As industrial demand in Denver accelerates amid the pandemic-fueled growth of e-commerce and warehouse inventories, Principal Real Estate Investors has purchased two buildings within 76 Commerce Center, a Class A logistics park in Denver’s I-76 corridor, from sellers Mortenson Properties, Inc. and Hyde Development. Buildings 4 and 5 total 618,480 square feet and are fully leased. Building 5 was constructed in 2018 and Building 4 in 2020 and both have Class A features throughout, in addition to fenced outside storage, trailer parking and office space.
76 Commerce Center is a 155-acre regional distribution center with one full mile of Interstate 76 frontage and immediate interstate access. At full build-out, the project will have four buildings totaling 1.7 million sq. ft. Located at 22600 and 22700 E I-76 Frontage Rd in Brighton.
“We are thrilled to be working with Principal Real Estate Investors. We share many of the same values, integrity, a commitment to create best-in-class industrial projects, and a genuine interest in making these projects a great place to work for our tenants,” said Paul Hyde, CEO of Hyde Development.
Mortenson Properties and Hyde Development remain managing members of 76 Commerce Center and Hyde Development and will continue to serve as property manager. Hyde Development has completed more than 4.4 million sq. ft. of industrial and office development in Minnesota and North Dakota and has won numerous awards for its projects.
“We are grateful for our partnership with Hyde Development and to successfully deliver 76 Commerce Center to the market,” said Ryan Bergman, vice president, Mortenson Properties, Inc. “Today’s announcement that Principal Real Estate Investors is now a majority partner in this project is an incredible milestone. We look forward to continuing our involvement in the project and working together with the Principal to build out 76 Commerce Center to completion.”
Tyler Carner, Jeremy Ballenger, Jessica Ostermick, Judson Welliver, Sonja Dusil and Bentley Smith, with CBRE, represented the sellers.
“Hyde Development along with Mortenson Construction built a truly Class A business park with features and attention to detail that attracted tenants quickly. The strong leasing momentum and quality of product made the offering extremely attractive to top tier institutional capital,” said Mr. Carner, executive vice president, CBRE.
According to CBRE Research, companies are leasing space at a historically robust pace to accommodate the large increase in e-commerce sales.
“Metro Denver is in a unique position to capitalize on e-commerce growth. Denver is the only major U.S. city that has no other major population center within a one-day drive time. With one-day deliveries critical to e-commerce, this has shifted Denver from an endpoint distribution market to a critical location for e-commerce and third-party logistics companies,” added Mr. Carner.
Denver was recently named the fifth most-desired market for real estate investment in CBRE’s 2021 Investor Intentions Survey with industrial properties ranked as the most attractive property type for investment.
