DENVER — Venerable luggage maker Samsonite Corp. has sold its 100-acre campus in Denver to a California developer for $14.16 million, creating questions about its future in the city.
Founded in Denver as Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co. in 1910, Samsonite will continue to lease two buildings on the campus for a couple of years. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether the company would stay in Denver after the lease expires.
Panattoni Development Co., based in Sacramento, completed the purchase of the campus Tuesday.
Panattoni, among the nation's largest developers of industrial property, plans to replace the campus' aging facilities with more than 1.75 million square feet of new industrial space in the next three to five years, said Geoff Kreusser, senior vice president of Denver commercial brokerage Colliers, Bennett & Kahnweiler, which represented Panattoni.
Samsonite closed its Denver manufacturing plant in 2001 and moved those operations overseas but has maintained its headquarters in Denver.