DENVER – July 18, 2022 – Granite Properties, a commercial real estate investment, development and management company, announced today it has closed joint venture equity with Long Wharf Capital for First Avenue Plaza. Long Wharf will own 50 percent interest in the two-building office complex located in Denver’s highly desired Cherry Creek submarket. Spanning an entire block, the complex consists of 44 Cook Street, a 10-story, Class-A, 127,000 square foot building and 55 Madison Street, an 8-story, Class-A, 137,000 square foot building.
Long Wharf was represented by Justin Smith, Managing Director, David Stein, Director, and Samantha Torto, Senior Associate, of Long Wharf. Granite was represented by Stephanie Lawrence, Senior Managing Director, and Ace Roman, Chief Financial Officer, of Granite. JLL advised on the joint venture transaction and was represented by Trey Morsbach and Jim Curtin.
This partnership is part of Granite’s strategy to diversify capital partners as Granite continues to grow through acquisitions and developments.
“Granite acquired First Avenue Plaza in February of this year and we’ve been very happy with the project’s performance. Granite is excited to partner with Long Wharf Capital and we appreciate their confidence in us, the project and this highly-desirable submarket. We look forward to creating value together at First Avenue Plaza and the opportunity to extend our partnership to future projects,” said Stephanie Lawrence, Senior Managing Director, Granite Properties.
“We are excited to invest in a high quality and well-located property in a submarket experiencing high growth and demand, as we continue to make strategic office investments to add to our diversified portfolio,” said Justin Smith, Managing Director, Long Wharf Capital.
First Avenue Plaza is steps from the heart of Denver’s Cherry Creek North, a luxury mixed-use neighborhood offering over 300 businesses, including shops, restaurants, hotels, and wellness amenities. The project is surrounded by some of Denver’s most desirable neighborhoods. Substantial multi-family developments on neighboring blocks will continue to add vitality to this area of Cherry Creek. The building is also easily accessible with multiple points of ingress and egress, close to I-25, and minutes from Downtown Denver.
First Avenue Plaza offers indoor and outdoor social spaces for customers to work, meet and socialize. Recent updates to the building include an outdoor plaza with seating areas and fireplace, a customer amenity center inclusive of a boardroom, and upgrades to the common area corridor and restrooms. Additional amenities include a training room, showers and lockers, and bike storage. The garage offers a 2.9/1,000 parking ratio, which is one of the highest offered in the parking-constrained Cherry Creek submarket.
Granite owns and manages 1.55 million square feet of office properties in the Denver area, including First Avenue Plaza, Plaza Tower One, Regency Plaza, Prentice Plaza, High Pointe Tower and 143 Union.
About Granite Properties
Granite Properties is a privately held commercial real estate investment, development and management company founded in 1991. The firm owns 11.5 million square feet of high-quality office space in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Southern California, and Nashville. Granite is an established investor, developer, and manager with a focus on sustainable, high-quality projects. It has completed more than $8 billion in real estate transactions and more than 29 million square feet of real estate development and acquisitions. Current active development projects in Atlanta, Boston, and Dallas total over 2 million square feet with total costs over $1.5 billion. Granite focuses on creating extraordinary customer experiences through mixed-use environments, rich amenities, customer-centric service, and innovative wellness features. Granite is NAIOP’s 2022 Developer of the Year, and has been named a Fortune Magazine Great Place to Work for nine consecutive years. For more information, visit: graniteprop.com.
About Long Wharf Capital LLC
Long Wharf Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity real estate manager focused exclusively on value-added investments in the U.S. Formed in 2011, the firm invests on behalf of institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, and family offices. Long Wharf’s investment approach utilizes multiple value creation strategies to target opportunities across property sectors and U.S. markets. Since Long Wharf’s first fund in 2012, the team has invested over $1.1 billion of equity in more than 65 investments across the U.S. with an aggregated gross cost of $3.6 billion. For further information, visit: www.longwharf.com.