Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Next spring, Kuni Lexus will open its eco-friendly, 19,808-square-foot, three story dealership at the prime location at East Belleview Avenue and Quebec Street, just west of Interstate 25 in Greenwood Village. The new dealership, with country club-style amenities, also is serving as the springboard for two high-profile land deals. The dealership on 6.16 acres will include 52 service bays and will be able to service more than 100 vehicles each day. The parking garage will be used primarily to store new vehicles. New and previously owned vehicles will be part of a landscaped outdoor display. The new building will have a contemporary-styled design. Kuni also is proud of the country club-styled amenities for customers that will include a media room, customer lounges and a second-story “green roof” balcony. The new dealership is expected to employ more than 100 associates. “They spent about $6 million on the land and are spending another $20 million or so on the building,” said Phillip A. Yeddis, a senior broker at Unique Properties LLC-TCN Worldwide. Yeddis handled the sale of the land to Kuni. Kuni had been looking for such a site for a number of years before finding the ideal parcel. “It is a challenge to find a site that large along that stretch of the southeast corridor,” Yeddis said. “There just aren’t many sites that are available of that size. It truly is looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.” But as cool as the building on that site is, with its superb “Main at Main” location, Yeddis said it is only one piece of a series of interesting real estate plays by Kuni. On behalf of Kuni, Yeddis and Dennis McLin of Excell Funds Brokerage are selling two high-profile sites. Kuni acquired the sites, one in Aurora and the other in Centennial, when it bought Land Rover of Denver. “Before they bought Land Rover, they were going to move their South Broadway dealership in Littleton to the Belleview location and we are going to sell the South Broadway site,” Yeddis said. Yeddis thought about it and came to the conclusion there was a better play. “We talked to the Kuni people and said, ‘We might be talking ourselves out of a job, but maybe you should sell the Land Rover sites and move them to the South Broadway location.’ And that is what they decided to do.” The Aurora site on 2910-2950 S. Havana St. covers about 3.9 acres and includes a total of 35,083 sf of buildings. One building is leased to a BMW motorcycle facility. The site also includes a new-car building and one for previously owned cars. The site includes 184 parking spaces and 14 service bays. The daily traffic count on Havana is more than 52,000 cars per day. “It’s in an area that is called the Havana Business District and it has been branded as the ‘Havana Motor Mile,’ because there are more than 25 automotive dealerships and 100 auto-related businesses along that stretch of South Havana Street,” Yeddis said. The BMW dealership has a five-year lease and the cash flow from it would help offset the purchase price, he said. A buyer could either renegotiate the deal when the lease is up or rebrand the building with a new tenant, he said. “The buyer of this property will likely be in the automotive industry,” Yeddis said. Even before Land Rover, the site had been home to a dealership. “Pioneer Porsche Audi was at the location before Land Rover,” Yeddis said. The other site, home to the Land Rover Highlands Ranch, is at 1500 E. County Line Road in Centennial. The 3.25-acre site is listed for $3.3 million. It includes a 12,447-sf building with 11 service bays. The site has 142 parking spaces. It is between County Line Road and C-470. “This is a one-of-a-kind site,” Yeddis said. “County Line Road is heavily trafficked with well over 40,000 cars per day. In addition, the average household income in that Highlands Ranch area is over $100,000. The property is in move-in condition. It is a very unique piece of property.” One thing that has kind of surprised Yeddis is how much interest it has generated from retail users. “We have talked to furniture and appliance stores and other higher-end retailers that want that kind of visibility and exposure and want to capture that high-end demographic in Highlands Ranch,” Yeddis said.