The 3200-3214 Tejon St. building is anchored by the French restaurant Jacques, which replaced LoHi Steakbar. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
When Joe Vostrejs purchased a small mixed-use building on the corner of Tejon and 32nd in 2008, much of its retail space was vacant. The building’s neighbors were old and tired structures with few open storefronts.
In the 16 years since, the LoHi corner has exploded, along with its property values. Vostrejs sold the two-story, 4,700-square-foot building at 3200-3214 N. Tejon St. last week for $3.85 million, or $819 a square foot.
That’s over three-and-a-half times more than the $837,000 he paid to buy it.
“We definitely bought at a time when the neighborhood was up and coming,” said Vostrejs, 63, who owned the building in part through his real estate firm, City Street Investors.
The buyer was 3214 N Tejon LLC, managed by Baruch Noam of Denver and Yosef Lipkin of Miami. They did not respond to a request for comment.
The building is home to the French restaurant Jacques and CLP, a jeweler. Between them is a vacant storefront. Upstairs are apartments, office space and Gem, a custom hat maker.
“We’ve owned that building for a very long time, and for many years were partners in the restaurant that was in the building, LoHi SteakBar,” Vostrejs said. “When our partners in LoHi Steakbar decided not to renew the lease and continue on, we sort of felt at that point that the building and that property might not be strategically important to us.”
LoHi SteakBar closed in the summer of 2022. Jacques operates where it once did.
Joe Vostrejs
The building at 3214 Tejon was first built in 1890 as a two-story home.
“It’s one of these buildings where over the last century, various owners added on to it, converted it, modified it,” Vostrejs said.
Vostrejs’ Denver roots run as far back as when that house was built. He’s a fourth-generation Coloradan who grew up in Park Hill. But his love for LoHi is clear.
“I don’t know that there will be anything quite as dynamic or concentrated as LoHi,” he said. “That neighborhood is a special case given its proximity to downtown Denver.”
Just two blocks to the west, City Street Investors developed the three-story 32V building at 2128 W. 32nd Ave., which has both office and retail space. The firm sold it for $16 million in 2021 to Charlotte-based Asana Partners.
Vostrejs plans a 1031 exchange into another part of town from his Tejon sale, but hasn’t identified a site yet.
“We’re out hunting now,” he said, adding that he’s lately taken an interest in the suburbs, such as Edgewater and Broomfield, where City Street has projects in the works.
“Our focus is finding and redeveloping – or developing – retail in Denver neighborhoods,” he said.
Read more: City Street getting incentives to bring beer garden to Arvada
The 3200-3214 Tejon St. building is anchored by the French restaurant Jacques, which replaced LoHi Steakbar. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
When Joe Vostrejs purchased a small mixed-use building on the corner of Tejon and 32nd in 2008, much of its retail space was vacant. The building’s neighbors were old and tired structures with few open storefronts.
In the 16 years since, the LoHi corner has exploded, along with its property values. Vostrejs sold the two-story, 4,700-square-foot building at 3200-3214 N. Tejon St. last week for $3.85 million, or $819 a square foot.
That’s over three-and-a-half times more than the $837,000 he paid to buy it.
“We definitely bought at a time when the neighborhood was up and coming,” said Vostrejs, 63, who owned the building in part through his real estate firm, City Street Investors.
The buyer was 3214 N Tejon LLC, managed by Baruch Noam of Denver and Yosef Lipkin of Miami. They did not respond to a request for comment.
The building is home to the French restaurant Jacques and CLP, a jeweler. Between them is a vacant storefront. Upstairs are apartments, office space and Gem, a custom hat maker.
“We’ve owned that building for a very long time, and for many years were partners in the restaurant that was in the building, LoHi SteakBar,” Vostrejs said. “When our partners in LoHi Steakbar decided not to renew the lease and continue on, we sort of felt at that point that the building and that property might not be strategically important to us.”
LoHi SteakBar closed in the summer of 2022. Jacques operates where it once did.
Joe Vostrejs
The building at 3214 Tejon was first built in 1890 as a two-story home.
“It’s one of these buildings where over the last century, various owners added on to it, converted it, modified it,” Vostrejs said.
Vostrejs’ Denver roots run as far back as when that house was built. He’s a fourth-generation Coloradan who grew up in Park Hill. But his love for LoHi is clear.
“I don’t know that there will be anything quite as dynamic or concentrated as LoHi,” he said. “That neighborhood is a special case given its proximity to downtown Denver.”
Just two blocks to the west, City Street Investors developed the three-story 32V building at 2128 W. 32nd Ave., which has both office and retail space. The firm sold it for $16 million in 2021 to Charlotte-based Asana Partners.
Vostrejs plans a 1031 exchange into another part of town from his Tejon sale, but hasn’t identified a site yet.
“We’re out hunting now,” he said, adding that he’s lately taken an interest in the suburbs, such as Edgewater and Broomfield, where City Street has projects in the works.
“Our focus is finding and redeveloping – or developing – retail in Denver neighborhoods,” he said.
Read more: City Street getting incentives to bring beer garden to Arvada
