The University of Colorado has completed its acquisition of Independence Plaza.
The state college system purchased the 25-story, 567,000-square-foot building at 1050 17th St. in downtown Denver on Monday to expand the CU Denver campus.
BusinessDen broke the news in early May that the deal was in the works.
Documents presented to the system’s board of regents in June stated that CU would pay just under $30 million for the tower. But public records show the final price ended up just shy of $28 million, about $2 million less.
Jennifer Woodruff, a spokeswoman for CU Denver, declined to comment Tuesday when asked why the price changed.
Both figures are a massive discount compared with the last time the tower sold. In 2007, the property sold for $144.5 million.
CU Denver plans to occupy 200,000 square feet, or just over a third of the tower, which is 21% occupied. The rest of the office space will be leased out to companies and startups, some of which would be housed in an “innovation and entrepreneurship hub.”
CU Denver’s chancellor told the Denver Downtown Development Authority that he expects tenants to be entities “either we already have relationships with through our various colleges and schools, and work that we’re doing, businesses that hire our students already, and those that may be launched out of the regional innovation and entrepreneurship hub.”
In July, the DDDA awarded CU a $4.5 million grant to help establish the hub. The authority, which is tasked with revitalizing downtown, also said it could be willing in the future to help subsidize companies moving into the tower.
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