DENVER – Highfield Building 5, a 101,000-square-foot, newly delivered industrial property located at 14150 Grasslands Drive in Englewood, sold earlier this month for $13.5 million. Part of Highfield Business Park, Building 5 is the latest development by Confluent Development and Bradbury Properties, both Denver-based real estate development and investment firms. The sale demonstrates strong investor appetite for new Class A Industrial properties in high-growth corridors like Southeast Denver.
Jim Bolt, Tyler Carner and Jeremy Ballenger with CBRE Industrial & Logistics in Denver represented the partnership in the sale. The buyer was Lincoln Property Company of Chicago.
“The opportunity to acquire Highfield Building 5 attracted tremendous interest from both private and institutional capital. Investors are drawn to Denver’s positive market dynamics – including job and population growth – as well as the outlook for the industrial sector in general. Investors also appreciated the great access and premium location that Highfield Business Park affords, as well as the high caliber of tenants and state-of- the art new construction features found at Building 5,” said Jeremy Ballenger, senior vice president, CBRE. “The price per square foot shows that investors are willing to pay for a top tier, state-of- art, well-located industrial distribution asset like 14150 Grasslands Drive in Highfield Business Park. On top of the above-average pricing, the building sold at a record low cap rate for the Southeast submarket.”
Completed in June 2017, Highfield Building 5 is a Class A industrial distribution facility 100-percent leased to two tenants: Charter Communications and Gateway Classic Cars. Initially launched as a speculative project, Building 5 reached full occupancy within 12 months of breaking ground. CBRE also served as leasing agent for the property. Fourteen percent of the square footage at Building 5 is currently used as office, with the remainder dedicated to warehouse space. The building features 24-foot clear ceiling/racking heights, a front park/rear load design with dock and drive-in doors, an ESFR sprinkler system and a 147-foot truck court.
“We’re thrilled with the successful sale of this high-quality industrial asset,” said Marshall Burton, president and CEO of Confluent Development. “The sale represents the strength of Highfield Business Park as an industrial hub primed for continued expansion. We’re pleased to continue growing our strong partnership with Bradbury Properties to support the need for high-quality industrial development within Denver’s growing market. Spanning 100 acres, at full build-out Highfield Business Park will include up to 1 million building square feet. The site is just southeast of Centennial Airport, approximately three miles or less from major transportation thoroughfares, including E-470, I-25 and the Southeast Light Rail network. The development is located within Denver’s southeast industrial market, which is the third largest in the metro area. The submarket continues to report solid industrial market fundamentals including a low 6.4 percent vacancy rate despite new construction. In terms of demographics, population growth in Denver’s Southeast region is projected to exceed the greater
metropolitan area from 2016-2020.
Building on the momentum within Highfield Business Park and across the Southeast Denver region, Confluent and Bradbury have continued their partnership at the site. In August of last year, the partnership broke ground on an 115,500-square-foot build-to-suit project for data center provider EdgeConneX. In November, they jointly launched a third project within the park— a 92,000-square-foot industrial facility being developed speculatively. Both are slated to deliver in spring 2018. Fifty-two acres remain available for development within Highfield Business Park.
