The 700 17th St. tower in June 2024. (BusinessDen file)
Two office towers owned by affiliates of Denver-based real estate firm Toma West have filed for bankruptcy.
The Orchard Falls building at 7800 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village filed for Chapter 11 protection Sept. 19. Five days later, the tower at 700 17th St. in downtown Denver did the same.
Toma West founder and President Kenneth Grant said in an email that Chapter 11 “is a way of trying to come to an agreement thru the justice system when the banks don’t agree.”
“You know better than most how bad the market is and has been,” he told BusinessDen.
In the case of Orchard Falls, the building filed for bankruptcy the same day that a lender asked a judge to appoint a receiver — Thomas Dwyer of Transwestern Property Co. — to oversee the property.
Grant said the simultaneous filings weren’t planned, but the bankruptcy filing will cause the lawsuit seeking a receiver to be paused and “gives us control until we can reach agreement.”
Lenders already initiated foreclosure proceedings for Orchard Falls and 700 17th St. last year. The latter has been overseen by a receiver since July 2024.
The Orchard Falls office building at 7800 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village. (Google Maps)
Receiver requests, foreclosures and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, in which a landlord voluntarily hands the keys to a lender, have become relatively common for office buildings locally, given sluggish leasing and high interest rates that make it hard for owners to refinance.
Chapter 11, however, uncommon. No other major office buildings have filed for bankruptcy since the pandemic upended the office market.
As of mid-2024, 700 17th Street LLC owed $19 million in principal to its lender, who lent it $21 million in 2016.
Additionally, according to its bankruptcy filing, the building owes $398,000 to janitorial service provider CCS-Denver, $282,000 to Xcel Energy, $127,000 to flooring installer Colorado Floorworks and $85,000 to real estate brokerage JLL.
One former tenant, the law firm Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff, also is owed a $15,000 security depot.
Orchard Falls Operating Co. LLC, meanwhile, owed $16.3 million in principal as of October 2024 on a $19 million loan made in 2014.
Unsecured claims for that property include $89,000 to CCS-Denver for janitorial services, $68,000 to Xcel Energy for utilities and $60,500 in property taxes, according to bankruptcy filings.
Wilmington Trust is the trustee of both of the property’s loans. Craig Schuenemann, an attorney with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner who represents the trust, declined to comment.
The 700 17th St. tower in June 2024. (BusinessDen file)
Two office towers owned by affiliates of Denver-based real estate firm Toma West have filed for bankruptcy.
The Orchard Falls building at 7800 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village filed for Chapter 11 protection Sept. 19. Five days later, the tower at 700 17th St. in downtown Denver did the same.
Toma West founder and President Kenneth Grant said in an email that Chapter 11 “is a way of trying to come to an agreement thru the justice system when the banks don’t agree.”
“You know better than most how bad the market is and has been,” he told BusinessDen.
In the case of Orchard Falls, the building filed for bankruptcy the same day that a lender asked a judge to appoint a receiver — Thomas Dwyer of Transwestern Property Co. — to oversee the property.
Grant said the simultaneous filings weren’t planned, but the bankruptcy filing will cause the lawsuit seeking a receiver to be paused and “gives us control until we can reach agreement.”
Lenders already initiated foreclosure proceedings for Orchard Falls and 700 17th St. last year. The latter has been overseen by a receiver since July 2024.
The Orchard Falls office building at 7800 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village. (Google Maps)
Receiver requests, foreclosures and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, in which a landlord voluntarily hands the keys to a lender, have become relatively common for office buildings locally, given sluggish leasing and high interest rates that make it hard for owners to refinance.
Chapter 11, however, uncommon. No other major office buildings have filed for bankruptcy since the pandemic upended the office market.
As of mid-2024, 700 17th Street LLC owed $19 million in principal to its lender, who lent it $21 million in 2016.
Additionally, according to its bankruptcy filing, the building owes $398,000 to janitorial service provider CCS-Denver, $282,000 to Xcel Energy, $127,000 to flooring installer Colorado Floorworks and $85,000 to real estate brokerage JLL.
One former tenant, the law firm Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff, also is owed a $15,000 security depot.
Orchard Falls Operating Co. LLC, meanwhile, owed $16.3 million in principal as of October 2024 on a $19 million loan made in 2014.
Unsecured claims for that property include $89,000 to CCS-Denver for janitorial services, $68,000 to Xcel Energy for utilities and $60,500 in property taxes, according to bankruptcy filings.
Wilmington Trust is the trustee of both of the property’s loans. Craig Schuenemann, an attorney with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner who represents the trust, declined to comment.
