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COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— May 18-May 31, 2016
Metro Denver
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Lakewood-based investors
picked up a rare value-add deal
with the recent $7.95 million
acquisition of Mineral Business
Center and Lincoln Business
Center in Littleton.
The deal is the sixth syndica-
tion put together by brothers
Bill and Charlie Johnson of WC
Johnson, a brokerage and man-
agement company.
The neighboring flex build-
ings are located off South
Broadway and East Mineral
Avenue in Littleton. They were
74 percent occupied at the time
of the sale.
“We’re optimistic we’ll be
able to increase occupancy there
dramatically” with in-house
leasing and management, said
Bill Johnson. The new owners
plan to correct deferred main-
tenance, improve the landscap-
ing at the Mineral building and
focus on leasing up the proper-
ties, including approximately
10,000 square feet of mostly
vacant walk-up office space at
Lincoln Business Center.
The buildings were real estate
owned for six years. Center
Colorado LLC, which is affili-
ated with RAIT Financial Trust,
was the seller.
Lincoln Business Center is
a 56,631-sf building at 8000
S. Lincoln St. that was con-
structed in 1981. It consists of
office, retail and warehouse
space. Located next to Littleton
Adventist Hospital, it has sig-
nage on Lincoln.
Mineral Business Center,
built in 1982, consists of 58,800
sf of office/flex/warehouse
space with drive-in and dock-
high loading.
The acquisition included a
250-stall parking structure.
The parking ratios for the two
buildings range from 4:1,000 to
4.28:1,000.
Acquired at a significant
discount to replacement cost,
approximately $68 per sf, the
two buildings occupy a “great
location” that attracts a wide
variety of tenants, said John-
son.
“It’s an interesting tenant
mix, particularly in the Lin-
coln building,” he said. About
two-thirds of the units in that
building are occupied by fit-
ness or destination retail ten-
ants, including a diver train-
ing facility, fencing facility and
Jungle Quest, a kids adventure
center with rock climbing, zip
lines and rope bridges.
T.J. Smith and Cody Shee-
sley of Colliers International
represented the seller in the
transaction.
Bill and Charlie John-
son founded WC Johnson
to expand their family’s real
estate holdings into Colorado.
“We try to identify opportuni-
ties that have some reasonable
scale,” Bill Johnson said, not-
ing they have syndicated deals
in Colorado since 2012. None
of their deals is contingent on
raising outside equity. Instead,
they set a minimum sponsor
contribution, which is typically
substantially more than most
sponsors, and offer the balance
to a small group of investors,
Johnson said.
“We have a long-term invest-
ment focus,” he said. Among
their holdings are two other
flex projects in the Denver area,
mixed-use projects in Fort Col-
lins and Winter Park, and a
retail center in Golden.
s
Mineral Business Center was part of a two-building acquisition.
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IS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE YOUR MOUNTAIN?
Mountains can symbolize your business challenges.
In commercial real estate, it’s par for the course to move mountains – sometimes literally – or to
incorporate them in your design. When commercial real estate is an uphill battle for you, our lawyers can
assist – from land use and leasing to construction and financing – and most everything in between.
If commercial real estate challenges are
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Whatever your mountain…
Charlie, left, and Bill Johnson at the groundbreaking for a project they
developed in Stapleton
