CBRE announced today that the firm recently completed the $28 million off-market sale of the Smith Road Commerce Center located at 12900 East Smith Road in Aurora, Colorado. CBRE's Tyler Carner, Jeremy Ballenger and Jim Bolt represented the seller, Brookwood Capital Partners of Raleigh, North Carolina. Clarion Partners purchased the 290,147-sq.-ft. industrial property on behalf of a comingled fund, in a sale that closed Dec. 19, 2018.
Clarion Partners is a leading diversified real estate investment management firm headquartered in New York with $47.8 billion in total assets under management. The firm significantly increased its Denver holdings in March 2018 with its record-setting purchase of the 14-building PAULS industrial portfolio, now named Clarion Gateway. Totaling 1.93 million sq. ft., the sale marked Denver's single largest industrial transaction on record.
"After last spring's record-setting acquisition, Clarion Partners saw Smith Road Commerce Center as an opportunity to expand their footprint in one of the nation's best-performing industrial markets. They were able to look past the property's high vacancy because of their confidence in Denver and the Airport submarket in particular, and the high quality of the asset. The team is also aggressively working to fill the property with one or two tenants in the near term," said Tyler Carner, Senior Vice President, CBRE.
CBRE retained the leasing assignment for Smith Road Commerce Center, which is currently 63 percent vacant. EPS-Doublet, a printing, event asset and custom fabrication business, occupies a portion of the building with approximately 195,000 sq. ft. remaining available for lease. The property sits on 22.34 acres located just southwest of the intersection of I-70 and I-225 in Denver's Airport submarket, the region's largest industrial corridor.
"Smith Road Commerce Center is an excellent addition to Clarion's Denver portfolio. It allows us to strategically grow our industrial portfolio within one of Denver's premier submarkets, where Class A assets are rarely traded," said Hillary Lowrance, Vice President, Clarion Partners.
Brookwood Capital Partners developed the property along with Scannell Properties, completing Smith Road Commerce Center in 2016. Founded in 2006, Brookwood Capital Partners specializes in build-to-suit and speculative property development, value-add acquisitions and real estate asset management.
The vacant space remaining at Smith Road Commerce Center is divisible down to approximately 50,000 sq. ft. The building's amenities include 32-ft. clear heights, ESFR sprinklers, 27 dock-high doors, drive-in loading, an available spec office suite and a 185-ft. truck court with trailer parking. The property is also located within an Enterprise Zone with tax incentives.
For leasing inquiries at Smith Road Commerce Center/Clarion Gateway Portfolio, contact Tyler Carner at +1 303 264 1903 or tyler.carner@cbre.com, or Jeremy Ballenger at +1 303 264 1902 or jeremy.ballenger@cbre.com.
