Equus Announces the Sale of Gateway Centre I – IV in Aurora/Denver, CO for $66.85 Million

Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. (“Equus”), one of the nation’s leading real estate investment managers, announced today the sale of Gateway Centre I – IV, a four-building, 299,613 square-foot office park located in Aurora and Denver, Colorado, to Flywheel Capital for $66.85 million. The property was 100% occupied at the time of sale.

Mark Katz and Peter Merrion of Jones Lang Lasalle Americas, Inc. represented the seller in the transaction.

Built between 1998 and 2001, Gateway Centre sits on a combined 19.3- acres and has an attractive combined parking ratio of 4.7 spaces per 1,000 square-feet. The three- 4-story buildings are adjacent to each other while Four Gateway Centre is located 1/3 mile away.

Since its acquisition in 2019 by an affiliate of Equus, Gateway Centre underwent approximately $2.5 million in capital improvements, which included new roofs, renovated common area corridors and the creation of new interior and exterior building amenities. The new amenities include a tenant lounge equipped with collaborative workspaces, a grab-and-go and pool table, a fitness center complete with state-of-the-art equipment and on-demand personal classes, newly built shower and locker rooms, electric car charging stations, and a Wi-Fi enabled outdoor fire pit patio. Gateway Centre also offers desirable building features including, 9-foot finished ceiling heights (some areas in the single-story building have finished ceiling heights greater than 9’), efficient 20,000 square-foot rectangular floorplates, and tall windows with picturesque mountain views.

“Gateway Centre stands without rival in the supply constrained Northeast market, an area seeing huge population & commercial growth,” commented Brant Glomb, Vice President of Equus who, along with Peter Russo, Financial Analyst, oversaw the transaction for the firm. “Equus saw an opportunity to invest strategic capital to provide a best-in-class amenity experience to Gateway Centre’s tenancy, while also addressing large scale improvements of fundamental property needs like roofs and parking. Its best-in-class features, location and accessibility helped drive over 62,500 square-feet of leasing since the start of the pandemic while driving substantial rent increases and ultimately achieving 100% occupancy. The mission-critical SCIF tenancy provides high renewal probability and the recent capital investments at the Property administered by Equus ensure stable cash flow for the next investor.”

Gateway Centre is located along Interstate 70 at the intersection of Peña Boulevard, in the fast-growing Northeast Denver submarket (“Northeast submarket”), 13 miles northeast of Denver’s Union Station, and 11 miles southwest of Denver International Airport. The campus is part of Gateway Business Park, a 1,200-acre mixed-use development encompassing residential, commercial, and industrial uses. The proximity to Denver International Airport, Buckley Air Force Base and industrial distribution networks makes this submarket an ideal choice for tenants in the transportation/logistics, government, aerospace, manufacturing, construction, and engineering industries. The superior access to Denver’s major thoroughfares provides convenient connectivity, allowing Gateway Centre to draw from a talented labor pool nearby and throughout the entire Denver metro area.

Approximately one mile east of Gateway Centre is the Gateway Park light rail station, providing a direct link to Downtown Denver and Denver International Airport via the recently completed A and R commuter rail lines. Located five miles from Gateway Centre, Buckley Air Force Base provides air operations, space-based missile warning systems, surveillance, satellite command and various intelligence functions across all branches of the military as well as the NSA.

The sale was made on behalf of Equus Investment Partnership XI, L.P. (“Fund XI”), a $387.8 million discretionary equity fund managed by Equus.

For additional information on the transaction, please contact:

Brant Glomb, Vice President
(312) 673-3593 or bglomb@equuspartners.com