The Faulkner Tower on Gaston Avenue.
The Faulkner Tower has a new owner. Carl Anderson, co-founder of commercial real estate developer Larkspur Capital, says he closed Monday on the purchase of the building and its parking lot farther south on Paulus Avenue.
Anderson says he cannot disclose how much he paid for the property, which was under contract in April 2017. The buyer wasn’t identified at that time, but Anderson says it was not Larkspur Capital. The property went on the market in May 2016. Ebby Halliday agent Rob Biesel, son of longtime owner Jerry Biesel, posted the then-$6 million listing.
The Advocate reported in April that Anderson planned to purchase the seven-story tower at 6220 Gaston Ave. and renovate the building into new office space. At the time, he was still evaluating different options for the building but has since decided to use it solely for office space.
“It should make for a clean project, and there’s a demand for it here in Lakewood,” he says.
Before the purchase, Anderson says he toyed with developing half the space into luxury apartments with three 1,300-square-foot apartments built to condominium specifications on each residential floor with a retail area on the ground floor.
The tower’s tenants have 30 days to move out of the property so renovations can begin. Anderson plans to replace all the windows, start asbestos abatement, construct a new lobby, resurface the parking lot and add landscaping.
The project, scheduled for completion in November, will not require any zoning changes, he says.
“It’s going to be really transformative, I think,” Anderson says.
Tenants currently occupy only 14 percent of the building, and the owner plans to begin marketing the property to Lakewood businesses or businesses that want a presence in Lakewood in the next few weeks.
The tower previously had been under contract to Grant Guest in late 2015. His plan was to tear down the tower and construct apartments on top of retail. He also wanted to build a low-rise complex on the parking lot on Paulus behind the tower, but Guest failed to close on the property.
