Markel Homes ramps up Phase II at North End

LOUISVILLE — Boulder-based Markel Homes Construction Co. is ramping up Phase II of its North End residential development in Louisville.

Markel Homes’ president Michael Markel said 87 homes must be completed to finish the 207-home Phase I, near the intersection of Colorado Highway 42 and Paschal Drive. But many of those are duplexes and lofts, and the rebounding housing market made now a logical time to break ground on Phase II, Markel said.

“We’re sold-out of single-family homes in Phase I, so we wanted to continue the single-family home marketing,” Michael Markel said. “That was a natural to go right into the single family.”

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Phase II, on the north side of South Boulder Road and just to the east of Colorado Highway 42, will include 143 homes when complete, including 80 single-family homes and a combination of town homes and lofts. It also will include 66,000 square feet of commercial space.

Markel Homes has broken ground on the infrastructure for Phase II, including streets. Michael Markel said the construction of Phase II model homes and the first speculative homes will begin within the next 45 days. He expects model homes to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year, with homes ready for move-in by first quarter 2014.

Markel Homes has made the first 26 single-family lots in Phase II available for purchase. They will range in size from 1,600 to 3,000 finished square feet. Including unfinished basements, the range is 2,300 to 4,000 square feet. Prices will range from $494,900 to $624,900.

Phase I has been in sales and construction mode for about four years. But with the economy improving, Michael Markel estimates that the smaller phase two will take only two to three years to wrap up depending on sales.

ADVANTAGE EXPANDS: Advantage Coatings Technology Inc. has moved from 385 S. Pierce Ave. to a larger space at 1533 S. Arthur Ave. in Louisville.

Both locations are in the Colorado Technology Center, near S. 96th Street and Dillon Road.

Advantage Coatings Technology leased 11,022 square feet of space from United Refrigeration on Arthur Avenue. The move, according to a press release from the Colorado Group, which facilitated the lease for both sides, allows Advantage Coatings Technology to expand its warehouse space by 25 percent and continue to grow.

The 9-year-old company manufactures and distributes floor coatings, finishers, sealers, stains and a line of paint for sport floors.

The building at 385 S. Pierce was purchased in May by outdoor products distributor Canaima Outdoors Inc., which does business as Gibbon Slacklines.

Jessica Cashmore, Neil Littmann and Scott Reichenberg were the Colorado Group brokers who facilitated the lease.

BOULDER

CAMPMINDER MOVING: CampMinder LLC is moving east a few blocks to accommodate company growth. The Boulder-based company recently closed on a lease for 7,500 square feet of space at 5766 Central Ave., and is planning to move Oct. 1.

CampMinder provides web-based tools for all aspects of summer-camp management, and currently includes a client network of 400 camps nationwide.

The company is currently at 4755 Walnut St., subletting about 3,000 square feet of space at the back of Eco-Products Inc.’s building.

CampMinder does not release revenue figures. But since moving the 12-year-old company from New York to Boulder in 2008, founder and chief executive Dan Konigsberg said it has grown from three employees to 25, about 22 of whom live in Boulder.

Becky Callan, Hunter Barton and Dryden Dunsmore from Dean Callan and Co., along with Scott Garel from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, represented landlord Goff Capital Partners in the deal for 5766 Central Ave. Ron Webert from Bitzer Real Estate Partners represented the tenant.

RALLY EXPANDING HQ: Rally Software Development Corp. has signed a lease for a to-be-constructed addition to its corporate headquarters at 3333 Walnut St., the company announced June 28 in a press statement.

The 89,000-square-foot addition will more than double the size of Rally’s current 65,545-square-foot building.

Michigan-based MAVDevelopment, the owner/developer of Rally’s headquarters, purchased the property in April with plans to expand it. The new lease solidifies Rally’s presence there.

Rally (NYSE: RALY), which moved into the building in early 2011, has grown rapidly since its founding in 2001. The company, which employs about 380 people, raised $89.8 million through an initial public offering in April. Rally reported $16 million in revenue and a net loss of $5.8 million in its most recent quarter as it invests toward future growth.

Paige Coker Heiman of Acquire Inc. represented Rally in the lease transaction.

TRUBLUE, ELDORADO GROW: With rapid growth of Trublue LLC’s auto belay and zipline breaking device business, the owners of Trublue and Eldorado Wall Co. Inc., decided the timing was right to take over the rest of the space at 1835 38th St.

The two companies share about 9,000 square feet at the location and will continue to do so. But they’ll also be assuming the 6,000-square-foot space where Trumark Mfg. Co. Inc. currently is located.

The property at 1835 38th is owned by Snowrock LLC, a four-person group of which John McGowan, the president of Eldorado and chief executive of Trublue, is managing partner.

Trumark’s lease is expiring, and the slingshot manufacturer soon will be moving east to 5541 Central Ave. McGowan said there is no timeline for Trublue and Eldorado to occupy Trumark’s spot.

Eldorado and Trublue combined employ about 50 people at their two Boulder locations, which include 1835 38th St., and about 4,000 square feet of leased space at 1745 38th St.

Trublue’s operations have grown from six people to 25 during the past 18 months, McGowan said. Trublue’s revenue was about $2.8 million in 2012, and McGowan is projecting that number to grow to about $4.5 million this year. Eldorado had about $9 million in revenue in 2012, a number McGowan expects to be similar this year.

Trumark, which has seven employees, has leased 7,313 square feet of space at 5541 Central Ave. from Flatiron Investments LLC. Trumark’s new space is bigger, though owner Mark Ellenburg said the company, which had about $1.2 million in revenue in 2012, doesn’t have plans for growth or new product offerings at this time.

Scott Garel and Corey Linton of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, and Becky Gamble of Dean Callan and Co. represented the landlord in the Central Avenue transaction. Erik Abrahamson of CB Richard Ellis represented the tenant.

FREDERICK

UQM SELLS FORMER HQ: Electric motor manufacturer UQM Technologies Inc. sold its former headquarters location in Frederick to Aqua-Hot Heating Systems Inc. for $1.65 million.

Fort Lupton-based Aqua-Hot, which provides specialty heaters for recreational vehicles, sport off-road vehicles and other trucks and tractors, plans to move its headquarters to the 28,204-square-foot industrial building at 7501 Miller Drive in Frederick.

Commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley Colorado in Denver represented Aqua-Hot.

UQM (NYSE: UQM) has grown rapidly in recent years after moving into its current location at 4120 Specialty Place near the intersection of Colorado Highway 119 and Interstate 25 east of Longmont, said David Rosenthal, UQM’s chief financial officer.

The company has a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy with a maximum award amount of $45 million to meet the anticipated demand for electric vehicle motors over time, Rosenthal said. UQM is using those funds to build up its assembly lines, he said. The company makes electric motors, generators and power controllers for cars, trucks, buses and military vehicles.

Aqua-Hot president and CEO Paul Harter said all 33 of his company’s employees will be moving to the Frederick site. The move allows Aqua-Hot, which currently is in four different buildings, to consolidate under one roof. Harter said Aqua-Hot expects to do between $10 million and $11 million in revenue this year.

LAFAYETTE

CLINICA MAKES OFFER: Clinica Family Health Services has made an offer on a 7.9-acre parcel of land just north of its administrative offices at 2000 West South Boulder Road in Lafayette as it considers an expansion.

Workers in the administrative offices of the health-care clinic are “busting out of the seams” at the current location, Pete Leibig, president and chief executive, said recently.

The land is assessed at about $522,000 by the Boulder County Assessor’s office. Clinica’s current facility and land in Lafayette is assessed at $1.81 million, according to the assessor’s office.

Representatives are going through a due diligence process on the site, meaning they haven’t decided whether to buy the property, and they may also look at other sites, Clinica development director Susan Wortman said. She did not disclose the offer amount.

DAWSON CLEARS HURDLE: Alexander Dawson School on June 19 cleared another hurdle toward eventual expansion on its 93-acre campus off of U.S. Highway 287 between Lafayette and Longmont.

But Dawson head of school George Moore said construction isn’t slated for the near term even if Boulder County’s board of commissioners gives final approval to the proposal sometime later this summer.

“We don’t have any shovel-ready projects at this point,” Moore said Thursday.

The Boulder County planning commission on June 19 offered its endorsement of the private K-12 school’s proposal to add about 24,000 square feet of space through mostly expansions of existing buildings. The commission also OK’d Dawson’s request to raise its enrollment cap from 460 to 540.

The board of commissioners will hear the proposal later this summer, likely sometime in August or September, Moore said. So the enrollment cap jump wouldn’t go into effect until the 2014-15 school year if approved. The school, at 10455 Dawson Drive, finished the 2012-13 school year with 454 students, and it’s not necessarily bursting at the seams.

Moore said the school has room to absorb some additional students without new construction. But the school wants to be ready as demand increases.

LONGMONT

CITY OKS LAND SWAP: The proposed Quail Commercial Center cleared a hurdle on June 25 toward groundbreaking when the Longmont City Council voted to approve a land swap between the city and MNR LLC.

The city council also approved annexation of the 11.6-acre MNR site where the company is planning the mixed-use Quail Commercial Center, which is slated to include a Homewood Suites hotel. Longmont senior planner Don Burchett said that the annexation is conditioned upon MNR turning over its water rights to the property and submitting documents for recording at the county.

The land swap gives MNR a 1.73-acre parcel of land at the corner of U.S. Highway 287 and Quail Road on the south end of town that it wanted for the development, and hands over to the city three parcels totaling 1.59 acres.

The land MNR is receiving is valued at $415,000, while the land the city receives is valued at $281,000. The city requires dollar-for-dollar land swaps. But the council was willing to approve the swap for lower-valued land given the estimated $393,405 in building fees from the Quail Commercial Center. Once completed, the center will also provide an estimated $288,403 annually in sales, lodger and real property tax revenue for the city.

MNR, headed by William Novell, has submitted plans for the Quail Commercial Center that include a mix of commercial and residential uses, including the hotel, mixed-use buildings and a pair of public tennis courts. Ground is expected to be broken in about 18 months. Burchett said now that the annexation and land swap are complete, MNR can begin going through the platting and site plan review processes.

The rectangular piece of land MNR receives in the swap is at the northeast corner of 287 and Quail Road. The largest parcel going the city’s way is just to the northeast of that, a 1.29-acre rectangle that is adjacent to the west side of the Longmont Museum parking lot. The city has plans under review to double the size of the Longmont Museum, and the piece of land acquired from MNR is currently tabbed for additional museum parking.

The other two pieces of the land the city receives in the deal are small irregular parcels to the north of the Quail Commercial Center that lie along Left Hand Creek and will be incorporated into the St. Vrain Greenway.

WESTMINSTER

TOWNE CENTER SELLS: Dallas-based TriGate Capital has acquired Towne Center at Brookhill, a 305,000-square-foot shopping center located at the intersection of Wadsworth Boulevard and 88th Avenue.

The 28-year-old center, which was renovated in 2004, is 74 percent leased.

REGIONAL NOTES

FORECLOSURES DROP: Foreclosure filings in Boulder and Broomfield counties dropped a combined 42.8 percent from April to May, according to a report released June 26 by the Colorado Division of Housing.

Foreclosure filings dipped from 50 in April to 32 in May in Boulder County, while Broomfield’s count dropped from 13 to 4 for the same period.

Foreclosure filings in Boulder County in May dropped 56.8 percent, from 74 to 32 when compared with May 2012, and Broomfield’s went from 24 to 4, an 83.3 percent drop, for the same time frame.

Broomfield and Boulder counties had the lowest rates of foreclosure sales per household on the 12-county list included in the data. Broomfield County had one foreclosure sale for every 10,980 households, while Boulder had one per 6,383 households. The worst rate came in Mesa County, where there was one foreclosure sale for every 940 households.

LUXURY HOME SALES: Luxury home sales in the Denver metro area increased 33 percent in May compared with the same month a year ago, according to a report by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

Denver had the most luxury home sales in May with 31. Boulder recorded 22 and Cherry Hills Village 11. Boulder had the same number in May a year ago.

The median sale price of luxury homes in the area jumped 2.2 percent from a year ago, averaging $1.3 million in May. Fourteen of the month’s luxury sales were for more than $2 million, double the number of multimillion -dollar sales a year ago.

Joshua Lindenstein can be reached at jlindenstein@bcbr.com or 303-630-1943.