Pueblo Bank finalizes plans for Boulder branch facility

Business Report Correspondent Plans for a new 6,000 square-foot building for Pueblo Bank and Trust in Boulder are being finalized and will be going out for bids in the next few weeks. The new bank will be built next to the existing bank at 30th and Pearl streets and when completed, the older bank will be razed.

The new bank will have the right image with bike paths, trees and pedestrian scale. In addition, a tower will provide a bold promontory at the entry into the city on 30th Street. “It is the first building designed under the Boulder Valley Regional Center guidelines,” bank President Mike Cafasso said.

The company established its first Boulder presence in July 1998 with the purchase of Best Bank at the site. Cafasso, president of the bank, said it never really reflected the image and efficiency of other banks owned by the firm because it was designed for drive-up. “When we bought it, it was as big as the rest of our holdings combined,” he said. Pueblo Bank and Trust is in the commercial lending business with a depositor base of $18 million. Most of its customers are in retail businesses.

OPEN SPACE CHIEFS: Boulder City Manager Ron Secrist announced that the new Department of Open Space and Mountain Parks to be formed Jan. 1 will be managed by co-directors Jim Crain and Mike Patton. Crain is now director of the Open Space Department, and Patton is manager of Community and Visitor Services for Open Space.

The new department will consist of five divisions. Crain will manage Central Services, Real Estate Services and Planning and Technical Services. Patton will manage Environmental and Visitor Services and Land and Facilities Services.

Fifteen fewer staff members than the current 87 employees will be needed for the new department. Secrist said in a statement that the reductions will be achieved through vacant positions, expected retirements and transfers with the city. RENTAL LICENSING: The city of Boulder’s Rental Housing Program has developed a new system to streamline the rental license process. To start off, the city is mailing rental renewal notices this week to 2,500 owners of rental properties.

All rental units in Boulder are required to be licensed to ensure health and safety standards. The new system is deigned to simplify the process of renewing or obtaining rental licenses for property managers. The decision to upgrade the system was made in response to the results of a city survey regarding the current rental license renewal process. Boulder city council approved changes to the system as part of the 2000 budget.

About 54 percent of residential units in Boulder are rentals. There are about 20,000 licensed units in the city’s rental housing inspection and licensing program. The city estimates that about 85 percent of rental units in Boulder are licensed.

BROOMFIELDAPARTMENTS DEAL: Dallas-based builder JPI has sold the Jefferson at Town Centre, a 283-unit apartment complex in Broomfield for a record $33.1 million. Austin, Texas investment firm CWS Town Centre Holdings L.P. purchased the complex, which is located at 1001 E. First Ave. in Broomfield . The deal officially closed July 31.

The Jefferson is set on 14.5 acres. Construction was completed in May. The average unit is approximately 941 square feet. The price per unit was about $168,988, considering variations in unit size.

Doug Andrews, a broker for Grubb & Ellis who assisted JPI with the sale, said most of the units had been rented in July and only one of the 283 units is still available. The apartments are renting for around $1,230 per month. The complex includes a fitness center, a movie theater with digital surround sound and a gourmet kitchen facility.

JPI is one of the nation’s largest developers of apartment communities. In the Denver metro area, the company is building a number of properties, including the Jefferson Estates at Lowry and the Jefferson at Meridian in Douglas County. LONGMONTPOWER LOCATION: Power TakeOff Software, a developer of 3D modeling applications, is the first tenant to set up shop in the new Mill Village Center in east Longmont. The new business park is south of the Fox Hill Golf Course and Country Club and nearing the line between Boulder and Weld counties.

PTO’s office is located at 1711 Iron Horse Drive. The company was scheduled to moved in during the last week in September. PTO has leased 12,500 square feet of space in the business park and plans to use it to support a growing workforce. The company plans to add more than 50 employees within the next year.

Bayne Gibson, a broker with Prudential LTM Realtors, was one of the original brokers for the lease. He said PTO is currently the only tenant that has signed a lease, although several are looking.

The Mill Village Center has approximately 52,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and between 300,000 square feet and 400,000 square feet of build-out space, according to Gibson. The business park lies adjacent to a residential area. In addition to office space, a strip mall and grocery store are planned for development in the Center. NEW OFFICES: Western Property Advisors/Landmark Partners has joined with Opus Northwest LLC to build three new office buildings at North 75th Street and Nelson Road. The location is adjacent to the new Seagate facility in the Clover Basin Business Park.

The project consists of a single-story building, 28,500 square feet; a two-story building, 57,000 square feet; and a three-story building, 85,500 square feet. Opus will break ground before the end of the year.LAFAYETTE PRAIRIE POST-MODERN HOTEL: Scott Coburn, architect and developer, has designed the Black Diamond Hotel to be built near the northwest corner of Baseline Road and U.S. 287. The $5 million, three-story hotel will consist of 60 to 75 guest rooms or about 40,000 square feet with 2,500 square feet in dividable meeting rooms. It will sport an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, but no retail and no restaurant, Coburn said.

“It’s not a boutique hotel and will probably be a chain like Best Western,” he said. “A medium facility that will rent in a medium price range or about $75 to $100 a room.”

The design is prairie post-modern: low and horizontal in earth-tone colors, big, open and ornamental (but not like Victorian buildings). The name, Black Diamond, comes from the coal that was mined years ago in the area.AND MORE OFFICES: Bob Van Eshen of Spectrum Building Enterprises Inc. has purchased three lots in the Forest Park subdivision at 95th Street and Arapahoe Avenue where construction has started on two office buildings. The project will be completed the end of the year for about $4 million for both two-story buildings or about $16.50 a square foot . One office building will be 8,400 square feet and the other 16,000 square feet. A third building of 40,000 square feet is planned later. Hospice of Boulder County has signed a purchase contract for the smallest building.

Van Eshen said he has another two office buildings under construction in Gunbarrel at Spine Road and Gunbarrel Drive. One is 8,800 being built at a cost of $1.6 million and the second of 13,200 for $2.5 million.WESTMINSTERHAPPY BUTTERFLIES: A land use agreement between the city of Westminster and the Butterfly Pavilion cemented plans for a new 38,000-square-foot pavilion to be built next year across from the existing structure. The new pavilion will feature an 80-foot glass pyramid that will house 5,000 butterflies (quadruple the current number) in addition to multilevel rain forest habitat as part of the $7.4 million facility. Space for insects and 20 tortoises currently living in the pavilion will be greatly expanded as well.

Wilson Porterfield, marketing director for the Butterfly Pavilion, said the pavilion secured a 75-year lease at $1.00 a year for the land from the city of Westminster and will be part of the Westminster Promenade. Cal Cox, whose company built the Denver University Events Center, will be the general contractor working with Lee Architects. Construction will start February 2001 with expected completion March 2002.

The existing building and land will be sold with the first $2.1 million going to the Butterfly Pavilion and proceeds above that amount split half and half between the pavilion and Westminster. The sale contract will include a non-compete clause disallowing another butterfly pavilion on the current site.Anjanette Mudd, staff writer for The Business Report, contributed to this report.

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