Shea pays $12M for DTC office slated for residential conversion

Peter Culshaw is cleared for takeoff Culshaw s company Shea Properties purchased the four-story -square-foot building at S Monaco St in the Denver Tech Center for million on Thursday according to general records The deal for about a square foot paves the way for the region s first post-pandemic conversion of a large office building into residences Call me crazy Culshaw quipped The deal is the culmination of a year and a half of securing financing finalizing plans and even warding off specific opposition from neighbors But with the building under his firm s ownership Culshaw now expects to fashion it into income-restricted apartments in about a year The deal is financed through a combination of private equity million in Denver-issued private activity bonds and an additional million in federal and state tax credits Culshaw noted he sold the bonds at the start of April right before markets were jolted by President Donald Trump s April tariff announcement I think it s a mixture of luck and we thought it was a good time to do it Culshaw explained The building lends itself well for a conversion he added It has insufficient columns and wide-open spaces with huge glass windows that host what he called great views You re starting with kind of a blank slate which I think makes it a whole lot easier Culshaw reported It s not the first time the developer has worked with a blank slate at this site though Culshaw commented he sold the land for rise in June for million The property traded hands a couple of times thereafter It last sold for million in March though that deal included another office building next door By the time Culshaw got around to buying the building it was entirely vacant Related Articles Denver cooler startup adds showroom expands into Dick s Sporting Goods Littleton redevelopment deal advances with M land sale Invasion of the home humanoid robots Fewer visitors describe having a great experience in downtown Denver Colorado Congressional leaders question federal lease terminations I knew that building was empty and I knew the broker that was trying to lease it really well and so I called him up and reported would they sell it and give me a year to convert it or to plan a conversion And we made a deal Culshaw commented That arrangement includes a first right of refusal for Shea Properties to buy the office building to the south at S Monaco St citizens records show which was rezoned along with Culshaw s building last summer The Monaco project is the furthest along of the proposed office-to-residential conversions BusinessDen has stated on since the pandemic Proposals have been submitted for a slew of downtown office towers including the greater part just now for the two at and th St Denver s the greater part new residential conversion which was initiated before the pandemic was Nichols Partnership s transformation of the former Art Institute of Colorado building in Cap Hill This story was originally published by BusinessDen Get more business news by signing up for our Economic activity Now newsletter