Accolades

Dallas group specs flex at Inverness park
Colorado Real Estate Journal
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols

A Dallas group snatched up the last site of its kind at Inverness Business Park and is in the ground with its first Colorado project.

Featuring 177,136 square feet of speculative flex space, 345 Inverness is being developed by CMC Commercial Realty Group, whose principals are no strangers to the local market.

Partners Jesse Pruitt and Subash Gaitonde are former employees of Vantage Cos., which developed millions of square feet of office/showroom space in Denver in the 1980s. CMC felt timing was ripe in Denver for its flex product, which offers a parking ratio of six spaces per 1,000 sf and 16to 18-foot-clear ceiling heights. "Those are the two unique things that were not done in the flex or showroom product in the '80s," Pruitt said. "We created that product, and we found out those two items have made the big difference."

While Inverness still has some land for office development, CMC's 17-acre site was the last available for flex space, Pruitt said. CMC, which is completing the approximately $17.7 million project with Today Realty Advisors Inc., wanted to be in a master planned park, where properties tend to hold their value. "They liked being associated with Inverness Business Park," said David Shapiro, Transwestern Commercial Services senior marketing director.

Shapiro, who worked with CMC's partners at the Vantage Cos., is marketing 345 Inverness with Transwestem's Kevin McKinnon.

One of the biggest advantages to the site, he said, is access. Located just north of E470, it has access to the freeway at Peoria Street, while traffic improvements slated for completion next year will give it a second highway access to E-470 at Interstate 25.

The site currently offers approximately five fiber-optic providers.

CMC Commercial Realty Group is building 345 Inverness's three buildings concurrently. They include two buildings totaling 56,546 sf each and a 64,044 sf building. Two buildings will offer mountain views to the west, while the third will face Centennial Airport.

Both semidock and dock high doors (2 and 4 feet) are available.

Designed by Dallas-based Hardy McCullah/MLM Architects Inc., the buildings will feature 12-foot windows at the entrances and la-foot glass around the perimeter. Bob Moore Construction Inc. of Arlington, Texas, is the contractor.

Rates will range from $13.85 to $14.25 per sf triple net, with a $22 per sf tenant finish allowance, making 345 Inverness a good value with more usable sf than multistory offices, Shapiro said.

Completion is slated for April.

"I think our timing is going to be pretty good," Shapiro added, explaining most of the existing flex space in the market is leased, and a number of infill sites have been acquired by users, making it more difficult for speculative developers to find sites at prices that make sense for flex product.

CMC Commercial Realty Group has another site under contract in the southeast metro area and plans to continue to develop in the Denver market. The company has developed approximately $100 million worth of product a year for the last three years in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.