Durango Town Center sells for $13.35M

Durango Town Center sold in the second-largest shopping center transaction in Colorado in 2020.

A private local investor paid $13.35 million for the 41,781-square-foot center – the second-highest-priced transaction to close to date in the state, per CoStar.

The retail center is located at 1125, 1145 and 1185 S. Camino Del Rio and is shadow anchored by a Walmart Supercenter, the only Walmart within 40 miles.

“Durango Town Center is positioned extremely well within the city of Durango, and has outperformed most centers during the COVID shutdown and subsequent restrictions. The escrow was opened a week after the shutdown began, and the seller was fielding multiple inquiries from potential tenants (local, regional and national) with interest in leasing space at the center during the shutdown,” said Ryan Bowlby of Marcus & Millichap.

“This is the center where Durango does most of its shopping,” added Bowlby.

The area also has high barriers to entry as the mountainous topography limits the amount of developable land. Bowlby and Drew Isaac of Marcus & Millichap listed the property on behalf of the seller, a private partnership led by David Spriggs of Denver-based DMS Real Estate.

The buyer was represented by Brian Haggar of Marcus & Millichap. Phillip Gause with Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. placed financing on behalf of the buyer.

At the time of closing, Durango Town Center was 100% leased with the only vacancy being signed while the property was under contract.

Durango Town Center features a solid tenant mix, according to Bowlby. Tenants include AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Comfort Dental, Sally’s Beauty and Spectrum.

The three-building center was built in 1998 and 2005.

There was a significant amount of interest in the asset, particularly from investors from Texas and Arizona, due to the proximity of Durango to those markets.

“Despite the well-publicized challenges in underwriting and financing retail assets post-COVID, we were able to generate robust lender interest for our client on this opportunity given the strength of the Durango market as well as the high concentration of ‘essential’ tenancy within the property,” added Gause.

“We appreciate all the effort that the Marcus & Millichap team and the buyer put into closing the transaction. The sale of Durango Town Center represented the final chapter of a repositioning and re-leasing plan that we started when we purchased the property in 2014. Overall, we are still net buyers and actively looking for additional multitenant retail, multitenant industrial and select storage investment opportunities throughout Colorado,” said Spriggs.

Featured in the August 5-18, 2020, issue of CREJ