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Northstar Announces Sale of Colorado Springs Office Building

Northstar Commercial Partners has sold its 76,138-square-foot office building located at 7899 Lexington Drive, in Colorado Springs, for $10.4 million.

Northstar originally purchased the office building, on 4.34 acres, in 2015, for $3.9 million. The sale price reflected the vacant status of the asset at acquisition, at a price significantly lower than its estimated replacement cost value of $20 million. Northstar identified and acquired the property for a charter school, which post-closing was not able to secure its approvals to operate. After identifying a new school, New Summit Charter Academy, Northstar signed a lease for 50 percent of the building with take-downs of the remaining space to match the charter school’s growth up to 100 percent occupancy. The tenant exercised its purchase option in the lease at a predetermined price for the asset, as the school wanted to own its building as its student population grew.

“This investment highlights the true entrepreneurial and philanthropic culture that motivates Northstar Commercial Partners and its employees. As the founder of this company, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2020, I strive to not only generate positive returns to our investors, but also create a positive impact in local communities,” said Brian Watson, founder & CEO of Northstar. “When we identified New Summit Charter Academy for the building, Northstar sponsored fundraising events for families and students, making it a fun activity at the future school site to generate student sign-ups. We believe in utilizing commercial real estate to create jobs, opportunity, and in some cases quality educational and entrepreneurial environments. We were humbled and honored to provide New Summit Academy with a home to grow its student population, as we believe quality education is one of the most important issues in America today. Our investors committed equity in this project, knowing it would
benefit students and their families for generations to come in the converted school use.”

“Converting an office building to a school was a large undertaking” said Nick Boshinski, property manager at Northstar Commercial Partners, who oversaw the tenant improvements and construction to convert the space from its original office use. “It was a pleasure to work with New Summit Charter Academy, who appreciated Northstar as a non-typical landlord, willing to go above and beyond for its tenants, no matter what their use may be.”

“Northstar has proven to be a competent and caring landlord, which surprised us with its willingness to help us fundraise and collect student commitments, as well as provide a significant amount of tenant improvement dollars upfront so that we could open for our first school year in 2018” said Kim McClelland, executive director/principal of New Summit Charter Academy. “We are excited with our acquisition and have a big role to fill as owners of this great building, which provides a positive learning environment for students now and for many generations to come. We have been successful with our growth and accommodating the needs of the community, having opened in 2018 with 444 students, started the 2019 school year with our current enrollment of 583 students, and are projected to be at 1,000 students at full capacity with grades Pre-K to 8th within several years.”

Photo courtesy of Northstar Commercial Partners

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