Broe Real Estate Nabs 3-Building Colorado Springs Portfolio

By Keith Loria

Corporate Pointe

Broe Real Estate Group has acquired a three-building flex/office portfolio totaling more than 210,000 square feet. The asset is part of Colorado Springs, Colo.’s Briargate Office Park, a 9,600-acre master-planned community.

“We were attracted by the improving fundamentals in the local office market and the immediate opportunity to add value to the portfolio by infusing the needed capital to reposition the asset in the market and achieve optimal occupancy,” Broe Real Estate Group CEO Doug Wells told Commercial Property Executive. “We have strong conviction with respect to the positive momentum in Colorado Springs generally and the office market in particular.”  

Among the acquisitions was Corporate Pointe, a three-story, 115,260-square-foot multi-tenant office located on approximately eight acres at 1975 Research Parkway. The other two buildings in the transaction were twin structures, The Tech Center West and Tech Center. Located at 2415 Explorer Drive and 2375 Telstar Drive, respectively, the two total a little more than 95,000 square feet of single-story flex/office space.

“We intend to grow our local presence over time,” Wells said. “There is a disconnect between market vacancy and this portfolio and we believe that we can correct that by actively investing in its management. The pace of leasing activity we have witnessed within the last 90 days aligns with our assessment of the market’s potential.”

Boom of life sciences

Briargate Tech

Life sciences is set to play an important role in the Briargate portfolio thanks to Kaiser Permanente occupying 22,000 square feet of Corporate Pointe and the upcoming addition of a new long-term life science partner coming to Tech Center East.

The life-science category continues to make noise. Torrey Pines and University City, both in San Diego, are popular hubs for these companies. In June, JLL facilitated the $107.8 million sale of Xchange at Bedford, a 479,000-square-foot creative research and development and life science campus in Burlington, Mass. 

Briargate’s northern Colorado Springs location is less than an hour from Denver, which sets it up nicely to appeal to those in the greater Denver area, as well as those in El Paso County. 

The buildings have seen strong leasing in 2018 and Broe Real Estate Group plans to continue efforts to make the properties strong to future tenants. “We believe in the transformative power of both capital and operating expertise and we are prepared to commit capital to help projects realize their full potential,” Wells said. “This portfolio’s strengths can be amplified with investment and we are anxious to help bring those strengths to the market.”

The company will begin a capital improvements program for all three assets to address deferred property maintenance and upgrades to the common areas that aligns these building with the high standards that Briargate has earned as Colorado Spring’s premier office park. 

Broe Real Estate Group and its affiliated companies have a portfolio of office and industrial properties, medical office buildings and multifamily communities across the U.S. In January, the company acquired a 24-acre, 461,000-square-foot business campus in Longmont, Colo.

Images courtesy of Yardi Matrix