Software, skiwear coming to Pearl East

BOULDER – Businesses in the Pearl East Business Park will gain a couple of new neighbors this fall with the move of Symplified Inc. from downtown and the opening of a marketing office and showroom by Swiss skiwear manufacturer Kjus.

Symplified, a provider of cloud security software in the identity and access-management realm, is leaving its roughly 9,000-square-foot space on the second floor at 1600 Pearl St. and is moving into 8,055 square feet at 4900 Pearl East Circle, No. 108.

Nate Litsey and Chad Henry of W.W. Reynolds Cos., represented the landlord in the Symplified lease deal, while Marty Knape and Alex Hammerstein of CBRE represented the tenant.

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Symplified chief executive Shayne Higdon said the goal is to move in mid-October.

Despite the smaller space, Higdon said Symplified is in expansion mode, adding more than 30 employees since the first of the year as it rolled out a couple of new products and partnerships.

Higdon, who has been CEO for about a year, said recent employee surveys uncovered a desire for things such as showers and access to the outdoors to help accommodate many employees’ active lifestyles. The new space will add such amenities, including a roll-up glass garage door employees can open to barbecue or play basketball.

“I wanted to put our money where our mouth is and give the employees what they want,” Higdon said.

Another factor in the move was the expansion of the building at 1600 Pearl, where Boulder Brands Inc. will move into a newly added third story once it is complete. The addition of the third story meant Symplified lost about 1,000 square feet of its space to make way for an elevator and staircase.

While Higdon acknowledged the prime downtown location Symplified is leaving, he said the new digs will be more open than its spot now.

Cloud storage provider SolidFire Inc., which shares the second floor of 1600 Pearl with Symplified, will expand into the space Symplified is leaving, SolidFire director of finance Derek Kraus confirmed, adding that the company had no other comment on the expansion at this time.

For Kjus, a subsidiary of LK International AG, its new East Boulder office gives the company a Rocky Mountain region presence in a town where plenty of other outdoor-apparel companies have put down roots.

Kjus, a subsidiary of LK International AG, leased 4,238 square feet at 4940 Pearl East Circle, No. 300, with a goal of moving in by Dec. 1. Henry and Litsey served as listing brokers in the transaction while Kjus was represented internally.

“Those are both great deals for the (business) park and for East Boulder,” Henry said.

PEARL PLACE AMPHITHEATER: A 400-seat amphitheater is part of the concept plan submitted to the city of Boulder by developers of the proposed Pearl Place redevelopment project near 30th and Pearl streets.

Denver developers Dan Otis and Darren Fisk bought three parcels of land earlier this summer for $11.2 million, and recently closed on a fourth, purchasing 2121 30th St., from Twenty One Twenty One LLC for $1 million. The four parcels total 4.33 acres and wrap around Chase Bank at the southwest corner of 30th and Pearl. The parcels are home to a couple of strip malls, as well as D&K Printing and the Woodsongs music store.

In addition to the landscaped amphitheater that sits next to an irrigation ditch that runs through the site, the concept plan proposes a pair of four-story office buildings totaling 202,500 square feet, 6,000 square feet of retail space and an 83,500-square-foot, 120-room hotel.

The concept plan is scheduled to go before the planning board during a public hearing Oct. 24.

ALEX AND ANI: Alex and Ani LLC, a jewelry store chain based in Rhode Island, has leased 1,055 square feet at 1505 Pearl St., Unit 104, for a retail location.

The owner of the space is 1505 Commercial LLC. Way Cool Properties’ John Koval, a partner in 1505 Commercial, represented the landlord, while Joe Pierik with Carpionato Group represented the tenant in the deal.

Alex and Ani will occupy the space vacated by Atlas Purveyors coffee shop in July. Koval said he expects Alex and Ani to open by late fall or early winter.

The deal follows another across town for Koval, who represented Steel Yards LLC in the leasing of 2,300 square feet of space at 2500 30th St., to Fresh Thymes Eatery LLC, a take-out marketplace and café that opened in late August.

BROOMFIELD

NORTH PARK SCHOOL: New projects are starting to roll in for McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc., at its 935-acre North Park development in northeast Broomfield.

Jay Hardy, McWhinney’s general manager for North Park, said Prospect Ridge Academy, a charter school that opened last year at 2555 Preble Creek Parkway with classes for kindergarten through eighth grade, is slated to break ground on a high school Nov. 1.

The news came a little more than a week after satellite imaging company DigitalGlobe Inc. (NYSE: DGI) announced that it would be moving its headquarters from Longmont to the North Park development by 2015.

The new high school, slated to open in August, will sit on a 10-acre parcel just northeast of the K-8 school. DLR Group Inc. of Denver is serving as architect, and JHL Constructors Inc. of Centennial will be the contractor for the 49,000-square-foot, $8 million project.

XETAWAVE MOVING: Wireless technology provider XetaWave LLC plans to relocate from Boulder to Broomfield and bring the manufacturing of its radios in house by the end of the year, thanks in part to a $7 million investment from several sources.

XetaWave, whose 24 employees are based in a 4,000-square-foot space at 1668 Valtec Drive, is moving into a 24,000-square-foot space at 100 Technology Drive in Broomfield’s Interlocken area.

XetaWave produces radios that transmit data from field operations for industries such as oil and gas, wind energy and the military.

DENVER

RE/MAX IPO: Re/Max Holdings Inc. has launched an initial public offering worth up to $214 million.

The Denver-based real estate company said it would offer 10 million shares of stock for a price of $19 to $21. The company plans to use proceeds to buy back regional Re/Max franchise rights in certain markets. The company said it also planned to repurchase ownership stakes from existing shareholders.

In Boulder, Re/Max of Boulder Inc., 2425 Canyon Blvd., was the largest residential real estate brokerage in the country by sales volume in 2012, reporting $695 million in sales. Re/Max of Boulder opened a second office at 1320 Pearl St. in April, which operates together with the Canyon Boulevard location but is considered a separate franchise. Re/Max has several other office franchises in Boulder and Broomfield counties.

Re/Max plans to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RMAX.

GUNBARREL

POLAR EXPANSION: Product Architects Inc., makers of Polar Bottle insulated sport water bottles, is doubling its space with a move to Gunbarrel.

The company has leased 32,000 square feet of space at 4601 Nautilus Court., in the Twin Lakes area off 63rd Street. President and co-founder Judy Amabile said in an email that the company intends to be moved in by the end of December.

Product Architects has 15,000 square feet at 5637 Arapahoe Ave. The company employs 47 full-time employees in addition to about a dozen temporary employees.

“We’ve run out of space here,” company spokeswoman Adeline Bash said. “I think it’s safe to say based on the sales we had last year we’re hoping for substantial growth.”

The privately-held company doesn’t disclose revenues. But Bash said a chunk of the growth of the company is due to the introduction this year of a pair of new product lines, their Ergo lifestyle bottle and their ThermaLuxe stainless steel bottle.

SUPERIOR

ROGERS LAND SELLS: Boulder developer Jim Chanin announced that Second Avenue Superior Properties LLC has purchased a 12.9-acre piece of land in Superior for $1.1 million from the estate of the late Charlene Flo Rogers.

The plan for the property is a residential development, the makeup and timeline of which are still up in the air.

Second Avenue Superior Properties is the entity formed by Chanin and an undisclosed California-based capital group to buy and develop the parcel, which includes a one-story farmhouse and outbuildings. Chanin, of Chanin Development, will serve as acting manager and developer for the project.

The land, at 300 Second Ave., sits just west of McCaslin Boulevard, across from the Superior Town Center development, which received approval from the Superior Trustees this summer. Chanin said he’s waiting to also see what might mesh well densitywise with what is planned at Superior Town Center.

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