Dyer banks on second career in real estate

Former banking exec builds reputation as developer

It’s easy to tell who Marvin Dyer’s heroes are. When you walk into his office at Dyer Realty Inc., 430 Main St. in Longmont, you see pictures and posters of Will Rogers, taken from his movies and public appearances.
Calendars and art prints by Norman Rockwell also have prominent places on the office walls.
“Will Rogers is one of my heroes,” Dyer said. “I like the way he always put members of Congress in their places with his common-sense wisdom. I have three of his books.”
Common-sense wisdom is Dyer’s business approach. He moved to Longmont in 1967 after spending four years with First Western Bank in Pinole, Calif.
Most of his career was spent in banking. From 1957 to 1963, Dyer was a bank examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. Treasury Department, where he analyzed and evaluated real-estate, commercial, agricultural and industrial loans. His territory included Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.
After moving to Longmont, Dyer became senior vice president and director of the Longmont National Bank at Fifth Avenue and Coffman Street that is now Colorado National Bank. The bank had $80 million in assets under Dyer’s tenure.
After retiring in 1986, Dyer decided he would finally be able to play as much golf as he wanted. But in 1987, he formed Dyer Realty Inc.
“I almost really wasn’t going to do anything,” he said. “But after playing golf for three months, I got tired of it, so I wanted to go into something.
“I never thought that I would ever get tired of playing golf,” he added, amazed at himself.
“All through banking, I had a lot of interest in real-estate loans,” Dyer said. “Real estate was always an interest for me even when I worked for a small bank in Nebraska. I enjoy it as much and maybe a little more than banking. It got to the point in banking where I spent all my time trying to see if a loan qualified for the regulations – not if the customer qualified for the loan.
“Many of my clients are the same people who were my clients in the banking profession, and I have developed a marketing network through my relationships with individuals and organizations in the community,” he said.
Dyer now runs the realty company with his wife, Lois, his daughter Deanna and Russ Stacey, all broker associates with Dyer Realty. The company handles sales for numerous commercial, industrial and residential sites in Boulder, Weld and Larimer counties.
The company works closely with the Southwest Weld County Planning Commission and the Greeley-Weld Economic Development Action Partnership Inc., Dyer said.
During the planning process for the update of the Mixed Use Development Plan for the I-25 area, the Weld County Planning Department held about 20 or 30 community meetings, usually in Frederick, to give input to the planners on development around the interchange at Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 119.
“Marvin’s input was real helpful,´ said Shani Easton, planner for Weld County. “He is very knowledgeable about the regulations and zoning in the area, and he would tell us what he thought would work and what he thought would not work.”
The update for the MUD brought in new standards for that area, which is unique, Easton explained, because it has its own water and sewer district.
“This plan says that development must occur at urban type standards,” she said. “Our plans for other areas do not include this type of detail. This area is unique in the county. Marvin attended most of the meetings. He is a great guy.”
Dyer Realty is developing Vista Commercial Center, just west of Interstate 25 along Colorado Highway 119 between Del Camino and County Road 1. Dyer Realty is the sales agent for Vista Commercial, owned by Horizon Investments. Stacey is a partner in Horizon Investments. Lot sizes are tailored to fit individual company specifications. Custom sites range from one to 70 acres.
Horizon Investments owns 144 acres and is developing the land as a commercial-industrial park. The project includes 40 lots in the first phase and 50 lots in the second phase.
Lot prices begin at $1.75 per square foot and go up to $4 per square foot. Left Hand Water District, St. Vrain Sanitation, United Power, Public Service Company of Colorado and Mountain View Fire District supply services in that area.
Construction began this year, and the center is planned for completion sometime in 1999.
“People are moving to this area because of cheaper land prices, water and sewer,” Dyer said. “We are also working on 55 acres owned by Western Dairymen Association. I will be selling lots for them. They have 18 lots. They own 143 acres, but only 55 acres are being developed. We will be selling those lots this year.”
That parcel, on the old Camenish Dairy property on Highway 119 about one-half mile before the interchange, is also zoned industrial-commercial.
“This will be real prime property because the state is doing a $12 million interchange in that area, and it is scheduled to be completed in a year, by July 1998,” Dyer said.
Stacey has started construction to rebuild his 13,000-square-foot commercial building at 6012 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins that was destroyed by fire last March.
“I am leasing the building in whole or in part,” Stacey said. “And we can do tenant finishes.”
A mile west of Berthoud, on the corner of Taft Road and U.S. Highway 287, Dyer is applying for a subdivision permit for development of an 80-acre parcel of land.
Dyer Realty is also selling lots on a small 35-acre parcel in the Meadowlark Business Park, located on Weld County Road 13 off of Colorado Highway 52, that has been annexed to the town of Frederick.
The land owner, Meadowlark Optics Inc., a company that creates precision optical components, optical liquid crystal devices and coatings, will occupy 5 acres in the park and will develop 20 lots of various sizes. Another 35 acres adjacent to the business park will be held for future development.
Meadowlark expects to move into a new facility on the site in early August. The company was originally located in Longmont just off of Highway 119.
“We are selling lots now subject to final annexation approval by Frederick,” Dyer said. “This is a real good situation for Meadowlark. They moved because they found cheaper land in Weld County, and they now have city water and sewer.”
“We started talking to Marvin about moving Meadowlark three years ago,´ said Jeanne Baur, corporate secretary and owner with her husband, Thomas, of Meadowlark Optics. “We spoke to other Realtors, but no one really seemed interested. Marvin stuck with us, and he showed us properties when they came up. We were just looking for a few acres for Meadowlark when we happened to find this land, and it just happened to be 75 acres.”
Looking at a map of Weld County showing the proposed upgrades to the I-25 interchange, Dyer said Longmont should have annexed the Del Camino area when it had the chance years ago.
It would have developed the way it is now, he said, but it would have brought a lot of money into Longmont, and Longmont would have had a lot more land for commercial development.But development goes on, and Dyer Realty goes with the opportunities.

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