PBR sold its building for $6 million in January. Pueblo now plans to buy it for $7 million
If the city of Pueblo decides to purchase the former Professional Bull Riders building at 101 Riverwalk Place, whoever owns it stands to make a hefty profit on the sale.
PBR announced last August it would be moving out of Pueblo, which would result in the agency vacating the office building at 101 Riverwalk Place by mid-2025.
According to the Pueblo County Assessor’s website, “101 W Riverwalk LLC” — a limited liability company that formed 24 days prior to the purchase — bought the building for $6 million Jan. 31 from Professional Bull Riders Inc. The city is under contract to purchase the building for $7 million on April 30.
The former headquarters for the Professional Bull Riders located at 101 E. Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo.
So who is the owner who stands to make the $1 million profit? An LLC owner who files documents with the Colorado Secretary of State is only required to report who the organizer is, not the owner.
According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s website, Pueblo attorney Stacie Shirley of Buxman and Shirley is the registered agent for 101 W Riverwalk LLC. The Chieftain called Shirley’s office Friday to seek comment, but the office was closed.
The assessor listed the 2024 taxable value of the building as $5 million. Professional Bull Riders Inc. initially purchased the building for $7.3 million in October 2008.
Former Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar told the Chieftain Friday the building was appraised for $7 million several years ago which he “thought that was too high a price to pay then.”
“Whoever the owners are certainly haven’t made $1 million in improvements on the building,” Gradisar said. “I think given the fact the city is paying $1 million over what they did we should be open and transparent about who those owners are. When we are talking about public money, it should be disclosed.”
Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham said she couldn’t disclose who the owner is or detail the makeup of the LLC, “because I don’t have all that information.”
Graham said the city originally made an offer of $8 million on the building last year. She said PBR did not accept that offer from the city and she believes it went with another buyer, but “when that fell through or whatever happened, they contacted a third party that was interested and I think they sold it for less than what the city had offered the first time.”
“Originally we were willing to pay $8 million for the space and so I think getting it now at $7 million is a decent price,” Graham said. “We weren’t aware of what they (101 W Riverwalk LLC) paid for the building right away.”
“With the capital gains taxes they would have to pay on the building they wouldn’t make $1 million,” she said.
The short-term capital gains taxes can vary between 10% and 37% depending on the seller(s) income tax bracket, according to TurboTax. That would be a tax of between $100,000 and $370,000 on a $1 million profit, so the seller could still stand to realize a three-month profit of between $630,000 and $900,000.
Impact of the sale
In 2024, the building generated $140,870 in property tax, according to the Pueblo County Assessor’s website. Graham said the city only got $15,000 of that property tax and Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority received $65,000 of that amount through the Tax Increment Financing district, which is set to expire in four years because it is limited to 25 years.
The city plans to use the building to solve a problem of “insufficient office space for existing staff, aging facilities, health and safety concerns and inadequate restroom facilities,” said Andrew Hayes, city public works director, during a Pueblo City Council work session on March 3.
With 31,000 square feet of space on the top three floors, the Riverwalk Place building is being eyed to house human resources, civil service, finance, sales tax, law, planning and community development, housing and citizen services offices and also potentially fire administration, Graham said.
“Those departments are so big but I can’t tell you the exact number of employees that will be working in the building because some of them are out in the field all day. I have some finance and sales tax employees who still work at home and there are many departments where two to three people are sharing one office space,” Graham said.
The riverwalk building was built in 2006 and would need minimal upgrades, Hayes said. Considering the initial plan was to spend $22 million to construct a municipal service center, the city would realize about $14 million in savings by purchasing the riverwalk building, he said.
More: Pueblo eyes purchase of $7 million building for city office space
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X at x.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo building owner stands to make $1 million through sale to city
