A Portland, Ore.-based real estate investment firm has closed a $45.55 million deal to buy the Lincoln Center office building in downtown Denver.
ScanlanKemperBard Cos. LLC bought the 283,553-square-foot building at 1660 Lincoln St. from Page Mill Properties, which paid $36 million for it just over a year ago.
“We think that Denver’s office rents are rising,” said Bob Scanlan, chief executive and principal of SKB. “The location is extraordinary, and we like the fact that, at $161 a foot, it’s about $140 below replacement cost per foot.”
The deal also includes an adjacent parcel that can support up to 40,000 square feet of development.
With the Patton Boggs law firm leaving 28,000 square feet in the building, SKB has the opportunity to increase the lease rates on that space.
“The building’s average occupancy over the past 10 years has been above 90 percent, and that tenant was paying 60 percent of current market rent,” Scanlan said.
Downtown Denver has a 9.8 percent vacancy rate. Frederick Ross Co. is handling leasing for the building.
Lincoln Center was built in 1972 and has 20 floors of office space, eight floors of parking and street-level retail space.
The building recently underwent a $2 million renovation to its lobby and elevators. SKB plans to spend another $4.7 million on improvements during the roughly six years it intends to hold the asset, said Michele Frank, senior vice president of SKB.
SKB has acquired three buildings in Denver within the past year. In July it paid $8.5 million for Syracuse Hill I, an 82,365-square-foot Class B office building in Greenwood Village. In June it paid $14.8 million for Cherry Creek Business Park, a four-building package totaling 141,000 square feet.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
