An approximately 900,000-square-foot Class A industrial park is coming to the Interstate 25 north corridor in Thornton.
A newly formed joint venture of RMS Properties Co. and Bow River Capital is kicking off development with two speculative buildings totaling 220,000 square feet. The new park, called 25 North, comprises 73 acres at Washington Street and East 148th Avenue that the venture just purchased for $4.6 million.
The site is southeast of the interchange of I-25 and E-470.
“This land sale was a unique opportunity for the joint venture to acquire a large, premium land site in the high-growth north I-25 Denver area that has limited existing industrial product,” said Matt Trone of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented seller Regal Properties Ltd. with fellow Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Steve Hager and Associate Joey Trinkle. The team also was retained to market 25 North.
“Combining I-25 visibility and great highway access with new state-of-the-art speculative buildings and build-to-suit opportunities, the 25 North development provides the perfect setting for companies looking to establish, consolidate and grow operations in one convenient and strategic location,” added Hager.
Randy Schwartz, who formed RMS Properties after retiring from Denver-based Westfield Cos., said the location will allow companies to access both Northern Colorado and the central Denver market, which is nearly built out and expensive from a land cost standpoint. Also, “We certainly have interest from companies that say, ‘We want you to build us a building, but we want to own our own building,’ and we have the ability to do that,” he said.
Build-to-suits from 50,000 to 250,000 sf can be accommodated. The site’s zoning allows for a variety of uses that include office, flex, warehousing, manufacturing and outdoor storage.
The first speculative buildings, 116,000 and 104,000 sf, are scheduled for completion Feb. 1.
They can house 20,000- to 30,000-sf tenants. The buildings will offer generous glass lines along the front plus 28-foot ceiling clearance. “It gives them almost a flex type of look, but they still can be used as typical warehouse space,” said Schwartz.
Development of 25 North required solving numerous issues, including relocating a portion of Bull Canal, which meanders through the site, looping electrical power almost 2 miles from a substation at E-470 to service the site, and expansion of Washington Street.
“We are pleased to be under construction on Phase 1 given the number of associated regional components that needed to be resolved before our project could move forward. The city of Thornton was instrumental in helping to resolve the majority of the issues and worked with us to accommodate the aggressive schedule we needed to meet,” Schwartz commented.
Grey Wolf Architecture designed the buildings at 25 North, which are being built by general contractor Murray and Stafford.
RMS Properties Co. is focused on developing and acquiring “unique” commercial real estate opportunities along the Front Range. Denver-based Bow River Capital invests in “middlemarket” assets, including real estate, in the Rocky Mountains, Midwest, Southwest and Canada, a region that it refers to as its “Rodeo Region.”
“Bow River Capital believes in the continued strength of the Denver market and seeks to deploy capital in our broader Rodeo Region, a region that continues to demonstrate outsized demographic growth and heighted investment opportunities,” said company Vice President Chris O’Grady.
