News

• Former Micro Motion campus springs back to life with sale

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   Colorado Real Estate Journal – by Jill Jamieson-Nichols

  May 23, 2011

  A long-vacant manufacturing facility in Boulder is back in play under new ownership.

  Matrix Group, Inc., a Denver-based commercial real estate firm, paid $1.5 million cash for the former Micro Motion buildings at 7084 and 7088 Winchester Circle.  The property includes a 75,000-square-foot assembly/manufacturing building and 30,000-sf, three-story engineering laboratory.

  “We were looking for a value-add situation in Boulder, and the price was right.  We figured we could spend about a million dollars on it and really make the buildings reusable.  They were in pretty bad shape because of the vacancy,” said John Webb, Matrix Group president.

  “Boulder is a strong market with a lot of great, growing companies.  We feel comfortable that Boulder’s a tight market with supply constraints,” Webb said.  When improvements are completed four to six months from now, “There will be some tenants interested in this property,” he said.

  Built for Micro Motion in 1982 and 1984, the buildings have been vacant for six years.  Their wood exteriors will be upgraded with exterior metal material and new paint; the roofs and windows will be replaced; and there will be major repairs to the HVAC systems.  New landscaping also is in store.

  While the company bought the buildings at a price that was substantially below replacement cost, “We have a lot of work to bring the property up,” said Webb.

  Micro Motion vacated the property following the company’s acquisition by Emerson Electric, which built a facility across the street.

  The improved space will be offered at a first-year rate of $3.95 per sf triple net, which is very low for the Boulder market, Webb noted.  The buildings also will be offered for sale.

  Tom Myers of Unique Properties LLC-TCN Worldwide represented Matrix Group in the acquisition, which brings the company’s portfolio of office, industrial and retail properties to approximately 1.25 million sf.  The company has purchased more than 400,000 sf in the last 10 months and continues to seek opportunities.

   

   

• Foxridge Professional Plaza Sells for $1.6 Million

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  Regional News, CoStar Group Real Estate Information

  Centennial  Office Trades for $65 PSF

  January 5, 2011

  Matrix Group Inc. purchased the Foxridge Professional Plaza in Centennial, CO, from Thomas H. Roberts III for $1.6 million or $65 per square foot.

  Built in 1986, the 24,380-square foot, Class B office building at 8120 S. Holly St. is in the Arapahoe Road submarket of Denver.

  Gene Pride and Patrick Devereaux of Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado represented the seller.

• Company Overview

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  Bloomberg Businessweek

  Real Estate Management and Development

  August 30, 2010

  Matrix Group Inc., a real estate brokerage company, provides real estate and consulting services, as well as represents tenants/buyers and landlords/sellers in negotiating various commercial properties that suit their retail, office and industrial needs.  In addition it offers property and project management, and leasing and marketing services, as well as undertakes design-build/tenant improvement issues.  The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

• Two Waterpark office buildings bought for $14M

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  Denver Business Journal – by Paula Moore

  July 30, 2010

  The Waterpark III building in Aurora, along with the nearby Waterpark II building, fetched $14 million.

  Matrix Group Inc. of Denver has purchased Aurora’s Waterpark II & III for $14 million, in one of the metro area’s largest recent office property sales.

  The deal also is the largest such sale in Aurora this year, according to CoStar Group Inc., a real estate data provider.

  “This was a substantial sale for Aurora this year. … It’s really a win-win for everybody,” said Mike Winn, executive vice president and investment broker at Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado Inc. in Denver. Winn and partner Tim Richey represented the seller in the deal.

  Major Denver-area office building transactions in the first half include the $75 million sale of the Re/Max International Inc. headquarters building in the Denver Tech Center and the $14.5 million sale of West End Plaza in Boulder.

  Waterpark II & III’s seller was pension fund adviser KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif., which owned the property as Koll Bren Fund VI LP, according to Arapahoe County property records. KBS bought the office buildings in 1999 for $19.9 million, property records show, and sold them because the life of the fund they were in is ending.

  KBS executives were unavailable for comment.

  The Waterpark buildings include a total of 210,838 usable square feet, and each one stands six stories tall. The property is 99 percent leased to tenants such as Kaiser Permanente, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Wells Fargo Bank and the State of Colorado, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

  Waterpark II & III are at 2530-2550 S. Parker Road.

  A major attraction of the property for Matrix founder and President John Webb was that it’s basically full, with a roster of high-quality tenants. “Ninety-two percent of the tenants are credit tenants. … And the previous owner did significant capital upgrades to the property,” Webb said. “We’re always looking for good opportunities like this one.”

  “Waterpark is as Class A as Aurora office space is going to get; most Aurora office buildings are older, B and C properties,” said John Propp, president of John Propp Commercial Group Inc. in Denver. “Waterpark is more like the high-rise buildings you’d see downtown or in the Denver Tech Center. … It’s so close to Denver, it’s almost a Denver property.”

  The Propp company has Aurora listings among its metro-area office buildings for sale and lease.

  Matrix Group put $4.5 million down on the property, and is paying for the rest with $9.5 million in financing from New York Life Insurance Co., according to CoStar.

  Waterpark’s new owner is a commercial real estate services firm started in 1994 by Webb, who formerly was with Marcel Arsenault’s Colorado & Santa Fe Land Co. of Louisville, now called Real Capital Solutions LLC. Matrix’s 1 million-square-foot portfolio of properties includes office, industrial and retail buildings such as the One & Two Monaco Park office buildings in Denver, Colony Square II shopping center in Louisville and Denver’s Pine Creek Business Center.

  KBS recently shuffled its metro-area portfolio. The adviser also sold the 200,000-square-foot Union Tower office building in Lakewood, in May, for $20.25 million, CoStar data shows. The same month, the adviser acquired the 82,265-square-foot Crescent VIII in Greenwood Village for $12.5 million.

  The pension fund adviser’s other Denver-area office holdings include Cherry Creek-area buildings The Citadel and 101 & 210 University, 16 Market Square in downtown Denver, as well as Plaza at Inverness and The Point at Inverness in the southeast suburban Inverness office park.

• Buyer Finds Bargain in Village Shops at Colony Square

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  Colorado Real Estate Journal – by Jill Jamieson-Nichols

  February 18-March 3, 2009

  A Louisville retail center that was in foreclosure and struggling has a new owner that is boosting occupancy.

  The Matrix Group bought the Village Shops at Colony Square for $2.28 million cash – less than $80 per square foot.  Only 9 years old, the center at 1132, 1148 and 1156 Dillon Road was 45 percent occupied at the time of the sale.

  “It’s our kind of asset in terms of value-add, a great location, great demographics.  It just suffered from the overleveraged mortgage it had,” said Matrix Group President John Webb, whose company picked up the asset at 50 percent of the value of the previous mortgage.

  The Matrix Group, which closed on the property 20 days after putting it under contract, quickly signed leases with a medical user and Indian restaurant , bringing occupancy to 75 percent.  Webb was meeting with more prospects at press time.  Existing tenants include H&R Block, Double D’s Sourdough Pizza, Fringe Hair Studio and Premier Members Federal Credit Union.

  Capmark Financial was the seller.

  “Their main goal was to sell the property,” said CB Richard Ellis broker Brad Lyons.  “I think it will be a great opportunity for the Matrix Group.  They got it for a good price and hopefully they’ll be able to stabilize the asset over time,” said Lyons, who represented Capmark with CBRE brokers Geoff Baukol and Chris Bodnar.

  The Village Shops at Colony Square consists of three multi-tenant retail buildings that total 28,534 square feet on 2.9 acres of U.S. Highway 36 and McCaslin Boulevard.  It was the place to be for national tenants when it was building in 2000; but when Superior Marketplace opened across the Denver-Boulder turnpike, with anchors Costco and Super Target, some of its national tenants departed.

  The Matrix Group is going after destination-type local and regional tenants, including retail, medical and dental users, at lower-than-average lease rates.  It also has availability for a restaurant.  “we’re offering very attractive rates for the restaurant business,” said Webb.  “The long-term play,” he added, is ConocoPhillips a mile away.”  The Matrix Group, which owns and manages 850,000 SF in the Denver market, recently purchased a central Denver industrial building and is actively looking for office, industrial and retail properties.  “There are a few owners that are willing to discount their assets, I think, to today’s reality,” Webb said.  “We know the next couple of years are going to be tough,” he said.  “Yet, we are very bullish on Denver over the next three to ten years.”

   

   

• Investors bag warehouse deal in Colorado City

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  Rocky Mountain News Real Estate – by John Rebchook

  May 20, 2003

  When Denver real estate investors R. Brian Watson and John Webb recently snapped up a warehouse in Colorado City, they bought more than a big building in the tiny city south of Pueblo.

  “I would say that is the commercial real estate market in Colorado City,” said Denver-based Alex Ringsby of Ringsby Real Estate, who handled the transaction with broker Paul Kahn of Cushman & Wakefield.

  Watson, principal of Northstar Commercial Partners and Webb, principal of the Matrix Group, created a company called 4038 Dover to buy  the 248,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art building.

  Northstar and Matrix weren’t partners in the deal, but Northstar identified the opportunity, negotiated the deal and will be responsible for the investment, Watson said.

  About 18 months ago, Northstar bought the entire excess real estate portfolio from the Benjamin Moore Co. after the paint store chain was sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

  Although the purchase price for the Colorado City building wasn’t released, it is far less than the $7.2 million asking price, Watson said.

  “And the replacement cost is about $40 per square foot, or about $10 million,” Watson said.

  Webb said one estimate put the replacement cost even higher; at least $50 per square foot.

  Rick Morgan of U.S. Bank provided the financing, Watson said.

  The property initially was built by Columbia House Record Co., in 1968 and was expanded in 1993 to distribute records, tapes and, eventually, CDs and DVDs.

  Columbia moved out and Kroger, the parent of King Soopers, leased it.  Then it was sold to 4038 Dover fully leased.

  “Kroger was in 12 facilities in Colorado Springs and Pueblo and consolidated into one facility,” Watson  said.

  “This is a gorgeous warehouse on 36 acres.  The building has 40 foot-high ceilings.”

  Webb, whose company owns 1.4 million square feet in commercial buildings in Denver and Houston, said the building may have higher ceilings than any other warehouse in Colorado.

  “The highest I could find in Denver was 32 feet; this has the tallest ceiling I have ever seen,” Webb said.  “And Columbia filled every cubic foot of space.”

  The building is so large that it has its own ZIP code, he said.

  “Colorado City is a small town with only 6,000 people, but I’m comfortable with this building as a regional distribution facility,” Webb said.  “Kroger handles distribution from Wyoming to Texas from this site.”

  He said several other tenants have shown interest in the building if Kroger decides not to renew its lease.

  And while Frito Lay and Pepsi are planning to building their own facilities in the area, Webb said, a big benefit is “there’s no congestion down there.  Truckers love it.”

  Although just off Interstate 25, Colorado City is so far off the beaten track that there is more risk for the buyer than if it were in the Denver area, Kahn said.

  This sale definite tells a story,” Kahn said.  “The story was an opportunity deal.  The buyer took advantage of the market.  And for the seller, they had a buyer, which is not that easy in that part of town.”