Another Office Owner Walks Away As Denver’s Market Struggles Continue
Urban Renaissance Group has handed over a downtown Denver office building and its nearby parking lot to the property’s lender, marking the latest in a string of office owners relinquishing properties in the city.
The Seattle-based real estate firm executed a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, the Denver Business Journal reported, citing public records.
URG transferred ownership of 2399 Blake St. and its parking lot at 1561 Park Ave. W to Chicago-based EquiTrust Life Insurance.
URG bought the 3.3-acre site near Coors Field for $33M in 2018 and secured a $24M loan from EquiTrust in 2019, according to the DBJ.
CBRE’s property listing says that nearly all of the 47-year-old, single-story office building's 70K SF is available to lease for $29 per SF per year on a triple-net basis. The parking area covers one acre, with space for about 90 vehicles.
URG is just the latest firm to relinquish a Denver office property amid shifting market conditions.
Rising Realty Partners walked away from Civic Center Plaza, a 599K SF office tower at 1560 Broadway, in late November. The next month, a lender foreclosed on Novel Coworking’s Trinity Place, which promised 70K SF of coworking space, at 1801 Broadway. In July, RRA Capital took control of Novel’s 124K SF 1630 Welton St. building to prevent foreclosure.
The latest handover adds to ongoing struggles in Denver’s office market, where rising vacancies, remote work trends and financial pressures are reshaping the city’s commercial real estate landscape.
The trouble isn't confined to office, however. The high-end X Denver 2 high-rise apartment community, also near Coors Field, was purchased by the development's California-based senior lender for $102M in November.
New data from Trepp Friday indicated the scale of distress in the overall CMBS market. The delinquency rate for CMBS loans reached almost 6.6% to end 2024, up from 4.51% a year earlier. Offices are still the properties with the most distressed loans, but multifamily properties are falling delinquent with increasing frequency.
