A group of Denver investors is selling off its commercial properties and reinvesting in distressed condominiums.
Over the last 18 months, Colorado & Santa Fe has sold about $225 million of commercial real estate in Colorado, Texas and Arizona. The company’s chief executive, Marcel Arsenault, has created a new company, Condo Capital Solutions, that will reinvest the proceeds from those sales in distressed condominiums, primarily in Florida.
“Orlando, Fort Myers and Tampa Bay are the areas where projects are being taken back by lenders, and we’re bidding in those markets,” Arsenault said. “Florida is a terrible market. There’s blood in the streets, and it’s going to get worse.”
Arsenault also expects to invest in markets such as Nevada, Arizona and California that had explosive increases in housing prices followed by a sharp downturn.
Among the properties Colorado & Santa Fe sold recently is the 424,000- square-foot building at 621 17th St. Toma West LLC paid $40 million for the property in a deal that closed Wednesday. An exterior plaza connects the building to the building at 633 17th St., which Toma purchased from a different seller in September.
