Briefcase, Nov. 13, 2015

CONTRACTS

John Cullen, owner of the Stanley Hotel and president of Grand Heritage Hotel Group, formed a partnership with Estes Park Medical Center to build a wellness center in a building that originally had been planned as a boutique hotel to augment it.

Longmont-based electric motor maker UQM Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UQM) inked a deal with a Chinese bus manufacturer that could be worth more than $400 million over a 10-year period. The new deal is with ITL Efficiency Corp., a subsidiary of China-based Eastlake New Energy, which makes a variety of electric vehicles. ITL supplies electric-drive systems to Eastlake and its subsidiaries. UQM received a purchase order for the first 3,000 units in its deal with ITL. Development, testing and certification are set to begin in 2016, with production starting in early 2017. UQM will make the motors in Colorado through 2017, but plans to produce them in China beginning in 2018

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DEADLINES

The Loveland Chamber of Commerce will accept nominations through Dec. 11 for its 2015 Annual Investor awards for outstanding businesses and individuals. All awards can be self-nominated or nominated by other investors. The awards will be presented during the Loveland Chamber annual investors meeting on Jan. 15. Visit loveland.org to nominate an individual or business through an online form or to download a nomination form to bring or mail to the Loveland Chamber of Commerce, 5400 Stone Creek Circle, Loveland, CO 80538.

KUDOS

Greenwood Village-based FEI Engineers Inc. received one of the top Engineering Excellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado for the St. Vrain Sanitation District Wastewater Treatment Facility expansion. The 6-million-gallon-per-day facility meets the needs of Frederick, Firestone and Dacono.

Fort Collins-based OtterCares Foundation received an Innovation in Socially Responsible Business award from Small Fish at the Quid Novi Conference. Keller-Williams Realty Northern Colorado received an award for innovation in business character, and Janska was honored for innovation in contribution to community.

Fort Collins-based A-Train Marketing won a Silver Leaf Colorado Healthcare Communicator’s Award for design and production of the Pathway2Family magazine, which was created as part of a wide-scale marketing campaign for Nightlight Christian Adoptions. 

Scientists Jeffrey Anderson, Christopher Davis, Rolando Garcia, James Moore, Bette Otto-Bliesner, Chris Snyder and Jothiram Vivekanandan at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder were elected Fellows of the American Meteorological Society for making outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences or related fields. They are among 29 experts nationwide selected as fellows this year by AMS, which has more than 13,000 members. They will be recognized at a ceremony in January at the AMS annual meeting in New Orleans.

Dave Wright, chief executive of Boulder-based SolidFire and Louisville startup BluFlux, took home hardware from the Colorado Technology Association’s Apex Awards ceremony. He was honored as CEO of the year, beating out Rob Enggebrect of Greenwood Village-based Intelisecure and Geoff Mina of Boulder’s Connect First. BluFlux was recognized as Startup of the Year, beating out finalists Boom Algae and Clear Comfort, both of Boulder. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and state Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, were named advocates of the year. Boulder-based Vertiba was a finalist for project of the year, and Aleph Objects of Loveland and Zayo Group of Boulder were finalists for CIO of the year.

Loveland-based Lightning Hybrids was named best venture among 30 presenting clean-tech companies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Industry Growth Forum in Golden.

Boulder-based Sphero, formerly Orbotix Inc., the company that created the BB-8 droid that is based on a droid in the latest Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens,” will receive the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Boulder Chamber on Nov. 18 at Esprit Entrepreneur, to be held in the new Touchdown Club at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Folsom Field. Dave Query, founder of the Big Red F Restaurant Group, will receive the Entrepreneur Legacy Award, Peter Grant Johnson will receive the Entrepreneurial Community Builder Award. This year’s sponsors for Esprit Entrepreneur include BizWest, Elevations Credit Union, CU-Boulder, EKS&H business advisors, Colorado PERA, Terrapin Care Station, Google, Anthem BlueCross Blue Shield, the Daily Camera, Metzger Albee Public Relations, bivio and Hazel’s Beverage World.

The retail merchandising app created for SmartWool by InspiringApps, a Boulder-based mobile app design and development company, won the 2015 Tabby Award for Business in the iPad App: Data Access & Collection category.

Jim Hensley, senior vice president and Midwest regional manager for Longmont-based Alliant National Title Insurance Co., won a Distinguished Service Award from the Missouri Land Title Association.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Longmont-based Circle Graphics Inc., a producer of grand-format digital graphics, acquired Imagic, a large- and grand-format printing company based in Burbank, Calif. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Heartland Financial USA Inc. (Nasdaq: HTLF), the parent company of Summit Bank & Trust, which has branches in Broomfield, Erie and Thornton, plans to acquire CIC Bancshares Inc., parent company of Centennial Bank and its 14 locations in Colorado, including Boulder and Nederland. The deal, valued at $83.5 million, was approved by boards of directors at both companies and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. The transaction still must be approved by CIC Bancshares’ shareholders and bank regulators. Kevin Ahern will continue to be executive chairman of Centennial Bank, and Jim Basey will continue as president and chief executive.

Constant Contact Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based online marketing company with a customer-support center in Loveland, is being bought by Burlington, Mass.-based cloud hosting company Endurance International Group Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: EIGI). What effect the $1.1 billion acquisition will have on the facility at 3675 Precision Drive in Loveland and its approximately 325 workers is not yet known. Constant Contact shareholders still must vote on whether to approve it. Endurance said the transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2016, and that Constant Contact would continue to operate as a separate brand.

Jerome, Idaho-based Ridley’s Family Markets bought struggling Bella’s Market, 7670 Fifth St. in Wellington, and will reopen it as Ridley’s. Terms of the sale, which also included a Bella’s store in Gypsum, were unavailable.

Software-development toolmaker Rogue Wave Software is gearing up for new hires to serve clients across five major web-development languages. The company acquired Cupertino, Calif.-based PHP web and mobile-application developer Zend Technologies on Oct. 7. Zend was founded in Israel. The expansion of Rogue Wave’s scope is part of what led to its move from a 17,000-square-foot space at 5500 Flatiron Parkway in Boulder to a hilltop building it shares with Global Healthcare Exchange LLC at 1315 W. Century Drive in Louisville. The new space is about 20,000 square feet.

Spacecon Specialty Contractors acquired the assets of The Corcoran Co. in Fort Collins for an undisclosed amount. Spacecon, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Holdings Corp., operates branches in Denver, Colorado Springs, Wheat Ridge and Loveland, plus two offices in Delaware. It specializes in metal-stud framing, drywall, fire-stop systems; thermal/sound insulation, acoustic ceilings and acoustic wall panels. Spacecon will relocate its staff in Loveland to Fort Collins and combine those workers with Corcoran’s 25 employees at 4700 Innovation Drive in Fort Collins.

MOVES

Ventura, Calif.-based The Trade Desk Inc. is expanding its presence in Boulder, signing on for about 13,000 square feet of office space at PearlWest, a 160,000-square-foot commercial and retail development at 1048 Pearl St. that is under construction. Trade Desk provides a tech platform for advertising agencies to manage their display, social and video ad campaigns. The international company, based in Ventura, Calif., currently has 30 employees in 4,000 square feet of space at 1615 Pearl St., which houses the company’s engineering hub. The company plans to add almost 30 more employees, mostly software engineers.

OPENINGS

The first tenant at Longmont’s new Village at the Peaks shopping center opened for business Nov. 5, with Wyatt’s Wet Goods liquor store taking the honors. Officials for NewMark Merrill Mountain States, which is redeveloping the former Twin Peaks Mall site, announced grand opening dates and festivities for multiple tenants. Sporting goods retailer Sports Authority had its own soft opening Nov. 8. The Regal Cinemas movie theater had “charity preview” days Nov. 8-10, and Gold’s Gym will open Nov. 16.

Popcorn other than the traditional buttered, cheese or caramel is the specialty of Rebel Popcorn, which opened Oct. 30 at 2601 S. Lemay Ave., Unit 2, in the Scotch Pines shopping center in Fort Collins. The shop, co-owned by Geoff and Heather McQueen and Tim and Elizabeth Solley, will open in a space formerly occupied by Gems N’ Gold, a jewelry store operated for 28 years by Enoch and Linda Silva before they closed it in May 2014 and retired.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Boulder-based Wana Brands added two new product lines. Wana Extracts products include Wana CBD vape cartridges, which will allow consumers to experience the medicinal benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive effects of THC. Wana Medicinals, in partnership with Cannabics Pharmaceuticals, developed extended release capsules, WanaCaps.

SERVICES

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment launched a pair of new websites to help highlight career opportunities in the energy industry. One, coworkforce-energy.jobs, provides a platform for perusing current job listings posted at state and county employment offices statewide, including in the fossil, nuclear, efficiency and renewable-energy sectors. The other, Colorado.gov/cdle/energy-careers, is a platform for learning about the variety of energy occupations available in the energy industry, from those requiring doctorate-level degrees to those that simply require some on-the-job training.

UCHealth is offering 3-D digital breast mammography screening in northern Colorado.

This is the first time the 3-D technology has been available to patients in Fort Collins; it’s being done at the Breast Diagnostic Center at Harmony Campus and will be available before the end of the year at the Breast Diagnostic Center at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. In addition, UCHealth will offer 3-D mammography at Greeley Medical Clinic by summer 2016.