VF Corporation to move into former Gates space
New headquarters in Denver has room for more than 800 workers
VF Corporation was looking for a block of office space in metro Denver’s tight market large enough to house 800 workers for its new headquarters. And the owners of the lowrise at 1551 Wewatta St. were on the hunt for a new tenant after employees of Gates Corp. and Davita Inc. moved into new digs.
“We had a perfect situation with the expiration of the lease with Gates and the timing where VF was exploring occupancy,” said Chris Phenicie, a broker with CBRE who put the lease together on behalf of Bentall Kennedy, which owns and manages the lowrise tower.
Phenicie said VF landed a prime location near Denver Union Station, a major transit hub, that other corporations were pursuing. Bentall Kennedy got a single tenant who will lock in for a 12year lease, saving it the hassle of having to negotiate multiple leases.
“We knew the location of this project and the redeveloped asset would be extremely attractive to any tenant,” Phenicie said. Still he was surprised by how quickly the deal came together. It took just two months for the first expression of interest to a signed lease.
On Aug. 13, VF announced it would move from Greensboro, N.C., to Denver.
Beyond its global headquarters, the com pany is moving the currently dispersed management teams of five of its brands, including The North Face, JanSport, Smartwool, Eagle Creek and Altra, and its Center for Technical Fabrics and Digital Lab.
“Our extensive search process led us to review multiple options across the metro Denver area, and the combination of LoDo and the building at 1551 Wewatta came together to meet all of our criteria,” Steve Rendle, VF’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. “It’s the ideal setting for us to create a dynamic, collaborative working environment where our business, brands and employees can thrive.”
The 285,000squarefoot building has enough room to house 1,200 workers, more than the 800 the company has pledged to bring to Denver over eight years in return for $27 million in state incentives.
The company will begin renovations on the building in early 2019 and expects to complete them by early 2020. Bentall Kennedy plans to add more in the common areas to update the 16yearold building, said Scott Mathews, a senior vice president of asset management with the Seattlebased firm.
“There is a fourthfloor roof deck that exists right now. We have always envisioned enlarging that and providing more outdoor amenities,” he said.
And what about putting up a rock wall on the ground floor, adding a signature like Molson Coors Brewing Co. did when it put a full bar in its lobby? Matthews said that would be up to VF, but he adds the fitness room was initially designed to accommodate one.
“We will manage a phased movein during the roughly 12month period of renovations. We will move some employees in before the building is completely renovated, but are still working through the details on that process,” said VF spokesman Craig Hodges.
VF counts more than 70,000 workers around the globe and would rank as Colorado’s largest company in market value.
Bentall Kennedy and its partners completed the building in 2002 to house workers from the Gates Corp., an iconic Colorado company. Gates moved its headquarters to 1144 Fifteenth St. earlier this summer after its 15year lease ended. Denverbased DaVita, which also had staff in the building under a sublease, has been moving out workers after the completion of a second tower at 16th and Chestnut in one of the last remaining parcels in the Central Platte Valley.