Patrinely Group JV Lands First Tenant at Denver Tower

Block 162. Image by Nicol Photography, courtesy of Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate

An upcoming 30-story office tower in Denver has secured its first tenant. Locally based law firm Sherman & Howard LLC signed a long-term lease at Block 162, an office project that Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate are developing in the city’s downtown area.

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The law firm will take nearly 60,000 square feet of Class A office space on levels 23 and 24 of Block 162. The lease, which will begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, will see Sherman & Howard relocate its headquarters and its accompanying 230 lawyers and staff in the area. Savills’ Richard Schuham and Greg Bante represented Sherman & Howard in the lease, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Todd Wheeler and Doug Wulf represented the joint venture landlord.

Patrinely and USAA broke ground on the speculative office project in June 2018 and later secured a construction loan from PCCP LLC in November of that year. The 606,000-square-foot Block 162 is expected to earn LEED Gold Core and Shell certification after its expected completion in the first quarter of 2021.

Block 162. Image by Nicol Photography, courtesy of Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate

The building will include 20 floors of office space between the 11th and 30th floors, with an average floorplate size of 29,800 square feet, as well as 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The project’s parking component will include a 10-story above-grade podium garage, as well as a three-level underground garage. Tenants will also have access to an amenity area on the 11th floor that connects to the outdoor sky terrace. This area will feature 2,800 square feet of conference and meeting space, a fitness center and a social lounge.

David Haltom, Patrinely’s vice president of the Rocky Mountain region, told Commercial Property Executive that the design was updated to include COVID-19 responsive features including an upgraded air filtration system, touch-free doors at the pedestrian entrances and a custom smartphone app that was designed with the building’s elevator subcontractor to allow tenants to hail elevators.

Downtown Denver’s appeal

“We believe when the building is open, it will be the best building in the city,” Haltom told CPE. “We’ve seen, particularly in the last several months, a continuous increase in interest and we are in ongoing active discussions with potential tenants.”

Haltom told CPE that the project is attracting companies in four distinct sectors: law, tech, energy, as well as finance and investment. Haltom also told CPE that Patrinely is in discussions with several other high-end law firms, while the interested tech companies range from local firms that are looking to expand to tech companies seeking to relocate to the Denver area.