Street Terrace, which includes a 127-car parking structure, is two blocks from Denver Union Station and Coors Field. It was 95 percent occupied at the time of the sale.

Other News

A growing oil and gas company signed an 18,908-square-foot sublease for space that was occupied by another oil and gas company.

Berry Petroleum signed a 29-month deal for EnCana’s former space at 950 17th St., Suite 2400, in downtown Denver.

“It’s a relatively short term left on the sublease. That gives them some flexibility because they are in a growth mode,” commented The Staubach Co. broker Tom Lepry, who represented the tenant. Lepry also represented Quantum Resources Management in a 5,509-sf deal at Denver Financial Center I, 1775 Sherman St. Matt Gautreau of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, MassMutual.   

Colorado Real Estate Journal ©2005

Back to top

Back to News