WESTMINSTER, CO-Griffin Capital Corporation, on behalf of Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. has acquired a 430,000 square-foot, class A, four-story office building outside of Denver. The REIT paid $92 million (approximately $214 per square foot) for the building. The property is fully-leased to the seller, Avaya, Inc. through June 30, 2015.

DigitalGlobe, Inc. will take occupancy under a 15-year lease beginning July 1, 2015. DigitalGlobe is one of the leading commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions providers and has a credit rating from Standard and Poor's of "BB". The Property will serve as DigitalGlobe's world headquarters and house corporate functions, and image production and analysis.
The property is located within the northwest submarket of Denver, adjacent to Interstate 25 approximately midway between Denver and Boulder, and is considered part of Colorado's silicon valley. Technology and aerospace companies in the area include Oracle, Level 3, Google, IBM and Ball Aerospace. This suburban area of Denver benefits from a high concentration of executive housing options, as well a deep pool of highly skilled workers that live within a short commute of the Property. As a result, DigitalGlobe was attracted to the location given its ability to draw employees from Boulder, Downtown Denver and the surrounding areas.

“We are very excited to acquire this business essential facility which will house such a dynamic and growing company as DigitalGlobe,” said Eric Kaplan, Griffin Capital's managing director of acquisitions. DigitalGlobe is expanding and will relocate and consolidate from multiple locations many of its operating functions, as well as approximately 1,000 employees at the Property. We believe the Kevin Roche-designed facility with its unique vaulted entrance and satellite dish will be one of Denver's premier self-contained corporate campuses.”