EverWest Buys Denver-Area Spec Industrial Project

14901 N. Washington St. Image courtesy of EverWest Real Estate Investors

EverWest Real Estate Investors has acquired a speculative industrial project in the high-demand suburban Denver market. The company purchased the Class A property, which currently features two buildings totaling 219,000 square feet in Thornton, Colo., from RE II Industrial II LLC.

READ ALSO: EverWest Real Estate Closes Sale-Leaseback Deal

Neither the buyer nor the seller has publicly disclosed the terms of the transaction; however, Adams County records indicate that the property traded for $43.4 million. Fronting Interstate 25, EverWest’s new acquisition carries the address of 14901 N. Washington St. and sits roughly 20 miles north of downtown Denver. “The I-25 asset is one of the first Class A industrial parks in this pocket of metro Denver,” Phil Larger, director of acquisitions with EverWest Real Estate Investors, told Commercial Property Executive. Beyond the two existing facilities, the property allows ample room for expansion with a pad-ready site primed to accommodate a third building totaling 121,000 square feet, as well as roughly 46 acres of additional undeveloped land. “The property has great access off I-25 and E-470, highway visibility, numerous amenities and an exceptional labor pool of skilled professionals,” he added.

Phil Larger, Director of Acquisitions, EverWest Real Estate Investors. Image courtesy of EverWest Real Estate Investors

Demand for industrial accommodations in the Greater Denver area was solid before COVID-19 swept the country—buoyed for the last several years by rising retail sales, employment growth, increased industrial production and the emergence of the legalized marijuana industry—according to a second quarter 2020 report by Allegro Real Estate Brokers & Advisors. And now the demand for industrial space in the area is even stronger, as it is in most other U.S. industrial markets, due to the pandemic-induced rise in activity among e-commerce and 3PL businesses.

With an eye on the current and anticipated call for premier industrial offerings, EverWest plans to break ground on the third building at the I-25 project in August 2020. “North Denver is expected to have the largest population growth along Denver’s front range over the next several years and we expect our project to benefit from all of these advantages,” said Larger.

A good time to buy

EverWest’s acquisition of the I-25 property marks its third off-market industrial purchase within the last three months. During the second quarter, the real estate investment and operating company bought Magnolia Point, a 210,400-square-foot industrial building in California’s coveted Inland Empire in a $37 million sale-leaseback transaction. The company also acquired the vacant 223,000-square-foot facility at 5230 N. Basin Ave. in Portland’s Swan Island submarket.

“The current economic situation has clearly impacted commercial real estate transaction volume, but industrial has remained the most active sector with continuing positive fundamentals,” Larger noted. “Industrial is benefiting the most of any product type and we believe in long-term tailwinds in the sector.” EverWest expects to deliver the I-25 property’s third building in May 2021. The company will develop Phase II and III, totaling an aggregate 590,000 square feet on the property’s additional acreage, over time as demand dictates.