Symes Building Conversion Funding Pulled After Foreclosure
A lender repossessed a downtown office building that had been slated for conversion with funding from the downtown development authority.
Thorofare Capital purchased the historic Symes Building at auction for $6M, according to the Denver Business Journal. The building at 820 16th St. was previously owned by California-based Harbor Associates, but in January, a judge ruled the company defaulted on an $18.6M loan.
Harbor Associates purchased the building in 2022 for $17.2M. When its loan matured last July, the company still owed $10.7M, according to the Business Journal.
Court documents say Harbor Associates struggled to sell or refinance the building for the amount left on the loan because market conditions had devalued the property.
Harbor Associates and Thorofare are suing one another over the default, and a trial has been set for August.
Following the foreclosure, the Denver Downtown Development Authority said it will rescind a planned $17M loan to support the conversion of the eight-story office building into 116 units of affordable housing.
The application for the Symes conversion said the total project cost would be around $53.5M to adapt the 1906 building.
In a statement, Laura Swartz, a representative for the development authority, said it was not aware of the issue with the lender during the application process. The funding was never released to Harbor Associates, so none of it has been spent.
Swartz said the recision won’t preclude future applications from consideration for funding, though any requests would be subject to the application process.
“The DDDA hopes for a quick resolution between the current owner and lender and stays ready to reconsider how it may still play a role in supporting the redevelopment and activation of this historic landmark building in upper downtown,” Swartz said.
Voters in November 2024 authorized the development authority to allocate $570M in funding to support downtown revitalization efforts.
Not including the Symes conversion, the authority has dedicated around $35M to housing projects. Most recently, the authority awarded an up-to-$6M loan to convert the Barth Hotel into senior housing.
