Oh Broe, where art thou? Media-shy mogul leads ever-expanding empire.

• Author: Marks, Susan J.

Pat Broe takes business diversification--plus wealth and power--to a new level. And he has a massive Denver-based North American empire to prove it.

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Just who is this under-the-radar, self-made powerhouse whose private Cherry Creek-based company in April announced plans to purchase Mile High Center, the downtown Denver "Cash-Register" landmark at 1700 Broadway?

Like much about Broe's business, the building's purchase price was not disclosed.

Which is typical of Broe transactions and makes his business dealings hard to track.

He deals primarily with private companies that don't require public disclosure of financial information. He refused to talk to ColoradoBiz for this article, and few people will talk about him on the record. But consider just some of the holdings of Broe's private company, The Broe Cos. Inc.:

* REAL ESTATE. Broe's property portfolio bulges with prime properties in Denver, California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Nebraska and at least three Canadian provinces. At one time, the company owned Writer Homes, which it sold in 2002 in a $54 million deal to Standard Pacific Corp. of Costa Mesa, Calif. Broe also currently owns land adjoining the new Owens-Illinois bottle manufacturing plant site in Windsor, in addition to residential projects under development in Douglas County and near Denver International Airport.

At one point, Broe also owned a portion of Denver's Union Station. The city paid almost $50 million to buy the station and surrounding property in 2001. Among The Broe Cos.' recent Denver-area acquisitions is The Cascades, a Greenwood Plaza Class A office building which it bought last year for $25 million. Before acquiring the Cascades in April 2003, Broe had announced a goal of acquiring $100 million in new Denver and Rocky Mountain-area properties within the next 18 to 24 months. On its Web site today, Broe says that it is "actively seeking to invest $250 to $450 million in the real-estate sector within the next 18 to 24 months."

* SENIOR HOUSING. Aspen Retirement Corp. is a privately held, Denver-based corporation that's involved in acquisition and operations of assisted living and independent living retirement communities serving seniors in Denver as well as in Cincinnati, Dayton and Bedford, Ohio; Venice, Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; San Ramon, Hemet and Danville, Calif.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Richmond, Va.

* TRANSPORTATION AND INDUSTRIAL SERVICES. Denver-based OmniTrax is North...