The U.S. General Services Administration placed the former Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center at 1055 Clermont Street, Denver, up for sale along with 8.26 acres, five other buildings and an eight-floor parking structure.

Minimum bid is set at $15 million. Some Denver developers have suggested Rose Medical Center, which is adjacent to the property, as an “ideal buyer.” 

GSA started accepting bids June 20 and will continue to accept offers through July 12, possibly longer.

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The site of a potential infill development is near Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. The area has seen a surge of development since Trader Joe’s opened on Eighth Avenue and Colorado almost eight years ago. One block up Colorado, a mixed-use development called 9+CO has restaurants, a movie theater and residential housing. It takes up the whole block between Eighth and Ninth, and it was also part of the VA campus before the government sold it.

The medical center moved to the new Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center off I-225 and Colfax Avenue in Aurora in 2007. It’s near the Children’s Hospital and Anschutz Health Care Campus.

“The roughly 12-acre Denver VA Medical Center (Denver VAMC) was acquired by the United States of America in 1948 and has been under the custody of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) since,” a GSA spokesperson said in an email.

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The 670,000-square-foot former VA hospital was built shortly after that. Dubbed “Building 1,” it’s eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, according to an agreement between the GSA, VA, Historic Denver, History Colorado and the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office.

“It represents a period of rapid population growth in the Denver metro area,” Patrick Eidman, chief preservation officer and deputy state historic preservation officer at History Colorado, said in an email. “Many veterans of World War II and the Korean War passed through, or trained in, the state of Colorado. Many liked it so much that they returned after the war to settle here permanently with their families.”

The VA decided to build the campus in the Hale neighborhood. It was joined by Rose Medical Center, a University of Colorado hospital, and National Jewish.

Under the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, the land and buildings were recommended for sale by the Public Buildings Reform Board and earned a “High Value Asset” tag, a GSA spokesperson said. It was prepped for sale after that, including exploring the historic designation.

“GSA has been working with the VA and state and local stakeholders to ensure that regulatory requirements, such as environmental due diligence and historic consultations, have been successfully completed prior to offering the property to the market,” the spokesperson said.

In 2020, the VA determined that selling the building to a private owner had the “potential to result in an adverse effect,” Eidman said, meaning a developer might raze it.

The agreement “is meant to mitigate some of these potential adverse effects, included a provision meant to educate potential buyers about the benefits of the building’s ‘National Register eligible’ status,” he said. “Should the buyer of the property be interested in formally pursuing a National Register designation, the building would potentially be eligible for multiple financial incentives that support the rehabilitation of historic properties, including state and federal preservation tax credits and State Historical Fund grants.”

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So far, there’s only one bid on the property, according to realestatesales.gov. More information about the property is on gsa.gov.

The auction “close time” is 11 a.m. Central July 12.

“The auction may continue past July 12th, depending on bidding activity,” the GSA spokesperson said. “Upon auction close, GSA will evaluate the high bid. Should the Government award the property to the High Bidder, they will submit 10% of the purchase price within 3 business days and the property closing will be set for 45 calendar days from the date of the Award.”