The Denver Sports Castle building located at 1000 Broadway has been purchased by a partnership led by longtime Denver construction leader Tom McLagan, the executive chairman of Hyder Construction. Included in the sale is the parking lot across the street at 972 Broadway. A sale price was not disclosed.
McLagan intends to renovate the building and have it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Current plans are to offer ground-floor retail outlets, with office space on the upper levels. A new penthouse level will be constructed for use as either office space or event space with a large rooftop outdoor amenity area for use by building tenants with fantastic mountain and downtown views.
“The interior of the building is as unique as the exterior which we can transform into an incredibly creative office experience,” said McLagan.
The iconic building has been owned by Gart Properties since 1971. Gart Sports occupied the building until Sports Authority purchased the sporting goods retail business in 1993. The building has been vacant since Sports Authority went bankrupt in 2016.
Widely known to longtime Denver residents as the Denver Sports Castle, the Cullen-Thompson Motor Company Building was constructed as a grand Chrysler automobile showroom in 1926. Designed by prominent Denver architect Jules Jacques Benois Benedict, the three-story Beaux-Arts style building is clad in terracotta with splendid stained glass windows.
Brokered by Evan Makovsky, Hayden Hirschfeld and Dorit Fischer of NAI Shames Makovsky, the deal required a close coordination between the Gart family, McLagan and Cypress Real Estate Advisors (CREA), who bought the parking structure and buildings to the north for $11.5 million, according to The Denver Post. It was important to the Gart family to sell the properties simultaneously and bringing CREA and their focus on the apartment development and McLagan and his focus on the adaptive reuse Sports Castle portion together was key to the sale.
The completion of the renovation of the Sports Castle will coincide with CREA’s apartment project, with both opening at the same time. Construction on the Sports Castle will not likely begin until 2023.
Until then, the Sports Castle will be activated as an urban event space by Non Plus Ultra, a California-based company dedicated to offering developers ways to utilize their otherwise inactive spaces and giving communities new ways to experience landmark buildings.
“Both Capitol Hill and the Golden Triangle are booming with new commercial and residential developments. Our goal is to take this special building and restore it to make the Sports Castle a gem in this wonderful neighborhood,” said McLagan. “This truly is a collaborative effort between all parties involved. We have been working together for more than 12 months to bring together a deal to reactivate this beloved Denver building and the entire block.”
Photos courtesy of Gart Properties
