Chase Plaza building sells for $10 million

Sharon Dunn, (Bio) sdunn@greeleytribune.com
March 14, 2008

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The Chase Plaza building in downtown Greeley has a new owner.

Colorado Springs-based Bethesda Real Estate Group bought the building earlier this year for just under $10 million. From all accounts, the building will likely continue to operate with its current tenants, including Chase Bank, the state Public Defender’s Office, Lextron Inc. and Banner Health, as well as some of Greeley’s top law firms.

Drew Notestine, a principal in Thomas & Tyler LLC., which owned the 120,000-square-foot, seven-story building for eight years, said he and his brother Ty Notestine decided that Chase Plaza was in a good position to sell, so they put it on the market last year. They got 12 offers, he said.

“One reason we’ve been so successful with that property is because we’ve been pretty hands-on and intimate with it,” Drew Notestine said. “We know the property, we know the tenants well. It’s a great building, but it was in a great position to market. We just thought it was a good opportunity. There was a lot of interest.

“We also thought that there’s some benefit to bringing in some new blood into downtown Greeley,” he said.

The sale price on the building was $9.95 million.

Bethesda Real Estate reports on its Web site that it develops, builds and manages buildings to help fund Business for Benevolence, a philanthropic nonprofit arm of its organization that helps fund Mission of Mercy. That Christian organization is dedicated to “rescuing forgotten children” in developing nations throughout the world.
Most of the Bethesda Real Estate projects are commercial, although some are residential, the Web site reports. Many are in its home city of Colorado Springs — up to 1 million square feet of office space at a time — while others range from Indiana to Arizona.

Bethesda reports on its Web site that it is now developing retail centers in Fort Collins and Kansas City, Mo.

“(Bethesda is) great,” Notestine said. “They have some holdings in Fort Collins; it’s new for them in Greeley. They’re excited about Greeley. ... They’re a well-funded organization. ... I’m impressed that they’ve got some plans to continue some improvements.”

Notestine said it is not likely there will be any changes in the makeup of the Chase tenants, adding that the Bethesda group seems to have more of an interest in holding the building as an asset.

“If you have a lease, and your building sells, that just means you have a new landlord,” Notestine said, adding that the building is 97 percent leased.
Thomas and Tyler LLC still has about a half-dozen properties in downtown Greeley, Notestine said.

“We’re not going away,” he said. “I think there’s some great things happening downtown. We’re still remaining very active in downtown and committed to the other half-dozen properties that we have and starting to figure out what’s next, including new downtown properties.”

Thomas & Tyler still has the State Armory Building, 614 8th Ave., on the market and has two potential buyers, Notestine said. The brothers took the Greeley Building at 710 11th Ave. off the market in the last year. They will continue to operate Thomas & Tyler out of the Greeley Building, Notestine said.

The Bethesda group will be a part of a line of newcomers, including the California firm, Penta Hospitality out of San Jose, Calif., which bought the Regency Hotel earlier this month for $4 million.

Representatives of Bethesda could not be reached for comment Thursday.