1/12/22 – Global Pacific Acquires The Historic Blake Building in LoDo

Denver, CO. (January 12, 2022) — Global Pacific is pleased to announce its most recent acquisition: Blake Building, located at 1441 18th Street in Denver, Colorado.

Global Pacific acquired Blake Building from the seller, who had owned the building since 2013. The seller originally intended on occupying the entire building and when its business plan shifted; decided to liquidate the asset.

Blake Building is located at one of the most prominent and visible corners (18th & Blake) in LoDo, which remains one of the most dynamic and desirable submarkets in the entire Denver Metro area. The Property is in the heart of the most amenity-rich area within LoDo, directly adjacent to Dairy Block, and two blocks away from Union Station, McGregor Square and Coors Field. At four stories, the Historic building contains 27,424 rentable square feet across efficient floorplates averaging approximately 5,500 SF. The building’s orientation on the corner, with windows on all three sides of the building, creates generous and balanced natural light throughout every suite, including the basement suite with its large light wells.

Blake Building was originally constructed in 1906 and housed the General Electric Supply Company from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Still today, General Electric’s logo remains visible on the South side of the Building.

In the 2000’s, the restoration of historic LoDo began, which was accelerated after the end of the Great Recession and the delivery of Union Station in 2016. Since Blake Building has been owned by a corporate user since 2013, the building has not yet been renovated so acoustical ceilings and drywall currently conceal its historic timbers and dramatic ceiling heights; up to 10 feet in the basement and as much as 14 feet on the fourth floor.

Global Pacific will unlock Blake Building’s hidden value by initiating an extensive renovation, including removal of all ceilings and drywall and restoring the original timbers and brick walls. After the initial restoration is completed in spring of 2022, Blake will present a unique opportunity for a full-building user or smaller tenants to design and occupy brand new space.

“It is our hope that the Pandemic is subsiding, which will cause significant competition for quality office space in LoDo. For larger users, the opportunity to lease quality new space in LoDo and Platte Valley will likely not exist after 2022 and tenants wanting comparable space will venture out to RiNo, which is already occurring,” explains David Lederhos, Vice President of Global Pacific.

Since the beginning of the Union Station project a decade ago, LoDo has experienced significant new development, reducing land inventory to a handful of remaining parking lots that are generally owned by long-term private owners and large developers. With virtually no land available for new development, continued investment demand from a diversified and global capital base, and strong tenant demand fundamentals, LoDo is undoubtedly a high barrier to entry market, which should create more sustainable performance going forward.

Through tactical investment monitoring and market analysis, Global Pacific continues to grow its portfolio in the Front Range and views Blake Building as one of the single best value-add brick and timber opportunities in LoDo. Within the last 18 months, Global Pacific has acquired four other assets on an unlevered basis, including the Ironton Distillery (RiNo), Paper Building (LoDo), Hibbard Building (Colorado Springs) and Financial Plaza (DTC).

“We remain cautiously optimistic in our investment strategy. As the Pandemic is now nearing an end, we are focused on investing in assets with enduring value that generate durable cash flow, despite ongoing inflationary pressures or fiscal and monetary decisions we expect will create volatility in the near term. We continue to believe assets like Paper Building and Blake Building will have above average appreciation over time because these historic buildings are irreplaceable and finite. We were pleasantly surprised to read that the Union Pacific Building sold for $699 per square foot, which is considerably higher than our assumed exit price for Blake Building over our hold period,” explains Mike Law, President of Global Pacific.

Thevin Campton with Colliers represented the Seller and Ruschmeyer Corporation represented the Buyer.

About Global Pacific

Global Pacific acquires, develops, and manages commercial real estate assets. Affiliate companies own and manage office, industrial, flex warehouse, retail, and multi-family assets primarily in the Denver, Colorado area. For more than 30 years, the company has operated a fully vertically integrated real estate platform to provide comprehensive solutions to maximize return on investment for its ownership. Additional information is available at www.gpproperties.com