Lumen Technologies’ 55-acre Broomfield campus failed to sell at auction, casting uncertainty over the future of the sprawling suburban site.
The four-building campus at 1025 Eldorado Blvd., which includes 792K SF of Class-A office space and a 9.5-acre undeveloped parcel, was put up for sale through an online auction platform with a $6.5M starting bid.
The reserve price wasn't met, and the listing has since been removed from property search site LoopNet, according to the Denver Business Journal.
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The company didn't disclose the reserve price or share details about next steps, and Lumen Global Issues Director Mark Molzen told the DBJ it will “continue to explore options for the property.”
Signs of trouble cropped up in March when Lumen told the DBJ it was delaying the auction, which was first scheduled for late February.
The site was originally built as a headquarters for Level 3 Communications, which became part of Lumen, formerly CenturyLink, through a series of telecom mergers. CenturyLink acquired Level 3 in 2017 after its merger with Denver-based Qwest in 2011.
Lumen, which still has 4,700 employees in Colorado, has significantly scaled back its office footprint amid widespread remote work. Last year, it sold a 63-acre office property in Littleton for $50M. That site is now being redeveloped with a Costco and retail center.
The failed auction comes as the office market struggles to shake off pandemic-era leasing woes. Vacancy across the metro hit 26.8% in Q1, according to CBRE’s first-quarter Denver office report, with negative net absorption of 813K SF. The northwest submarket saw negative net absorption of 96K SF.
CBRE said the combination of negative absorption and a 170-basis-point year-over-year vacancy increase is creating “financial pressures” that could lead to more foreclosures and loan defaults.
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