Planned downtown office conversion canceled as lender forecloses

One of the three downtown Denver office conversions that had been picked to receive public dollars is now canceled.

Last week a lender foreclosed on the 8-story Symes building at 820 16th St., which an affiliate of California-based Harbor Associates had planned to fashion into 116 apartments.

In July, the project was awarded a $17 million loan by the Denver Downtown Development Authority to help finance the conversion. But Bill Mosher, Denver’s chief projects officer, noted Monday that the money had not actually been given.

“It’s no money out of our project, and we’ll either work with a new group or move on to the next project,” he said.

Joon Choi, an executive with Harbor Associates, declined to comment.

Harbor Associates bought the Symes building for $24.5 million in 2018, acting as 820 16th Street Property LLC. In June 2022, the building transferred to another Harbor-affiliated entity, Massandra Harbor George Owner LLC, in a $17.2 million transaction. Los Angeles-based Thorofare Capital lent Harbor $18.6 million in April 2022.

Thorofare foreclosed on the building last Thursday.

Harbor’s tensions with the lender came to public view in September, when the company sued Thorofare. Harbor acknowledged that it couldn’t pay off the loan, but argued that Thorofare was trying to get certain Harbor executives, who were guarantors on the loan, to pay amounts that they shouldn’t have to.

That same month, Thorofare filed to foreclose on the property. It countersued Harbor in October. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Mosher told BusinessDen on Monday that the city and the DDA’s board became aware of Harbor’s lender issue only after awarding the company the $17 million loan. But he said he doesn’t think Harbor failed to disclose relevant information.

“I think they thought they had it worked out, and they clearly didn’t,” he said.

He said the DDA office conversion loans are contingent on developers securing other financing and getting a building permit. As a result, some won’t actually see DDA money for a year or more after being awarded the loan.

It’s possible that another group could try to purchase and convert the Symes building, which is considered one of the downtown buildings most suitable for conversion. Thorofare did not respond to requests for comment regarding its plans for the property.