Real Estate: Bandai America relocates to Weld

MEAD – What it didn’t gain in space, Bandai America Inc. gained in efficiency with a move to a new 28,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the Sekich Business Park in Mead.

“We came from 27,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet, but this one is built for manufacturing,” plant manager Bob Schnitzler said.

It took about 25 semi trucks to make the move from Bandai’s south Longmont digs to Weld County at the northeast corner of Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 66. The new building was built by Jerry Boos Construction and is owned by the DNN Partnership.

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Bandai America manufactures what Schnitzler describes as “the Cadillac of the chalk business,” colorful planks of dustless, nontoxic children’s sidewalk chalk that washes off with a garden hose.

A four-person management team moved to Mead, but Schnitzler said the work force will power up to 70 after the first of the year, when Bandai’s Bucket of Chalk and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers chalk lines go into full production.

Golf course lures rural buyers

WELD COUNTY – Location, location, location may be the Realtor’s axiom, but sometimes location isn’t enough to pique interest in a rural subdivision.

Perhaps a little par-three private golf course with a stunning mountain view can help?

“It’s a nice concept,” Realtor Bill Sharp said of the golf-course privileges that come along with the $250,000-home he has listed in Grandview. “I tell people, put away your paintbrushes and get out your golf clubs.”

Grandview, a 75-home subdivision at the northeast corner of Weld County Road 13 and Colorado Highway 66, is a development of snappy brick ranch-style homes on one-acre lots.

Nick Sekich and his brother Fred in 1993 subdivided a 160-acre dryland hay and irrigated alfalfa farm next to theirs.

Lifelong golfer Fred designed a 15-acre, nine-hole walk-on course that winds its way through the existing 50 homes, along a path of sandtraps, young trees and at least one water hazard – an irrigation ditch.

“We felt we needed something to go along with the housing development,” Nick said. “It’s beautiful.”

Homeowners are assessed a couple of hundred dollars annually to cover golf-course maintenance. There are no greens fees assessed, nor is there a clubhouse.

Nick said sales in the subdivision have been brisk, with about 20 lots left in the neighborhood.

Colorado outshined Texas

WELD COUNTY – Florida CirTech Inc. of Sarasota, Fla., is pulling up stakes and moving to the Weld County Business Park north of Greeley.

CirTech manufactures products used in the printed-circuit-board industry. CirTech president Mike Scimeca said the company hopes to increase its market share in Colorado by providing products to larger electronic-assembly operations along the I-25 corridor, such as Dovatron International and Hewlett-Packard Co.

CirTech plans to build a 15,000-saquare-foot building, with 2,000 square feet set aside for offices and 1,000 square feet for the manufacture of high-tech solder paste. The remainder of the space will be used for general manufacturing and warehousing.

“We were seriously thinking of moving to Texas, but we liked Colorado a lot more,” Scimeca said. Greeley/Weld Economic Development Action Partnership Inc. president “Bill Argo was aggressive and pro-business, and we like that attitude a lot.”

Miramont prepares opening

FORT COLLINS – About as quickly as a tennis player’s heart rises during an intense net game, the Miramont Sports Center is beginning to take shape, south of Harmony Market at Lemay Avenue and Harmony Road in Fort Collins.

Part-owner Tom Smith said the nearly $4 million, 25,000-square-foot club will include six outdoor and four indoor tennis courts; outdoor pool and spa; aerobic, cardio-vascular and free-weight workout areas; a nursery; tennis-pro shop; and a social-activity area, including a juice and sandwich bar.

The project is the brainchild of tennis promoter Cliff Buchholz, who, with his brother, owns the Lipton Touring Professional Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla., the fifth-largest tennis tournament behind the four Grand Slam events.

The doors are expected to open at Miramont sometime in December.

When is spec not spec?

No one’s signed on the dotted line, but construction entrepreneur Vincent Bogaard III suspects the spec commercial building he’s about the build at Harmony Market may not be quite so speculative by the time it’s complete.

Bogaard Construction Inc. will build a 22,000-square-foot building in the space between Steele’s Market and Builder’s Square. Bogaard said the structure will have a 7,500-square-foot expansion capability and may be set up for a single tenant or divided for use by a couple of users. Vaught Frye Architects will design the building.

Peter Kast of Kast Real Estate Services Inc. represents the commercial space, as well as Bogaard’s other spec project, an office building near Horsetooth Road and College Avenue.

Bogaard said he’s had retailers such as sandwich shops, liquor stores and a national copy shop inquire about the new project. Groundbreaking is expected around Dec. 1.