Stockbridge Buys 1.3M SF Industrial Portfolio In Denver During Record Streak

Stockbridge Capital purchased eight industrial buildings in the Denver area totaling 1.3M SF, which ranks among the largest industrial purchases on record in metro Denver, demonstrating the continued strength of this segment of commercial real estate.

The sale was brokered by a team at CBRE’s Denver office, which announced the deal in a press release Monday. The purchase price of the portfolio was not disclosed, but earlier reporting from the Denver Business Journal indicated that the total price for five of the eight buildings was $130M.

By size, the deal is the fourth-largest ever completed in Colorado, according to the release. 

The deal is the latest in a string of large industrial portfolio sales in metro Denver, following the sale of the Colorado Technology Center last year for $393M and the 2019 trade of the Colorado Industrial Portfolio for $247M, both formerly owned by Denver-based Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners, which wound down its business at the end of 2021.

These deals are indicative of the strength of the industrial market, which was already on a historic streak in metro Denver before the pandemic put the demand for warehouses into overdrive across the country.

Recently released data from CBRE show 1.6M SF of positive net absorption, with lease rates rising to $7.78 per SF on average and vacancy rates dropping to 5.5%, even as a record construction wave adds new square footage.

The buildings are fully leased to companies in a variety of industries, according to CBRE, and were built between 1971 and 2009.

The portfolio includes:

• Table Mountain Commerce Center, located at 16163 West 45th Drive.

• West 53rd Place, located at 445 West 53rd Place.

• Leyden I, located at 4735-4795 Leyden St.

• Leyden II, located at 4725 Leyden St.

• Denver Business Center 5, located at 11175 East 55th Ave.

• Denver Business Center, located at 11605 East 55th Ave.

• Moline Distribution Center, located at 4865 Moline St.

• Moncrieff Distribution Center, located at 14303 East Moncrieff Place

“This portfolio attracted investor interest due to the institutional-quality of the buildings, the diverse mix of tenants, and the locations in Denver’s most-desirable industrial areas, flanking I-70,” said Jim Bolt, vice chairman at CBRE and a member of the team that worked on the deal, in the press release. “Tenants are leasing industrial space at a blistering pace to hold more inventory and mitigate transportation costs that are growing at a much faster pace than lease rates.”