The 1670 Broadway tower as seen from 17th Street on Nov. 21, 2023. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The 36-story office tower at 1670 Broadway is the latest in downtown Denver to be in default.
HFI 1670 Bdwy LLC, which owns the 700,000-square-foot tower, defaulted on the building’s loan when it failed to pay it off upon maturity in early September, according to Trepp, a firm that tracks commercial real estate loans.
The loan was transferred to special servicing shortly before that, in late August, according to Trepp.
When a loan is maturing, or coming due, office tower owners typically either sell the building or take out a new loan. But both have been hard to do given a number of factors, including higher interest rates, decreased demand for office space and a desire by some lenders to reduce their exposure to the office market.
The owner of 1670 Broadway bought the tower — the 11th-tallest building in Denver — in August 2018 for $238 million, or about $335 a square foot, records show. It financed the deal with a $78 million loan from the seller, UBS Realty, BusinessDen reported at the time. A portion of the land underneath the tower is ground leased.
The previous owner spent $11 million on renovations between 2016 and 2018, according to an SEC filing.
Special servicers are essentially negotiators brought in when a lender gets concerned about an asset, either because the owner has defaulted or because of some other factor, like the loss of a major tenant. Speaking to BusinessDen earlier this year, a Trepp executive likened special servicing to a sort of “purgatory,” which could lead to foreclosure but also potentially to an alternative resolution.
Downtown’s Republic Plaza, for example, spent the first half of the year in special servicing, but then exited default through a loan modification. The Wells Fargo Center, meanwhile, is now overseen by a receiver after its loan entered special servicing late last year.
From a vacancy perspective, 1670 Broadway actually outperforms many downtown buildings. CoStar shows 20 percent of the building as available, meaning the tower doesn’t rank among the 20 most-vacant buildings downtown.
The tower was the city’s second-tallest building when it was completed in 1980. It is topped with signage for tenant TIAA, a financial services firm. Other tenants include engineering firm HDR and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Starbucks has a location at the base of the tower.
Read more (newly updated): Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties
The 1670 Broadway tower as seen from 17th Street on Nov. 21, 2023. (Thomas Gounley/BusinessDen)
The 36-story office tower at 1670 Broadway is the latest in downtown Denver to be in default.
HFI 1670 Bdwy LLC, which owns the 700,000-square-foot tower, defaulted on the building’s loan when it failed to pay it off upon maturity in early September, according to Trepp, a firm that tracks commercial real estate loans.
The loan was transferred to special servicing shortly before that, in late August, according to Trepp.
When a loan is maturing, or coming due, office tower owners typically either sell the building or take out a new loan. But both have been hard to do given a number of factors, including higher interest rates, decreased demand for office space and a desire by some lenders to reduce their exposure to the office market.
The owner of 1670 Broadway bought the tower — the 11th-tallest building in Denver — in August 2018 for $238 million, or about $335 a square foot, records show. It financed the deal with a $78 million loan from the seller, UBS Realty, BusinessDen reported at the time. A portion of the land underneath the tower is ground leased.
The previous owner spent $11 million on renovations between 2016 and 2018, according to an SEC filing.
Special servicers are essentially negotiators brought in when a lender gets concerned about an asset, either because the owner has defaulted or because of some other factor, like the loss of a major tenant. Speaking to BusinessDen earlier this year, a Trepp executive likened special servicing to a sort of “purgatory,” which could lead to foreclosure but also potentially to an alternative resolution.
Downtown’s Republic Plaza, for example, spent the first half of the year in special servicing, but then exited default through a loan modification. The Wells Fargo Center, meanwhile, is now overseen by a receiver after its loan entered special servicing late last year.
From a vacancy perspective, 1670 Broadway actually outperforms many downtown buildings. CoStar shows 20 percent of the building as available, meaning the tower doesn’t rank among the 20 most-vacant buildings downtown.
The tower was the city’s second-tallest building when it was completed in 1980. It is topped with signage for tenant TIAA, a financial services firm. Other tenants include engineering firm HDR and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Starbucks has a location at the base of the tower.
Read more (newly updated): Troubled towers: Breaking down Denver’s distressed office properties
