DENVER — Rosemont Realty LLC has acquired the Denver World Trade Center office towers in the city's central business district from LaSalle Investment Management Inc. of Chicago, doing business as I & G Denver WTC LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Denver Business Journal reports that industry sources put the price tag for the two towers, which span a combined 770,221 square feet, at $229 per square foot, or about $176 million.
The purchase of the towers, 1675 and 1625 Broadway, also known as World Trade Center Tower I and World Trade Center Tower II, was the city’s biggest real estate transaction so far this year.
“Denver WTC is an iconic skyline property with a prestigious downtown address adjacent to the 16th Street Mall,” says Daniel Burrell, CEO of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Rosemont Realty. “This acquisition follows a broader strategy by Rosemont of migrating more of its portfolio into commercial business districts where tenant demand is improving and rates have the potential to grow rapidly in the coming years.”
The complex is currently 95 percent leased to 55 tenants. Among the tenants are Noble Energy Inc., Schlumberger Ltd., KeyBank, Resolute Energy Corp., and Baker Hughes.
The Denver World Trade Center complex includes two Class A, LEED Gold-certified towers, according to Albuquerque Business First. Tower I is a 28-story, 375,858-square-foot building completed in 1979. Tower II is a 29-story, 394,363-square-foot building completed in 1980. The complex has undergone more than $10 million in renovations and upgrades during the past 10 years.
Founded in 1991, Rosemont Realty is a commercial real estate investment company with approximately 18 million square feet of commercial office space valued in excess of $1.8 billion. The 173 office buildings in its portfolio are located in 25 states across the country.
Since August 2012, Rosemont Realty has acquired approximately 4.6 million square feet of Class A and Class B office space valued at more than $750 million.
In late 2012, Rosemont Realty acquired the 165,154-square-foot Cole Center in Golden, Colo. The company also owns two others commercial properties in Denver — Central Place and Diamond Hill. The total space owned by Rosemont Realty statewide is nearly 1.4 million square feet.
This year, Rosemont Realty has acquired three other office complexes totaling more than 1.3 million square feet, including the Concourse office complex in Jacksonville, Fla.; the Dulles View office complex in Herndon, Va., and 2000 Market Street in Philadelphia.
Rosemont Realty will provide property management services at the Denver World Trade Center and Jones Lang LaSalle will handle leasing.
— Matt Valley