Developer Della Cava keeping busy with deals

BOULDER – Local developer Lou Della Cava has been a busy man. With developer Stephen Tebo, he’s in the process of planning a mixed-use redevelopment for the 1.7-acre property they own at the northwest corner of 28th Street and Canyon Boulevard across from Boulder Crossroads shopping mall.

Della Cava said the plan is “in the conceptual stage” and that the two developers are looking at different architectural approaches. They have met with the planning department and the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority, which oversees the 300-acre urban renewal district the property is in. The site probably will be a combination of retail and office as many as four stories tall, Della Cava said.

In other deals, Della Cava recently purchased for $2.5 million a 20,000-square-foot building at 5675 Arapahoe Road from the Granville-Phillips Co., which is planning a move to Gunbarrel. The building is on about 10 acres that could be developed, although partially in the floodplain. The property is contiguous with property he owns to the east. He said it is his intention to preserve “the lovely little pond out front.”

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“It’s a major asset to that part of Arapahoe,” he said.

He plans to develop a mini-campus on the rest of the site as well as upgrade the existing building.

Della Cava also recently sold the 64 Christopher Village Apartments to the Steinmetz Family Trust for $4.3 million in trade and has been on a hunt for exchange assets – the Granville-Phillips building was part of the deal, and he just closed on the 27,000-square-foot US Bank building at 436 Coffman St. in Longmont for $1.85 million. The property includes 10 lots – the building itself is on five of the lots, with a five-lot parking lot adjacent to it. Della Cava is looking at other US Bank buildings up and down the Front Range.

He also sold the 22,000-square-foot Western Meadows shopping center on North Main Street in Longmont for $1.85 million. It sits on two acres.

He also just purchased two 1-acre lots from the Boulder Valley School District. The combined deal was a half million. One lot is on south 68th Street in unincorporated Boulder County, the other is off Baseline Road west of 95th Street in Lafayette on a Street called Sunny Way that’s part of the Davidson subdivision. He’ll build a speculative home on the Lafayette lot and keep the south 68th Street lot in his “personal inventory” – perhaps to build a home on five or six years down the road.

As if that weren’t enough, Della Cava is negotiating on some property in Interlocken business park in Broomfield. It’s a 70,000-square-foot building on about three acres.

HIGH GROWTH: Longmont-based Chaparral Network Storage Inc., a 2-year-old developer of Fibre Channel Controllers for use in data-storage networks, has signed an agreement to lease a new 60,000-square-foot two-story facility in Gunbarrel on 7040 East Dry Creek Parkway in the Boulder Tech Center.

The $7.5 million building, expected to be complete in March, is under construction. Louisville-based O’Connor Development LLC is the developer.

Chaparral announced in late December that it had snagged $20 million in its third round of venture capital financing. Investors were Belgravia Venture Partners, Celerity Partners, GMS Capital, Qualstar Corp. and Aweida Ventures.

Chaparral has about 60 employees and as many as 20 openings.

ERIE

IF AT FIRST: Just because Erie residents said no to the proposed Northfield annexation and development plan by a ratio of almost 2-1 doesn’t mean the developer has rushed off to try its hand with Weld County officials.

“That’s actually has been something that everybody else has decided is going to happen,´ said Jon Lee of the Community Development Group, which proposed the Northfield plan. “We haven’t tried to play that card at all. We are right now just evaluating our options. Once we’ve done that we’ll figure out what to do next.”

Lee said he hasn’t ruled out other options and does have a planner doing research but hasn’t contacted Weld County or any other jurisdiction. He said he would like to continue to discuss options with Erie.

“We need to understand what part of our project – what things were attractive to them and what things weren’t – and if there is an avenue that works for them,” Lee said.

He said he is trying to work with opponents of the Northfield plan to find out what “Smart Growth” means to them. But he’s not making any threats to go to Weld County.

“All along in this process we’ve tried to be as cooperative and understanding as we could be,” he said, “and I would hope that we would be treated the same.”

The Northfield proposal voters rejected would have meant 4,500 new homes, a golf course, a 78-acre park and a 640-acre business park along Interstate 25.

LOUISVILLE

GRAND STYLE: Balfour Retirement Community President and owner Michael Schonbrun said he expects to go through the city planning process in early January and obtain approvals by summer to begin building as many as 120 independent-living apartments for seniors.

The additional facility, which would open in summer 2001, would serve a more active, younger population, he said, calling it “assisted living light.” The entire building, housing apartments ranging from studios to two bedrooms from 550 to 1,250 square feet in size with full kitchens, would run about 130,000 square feet on five acres. It would include a dining room, library and workout facilities that would include an indoor swimming pool as well as staff support.

The beauty of Balfour is that it serves the complete continuum; people can move to a higher level of assisted living if their needs change without moving out of the community, Schonbrun said.

“They won’t ever have to move again,” he said.

WELD COUNTY

SINGLE-FAMILY: Ryland Homes sales representatives Nancy Meyer and Leslie Kramer just opened a new subdivision in unincorporated Weld County outside Longmont. The subdivision, called

The Elms at Meadowvale, is located at Colo. 199 and Weld County Road 5 1/2. It is a total of 150 single family homes of 1,973 to 3,196 square feet with nine different floor plans on lots of about 1/4 an acre. Prices range is $259,000 to $304,000.

WESTMINSTER

CARROT: Based on an incentive package from Jefferson County that’s worth $480,000 over four years, McData Corp. may spend $75 million to build its future corporate headquarters – 175,000 square feet – in Westmoor Technology Park by early 2001. The company eventually could build more than 500,000 square feet in three buildings in Westmoor and employ 860 people there.

A decision on the incentive package, a tax rebate plan, was expected in December.

“We’re looking for a property that has enough land for us to build our new headquarters and accommodate our planned future growth in a campuslike environment,” Dee Perry, McData chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration, said in a prepared statement.

Westmoor is being developed by Westfield Development Co., which has constructed more than 600,000 square feet in the park south of Jefferson County Airport. Westfield could build up to 3 million square feet at Westmoor.

Founded in 1982, McData was the first company in Broomfield’s Interlocken business park. The company has been an Interlocken tenant since 1984 and leases 123,000 square feet at 310 Interlocken Parkway in the business park. It is a networking-equipment manufacturer for the data-storage industry – it makes switching devices for use in the storage applications – and has 360 employees, including 330 in Broomfield.

The company has 330 employees in Broomfield and recently leased 91,000 square feet in the Colorado Technology Center in Louisville. That space will house manufacturing operations until a corporate headquarters site is ready.

SENIOR HOUSING: Fifty independent living condominiums for seniors have been approved for construction on the north side of 82nd Place west of Zuni Street. The condos, part of the Westminster Housing Authority Panorama Point project, will range in size from 800 square feet to 1,100 square feet.

APPROVAL: A 60,000-square-foot office building has been approved for the southeast corner of Mariposa Street and 122nd Avenue in the Park Centre subdivision. The Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) will own the three-story building and will occupy the first floor. The second and third stories will be leased. A bike path on the eastern property line will provide access from 122nd Avenue to the Village at Park Centre retail development to the south.