Brazilian Steakhouse to Anchor 1515 Wynkoop

DENVER-Hines has landed a Brazilian steakhouse for the base of an eight-story, 304,500-sf office building it has under construction at the corner of 15th and Wynkoop streets in this city’s Lower Downtown submarket. Fogo de Chão Churrascaria has signed a 15-year lease for 12,610 sf on the first floor of the building, which is known by its street address, 1515 Wynkoop.Construction on the project commenced in April 2007 and completion is scheduled for February 2009. Van Gilder Insurance, the anchor tenant, is scheduled to occupy the building in March 2009. Sam Gary Jr. & Associates, another office tenant, will occupy in May 2009.Opened in 1979, Fogo de Chão Churrascaria is a Brazilian chain of full-service restaurants with 11 locations in the US and six in Brazil. It will pay somewhere in the mid-$30s per sf per year NNN for the leasehold, a source familiar with the deal tells GlobeSt.com. “The location is extremely attractive for them due to the building’s proximity to Union Station, the Pepsi Center, Coors Field and the many residential loft buildings in the LoDo and Central Platte Valley market,” Hines senior project manager Jay Despard says. “They will be a huge amenity for both the neighborhood and the office tenants within our building. Watching their success in other markets like Chicago, Dallas, Washington, DC, and Beverly Hills has us extremely excited to add them as our retail anchor.”Ken Himel and Chris Leiser of David, Hicks & Lampert, the retail brokers for 1515 Wynkoop, represented Hines in the transaction. Rob Rowe of Sierra Realty Advisors represented Fogo de Chão.Designed by Hartman-Cox Architects and pre-certified LEED Silver, 1515 Wynkoop will be clad in brick and glass and feature a grand lobby entrance directly off of Wynkoop. There will be a total of 27,126 sf of retail on the first level; 10,000 sf of outdoor terrace space spread throughout the building; and 424 below-grade parking spaces on four levels.

Hines entered the Denver market in 1983 with the development of the 52-story Wells Fargo Center (aka the Cash Register building), and in 1999, the firm developed the 13-story 4600 South Syracuse building in the Denver Tech Center. It also owns the Guaranty Bank Building on the corner of 17th and Market Street and Mountain View Corporate Center in nearby Broomfield.