Wells Fargo is selling half- block to apartment developer for $ 11 million

A half- block in Uptown has been sold to a developer planning to construct apartments.

The west side of the 1700 block of Grant Street sold for $ 11 million in December to AMFP VI Grant LLC, an entity that lists an office address corresponding to that of New York- based Abacus Capital Group.

The site’s two parcels — technically 1717 and 1775 Grant St. — add up to 1.44 acres, making the deal worth $ 175 a square foot.

Abacus, which also paid $ 16 million in 2021 for a development site in the Fox Park section of Globeville, didn’t respond to a request for comment this month.

The site was sold by Wells Fargo Bank, which operates a branch in a one- story terraced brick building in the middle of the block. There are courtyards on both ends of the block, one featuring a sculpture and the other a planter in the shape of the United States.

The branch remains open. Wells Fargo told the Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency, a federal regulator, in 2021 that the company intended to close the branch, but withdrew that notice last October, records show.

Wells Fargo spokesman Tony Timmons told Businessden in October that the relocation of customer accounts from Uptown to a new branch at 2223 E. Colfax Ave. was delayed because planned improvements to the latter had not been completed. Timmons didn’t respond to a request for additional comment earlier this month.

Abacus, meanwhile, intends to eventually redevelop the block. A concept plan submitted to the city last June, in time to be exempt from new income- restricted housing requirements, calls for the construction of a seven- story, 259- unit apartment building.

To the north of the property is one of the parking lots owned by the Dikeou family, which last year restarted a push to get the lots rezoned to allow taller structures.