Brinkman Real Estate, co-founded by Steamboat Springs resident Paul Brinkman, has announced the sale of Sundance at Fish Creek to a private real estate investment trust after six years of ownership.

The 67,000-square-foot retail and office center is located at 225 Anglers Drive at the corner of U.S. Highway 40 and Anglers, making it very visible to traffic passing between the Steamboat Ski Resort and downtown.

“The closing was last Friday,” Brinkman said by phone this week. “It’s one of the largest neighborhood centers in town, and caters to small users, so there are a lot of local businesses there. When we bought it part of the strategy was to help the existing tenants, and bring new tenants into a center which was conducive to the smaller users.”

Brinkman said when they purchased the property in 2019 the occupancy rate for businesses was just over 65% at the complex — a number Brinkman Real Estate has increased to 95% under their ownership.

Sundance was built in phases from 1981-1982, and Brinkman said it would be unlikely anybody would build a similar type of center due to costs.

“Our goal was to take care of existing tenants, and find new tenants that were good fit for the center,” Brinkman said. “Historically it has had a lot of nonprofits in the space, so it’s been nice to be able to continue to support and help some of the nonprofits grow in the space. So yeah, we’ve done some improvements, and we’re able to get more local businesses in there.”

Brinkman said the timing was right, in terms of real estate cycles, and the decision was made to put the property on the market ahead of the recent sale.

“The sale of Sundance Plaza is a continuation of the demand for retail properties in supply-constrained, high barrier entry markets,” said Joe Hendrickson, with Cushman & Wakefield, the firm that facilitated the sale.

“The property generated substantial registrations and letters of intent from a diverse buyer pool, giving the seller the choice of selecting a purchaser that is passionate about the Steamboat (Springs) community and will work to improve the asset,” he added.

Hendrickson, along with Aaron Johnson, and Mitch Veremeychik, represented the seller, Brinkman Real Estate.

Brinkman Real Estate paid $11.75 million for the property in 2019. Prior to Brinkman, the property was owned by Jim and Susan Larson, who purchased Sundance in 2002, as Alpen Glow Ventures, for $5,850,000.

Brinkman declined to disclose the selling price on Friday. Property records filed with the Routt County Assessor have not yet been updated.

Sundance at Fish Creek includes seven commercial buildings situated on  seven acres and is home to more than 40 tenants according to Brinkman. Tenants include Starbucks, Hypnotic Chicken, Sherwin Williams, Sundance Health Zone, Fiesta Jalisco and the Egg & I just to name a few.

Brinkman said the property was attractive to investors because of the location, the ample parking in the location and the fact that Fish Creek, and a walking path, stretches alongside the entire side of the property.

“Obviously being in the community, it was important for us to have a buyer who we felt would take care of the tenants in the center the same way, or similar to how we had, so we felt like we found the right buyer,” Brinkman said. “They’re a larger institutional firm, but has very good reputation for service and taking care of their customers and tenants.”