Architect Curtis Fentress has sold two buildings along Broadway in Denver, including one where his firm has long operated.
The founder of Fentress Architects, which was bought by Populous last year and is now known as Fentress Studios, sold 421 and 433 Broadway on Friday for $12.75 million, according to public records. The deal works out to $253 a square foot for the 1.15-acre site.
The buyer was Denver-based Magnetic Capital and Florida-based Integra Land Co. The firms financed the deal with a $9.6 million loan at 5% interest from Fentress and his wife, Agatha Kessler.
Magnetic and Integra said in a statement that they plan to build a 280-unit apartment project at the site, which includes parking spaces and two buildings, one of which bears the address 437 Broadway.
Fentress, who designed Denver International Airport, did not respond to a request for comment.
Fentress Studios still lists its office as 421 Broadway, and loan documents indicate a lease remains in place. Populous didn’t respond to a request for comment on the company’s future office plans.
The deal had been in the works for years — and once was slated to be much bigger.
In 2022, an LLC formed by Curtis Fentress said in court documents that Magnetic Capital was under contract to buy not just 421 and 433 Broadway, but also other properties Fentress owned: 375 Broadway, 445 Broadway and 448 Acoma St.
4th Broadway Updated Rendering Subject to change scaled
A rendering of the planned apartment building. (Courtesy Magnetic Capital)
At the time, Fentress was suing Grid Collaborative Workspace, a coworking space that operates at 445 Broadway. The firm said it had a right of first refusal that allowed it to match any purchase offers for its building. Fentress argued that the ROFR didn’t apply because 445 Broadway was being sold in conjunction with other properties.
The case was later dismissed, but Grid seemingly prevailed. In 2023, owner Danny Needham purchased the 445 Broadway building for $5.1 million.
That deal, in turn, detached 448 Acoma St. from the 421 and 433 Broadway lots, further reducing the development site.
Magnetic, led by Dan Huml and Chris Carroll, recently completed an office building at 3250 E. 2nd Ave. in Cherry Creek.
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