FORT COLLINS – A leading water-resource engineering and environmental consulting firm is consolidating some of its East Coast operations to Fort Collins while at the same time preparing to move into a building almost four times the size of its previous space.The steady growth at Riverside Technology inc. of Fort Collins also means the addition of 20 to 25 primary jobs next year and in 1998.
“We’ve demonstrated that we can serve clients from anywhere in the country,´ said Richard Spotts, one of five principals of RTi and an original founder of the firm. “We are really into team building and like to work as a team. It’s easier to do our work that way.”
In late September, employees at RTi’s Columbia, Md., site were offered the opportunity to relocate to the Fort Collins headquarters. The small Maryland office, staffed by eight, will be left with a skeletal crew of three who work closely with the National Weather Service.
RTi does work in Colorado and throughout the world on water-resource engineering and environmental consulting that includes flood and drought analyses, surface and ground water studies, environmental impact statements and assessments, and permitting and litigation support. Data acquisition, analysis and management also is carried out for clients in applications such as geographic information systems. RTI also designs, develops and integrates systems for flood forecasting and warning, water-rights modeling and simulation and water-resources planning.
Clients range from the State of Colorado to the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources.
Spotts said the company has projects in Egypt, Peru and Panama, as well.
Founded in 1985, RTI grew gradually until the early 1990s, when it “took off,” Spotts said. A few well-timed contracts enabled the company to double in size. Additionally, three new partners were brought in.
Now, approximately 40 people work at RTI. Steady growth projections predict that number to be as high as 65 by the end of 1998. This year’s sales are expected to be about $4 million.
To accommodate RTI’s growth, the company this year purchased a 20,000-square-foot building at 2290 E. Prospect Road for $1.72 million. The building, in Seven Lakes Business Park, has for 14 years housed The Neenan Co.
As a result of the RTI deal, The Neenan Co. is constructing a new, $3.8 million headquarters for itself about one-half mile east of the current facility.
“Rich (Spotts) was actually going to occupy another new building we had built,” recalled Randy Myers, treasurer of The Neenan Co. “But when he saw this one, he liked it.”
The configuration suits the teamwork approach that RTI employees like, and The Neenan Co. had extensively renovated the building two years ago.
That set into motion a complicated series of moves and two 1031 exchanges.
In February, RTI sold its building at 2821 Remington St. for $455,000, then moved into temporary digs in the Prospect East Business Park.
When The Neenan Co. completes its new, 41,000-square-foot building – scheduled for a January finish – RTI will move into the 2290 E. Prospect building.
RTI initially will occupy about 14,000-square-feet there and sublease the remainder. Likewise, The Neenan Co. will fill about 27,000-square-feet of its brand new headquarters and lease out the balance. The firm occupies about 17,000 square feet of the 2290 E. Prospect building now.
Approximately 70 people will be in the new Neenan building. Myers said 10 new employees may be added there over time.
All of the transactions in the sales, including the February sale of RTI’s former headquarters, were handled by Steve Stansfield of Realtec Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.
“It was a complicated transaction with the 1031 exchanges and the timing of all the moves,” he said. “The integrity of the principals helped pull it together.
“I’ve watched both companies grow,” Stansfield added.
He’s done other transactions with RTI over the years, but this was the first involving The Neenan Co.
“We had to have a lot of confidence that it would be done within our time frame,” Spotts said. “It all really came down to a matter of timing.”ÿ