REAL ESTATE; Investment firm buys Western Property Advisors

FORT COLLINS ” Landmark Partners of Simsbury, Conn., has acquired Western Property Advisors, a real estate brokerage and management firm with offices in Denver and Fort Collins and properties all along the Northern Front Range.

Western Property and its GT Western Land Portfolio will operate as a part of Landmark’s Realty Advisors Group, with the goal of expanding business operations in this region.

Western Property’s client real estate holdings include local properties such as the Harmony School Shops and Preston Center Retail Office Developments on East Harmony Road, the 176-acre Interstate Lands Business Park at the northwest corner of Prospect Road and Interstate 25 in Fort Collins and the 107-acre Wintergreen mixed-use development being annexed into Loveland.

The company also has a joint-venture partnership with WW Reynolds Cos. of Boulder in the Horsetooth East, Prospect East and Tower Shoppes Office industrial and retail developments in Fort Collins and the 210 Ute Creek Apartment complex recently completed in Longmont. Landmark will become the investor in that partnership.

Landmark intends to greatly expand Western Property Advisors’ holdings, said Stan Whitaker, Western Property’s vice president.

“Colorado’s Front Range is prosperous, and [Landmark] was attracted by our economic success,” he said. “We’re pleased because they want us to expand the business rather than simply liquidate real estate.”

In addition to land acquisitions, Landmark is also interested in income-producing investments such as office buildings and apartments, Whitaker said.

Landmark Partners is an institutional investment management firm specializing in alternative investments. Founded in 1984, the company is active in venture capital, mezzanine, buyout and real estate investments. Currently, Landmark manages 10 investment partnerships capitalized at $2.4 billion.

Ownership of Western Property real estate and management components had been separate. The management company, previously known as LGT Real Estate Advisors, was owned by the royal family of Lichtenstein, while GT Western Land Portfolio was owned by British pension funds. The firm owns approximately 725 acres of land in Larimer and Boulder counties.

Whitaker and company president Mike Byrne will continue in their current positions.

Trane Co. to build Fort Collins facility

FORT COLLINS ” Trane Co. has opened a temporary branch office in Fort Collins while it awaits construction of a larger build-to-suit facility in town.

The company, a Fortune 200 company that manufactures heating and air-conditioning equipment for residential, commercial and industrial use, has opened a full service and sales office at 813 Smithfield Drive, #A. Trane signed a one-year lease on the 1,700-square-foot space, after which it will relocate to a permanent Fort Collins location.

Don Urquhart, service manager for the company, said the new facility will encompass 7,000 to 10,000 square feet and employ about 15 people.

“We’ll expand within the next year and move into a build-to-suit stocking warehouse and parts center,” Urquhart said.

Trane Co. is a division of American Standard, one of the largest plumbing-fixture manufacturers in the country. The Fort Collins office is a satellite site for the company’s Denver office.

Currently seven people are employed locally, though Urquhart expects that number to increase as business here grows.

This seems to be the center of the growth in this region,” he said. “And there’s not much competition. None of our competitors seem to be moving this way.”

Urquhart expects the Fort Collins office to draw about $5 million in business this year and do as much as $20 million in a couple of years.

The lease on the Smithfield Drive location was handled by Rhys Christensen of Realtec Commercial Real Estate Services and Ron Kresl of Wheeler Commercial.

Coldwell Banker doubles up in Loveland

LOVELAND ” Coldwell Banker Moore and Co. has purchased Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Center in Loveland.

The office becomes the second Coldwell Banker Moore and Co. sales office in Loveland, bringing the company’s total number of brokers in the area to 80 and giving the company the lion’s share of the market.

“This acquisition probably gives us well over 50 percent of the market,´ said JoAnn Knapp, managing broker for the existing Loveland office.

Combined, the 80 real estate brokers in the two Loveland offices generated $213 million in closed residential sales volume for a total of 1,281 real estate transactions in 1998, according to the company’s public-relations firm.

Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Center has been affiliated with the Coldwell Banker organization since 1985 and owned by former president Cliff Johnson since 1990.

Late last year, Coldwell Banker bought all the Moore and Co. real estate offices and all the Van Schaack real estate offices in the state, including a Moore & Co. in Loveland. Because there were now two real estate offices in Loveland affiliated with Coldwell Banker, they agreed to incorporate them both as part of Coldwell Banker Moore and Co.

“With 80 agents, we now represent the most-powerful real estate marketing presence in the Loveland area, and the consumer is the primary beneficiary,´ said Johnson in a prepared statement. “We can offer buyers and sellers more opportunities, more inventory, more choices and better marketing than ever before.”

Johnson will remain with the company in a management role.

“Coldwell Banker is very aggressive in their marketing so we’ll have access to great tools for our clients,” Knapp said.

The two offices will retain their locations at 37th Street and North Garfield Avenue and at 100 W. 29th Street and continue to serve Loveland, Fort Collins, Windsor, Greeley, Johnstown, Milliken and Estes Park, Knapp said.

Coldwell Banker Moore and Co. is the state’s largest residential real estate brokerage, with 22 offices and more than 1,000 active sales associates throughout Denver, Boulder, Northern Colorado and Evergreen/Genesee. The company generated 14,000 real estate transactions and $3.7 billion in sales volume in 1998.

Sales and leases

National PetCare Centers Inc. of Fort Collins has leased 18,000 square feet of office space at the Paragon Office Building, a new building located at 3540 JFK Parkway. The company will occupy the entire building. National PetCare Centers is one of the largest networks of veterinary hospitals in the country. Dave Veldman and Dan Bernth of Veldman Morgan Commercial Inc. represented the owner, Paragon Point Partners, in the transaction.

JAM Exchange investment firm has purchased 1,900 square feet at 1302 Shields St. for $177,500. The deal brokered by Jim Mokler of Realtec and Christopher Say of Coldwell Banker Moore & Co. was a 1031 tax-deferred exchange.

Neighbor to Neighbor purchased Eastbrook Apartments in Loveland for $458,000. The nonprofit organization will use the 11 two-bedroom units for affordable housing. The transaction was handled by Steve Pfister and Nick Christensen of Realtec.

P.B. Roche acquires Waterglen

FORT COLLINS ” P.B. Roche Development of Greeley announced its acquisition of the Waterglen planned unit development in Fort Collins by Waterglen LLC.

Members in the Waterglen LLC investor group include Patrick B. Roche, Dale Boehner, Arlo Richardson, Dale Butcher and Bruce White. The team plans to develop and construct residential housing on the 164-acre site located in the northern quadrant of town on East Vine Drive.

The Waterglen project was approved by the city of Fort Collins in early December 1998, and construction is under way. Ultimately, the site will consist of 477 residential lots, and homes will be built on 408 of them.

Waterglen expects to begin marketing lots within the next month.

Loveland lands Office Depot

LOVELAND ” Construction on the new Office Depot at the Orchards Shopping Center in Loveland is under way.

The 25,000-square-foot office supply store is scheduled to open this summer. Other tenants in the shopping center located at 29th Street and U.S. Highway 287 and owned by 29th Street Investments include King Soopers, Ace Hardware and Family Dollar.

MD Builders are the contractors on the project. Christopher Say of Coldwell Banker Moore and Co. is the shopping center manager and leasing agent.

Ken Johnson welcomed

FORT COLLINS ” Coldwell Banker Everitt & Williams welcomes Ken Johnson, a commercial real estate veteran, to its office.

Johnson has done commercial sales and leasing for more than 20 years and has owned his own company, which he operated in Colorado and California. Previously associated with Van Schaack & Co. of Denver, Johnson was also president of the Greeley Board of Realtors.

Johnson will help expand the commercial-industrial business at Coldwell Banker Everitt & Williams.

Helen Taylor can be reached at (970) 221-5400, (970) 356-1683, (800) 440-3506 or via e-mail at htaylor@ncbr.com. Her fax number is (970) 221-5432.

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