March 23, 2001

Habitat, Naropa get involved on drive-in development team

BOULDER — As plans for a development at the North Boulder drive-in, located at Yarmouth Avenue and Lee Hill Road, gain steam, more cars are being added to the train.

The project, to include 35 to 50 percent affordable housing, is being done by a partnership between for-profit and non-profit groups in Boulder. Original players included Wonderland Development, the Boulder Housing Authority and Barrett Studio Architects. Other groups, such as Peak Properties, Coburn Development, Habitat For Humanity and Naropa Institute also have joined in the team.

The Boulder Housing Authority owns the 27-acre parcel and will put in the infrastructure and then sell the land to developers, said Kurt Firnhaber, executive director of Habitat For Humanity.

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Cindy Brown, co-executive director for development at the Housing Authority, said the authority is getting permits with the city and plans to complete the infrastructure work by June 2002. Construction of homes is to take place in 2002 and 2003, she said.

The development is to include a 30-unit co-housing development surrounded by a mixture of single-family units, town homes and apartments, Brown said. Co-housing offers a lifestyle where people have privacy in their own condominium-style units and can opt to share meals in a communal kitchen and share ownership of other common spaces. Of the 30 co-housing units, 10 are planned to be affordable, Firnhaber said.

Habitat For Humantiy will build four of the affordable units, and the rest will be built by Wonderland Development, he said. Naropa University also is a partner in the development and is planning to provide faculty and staff housing as well as studios where small classes can be held, Brown said. PEARL ST. PROJECT: A partnership that has developed several buildings along Pearl Street has acquired a building at 1712 Pearl St. that it plans to redevelop as mixed-use with office, retail and possibly residential units.

A limited liability company, 1712 Pearl Street LLC, made up of Kevin Rieder, Don Rieder and J. Midyette, purchased the building for $2.63 million from 1712 Partnership LLC, the principals of Starr’s Clothing, which occupied the building previously, Kevin Rieder said. Starr’s Clothing relocated from the site to another of the partnership’s developments at 1600 Pearl St.

The building is on three lots that total 21,000 square feet. The company is planning to demolish the building that is there now and erect another one of an undetermined size that will have retail units on the first floor and office space on the second floor. They also might construct third and fourth floors with residential units, Rieder said.

If the partnership decides to add residential to the mix, it likely will build 15 to 18 units either as lofts or condominiums, he said. “The more we look at it, the more we probably will move forward,” he said of the residential component.

Although this would be the partnership’s first foray into residential development in their Pearl Street acquisitions, the partners have previous residential building experience, Rieder added. The partnership hopes to begin construction of the building this spring and already is talking to several potential office users, he said. If the group decides to add residential, it probably will begin pre-selling the units this spring, he added.

NAME CHANGE: Prudential-Wise-McIntire Realtors, a 33-year-old Boulder firm specializing in residential and commercial real estate, announced their name change to Prudential Boulder Realtors.

“We are excited about our future as Prudential Boulder Realtors,´ said Tom Tyrell, a broker and owner of the company. “Our decision was as much a strategic business decision as it was a further illustration of our total commitment to delivering quality real estate services that go beyond clients’ expectations.”

LOAN SECURED: John Richert and Marsha Blair of Terrix Financial have arranged a loan of $1.6 million secured by a 20,000-square-foot, three-story office building. Built in 1981, the building is located at 6565 Odell Place in Boulder. The 15-year loan was provided by an out-of-state life insurance company represented by Terrix Financial. The borrower was a local investor, and proceeds were used to pay off a construction loan. At the time of closing, the building was 100 percent occupied by Lockheed Martin on a five-year lease they signed recently.BROOMFIELD

UP WITH PEOPLE: Up With People has sold its building and land at Interlocken Business Park to Turnpike Properties Limited.

Jim Long, owner representative for Turnpike, said the company purchased the property to help Up With People. “The objective was to do what we could to help Up With People,” he said.

Now that they have purchased the building and property, Long said Turnpike Properties Limited just needs to figure out what to do with it. “We may find a company that wants the building or the site,” he said.

The 35,420-square-foot building is two stories and is designed as Class A office space, Long said. “It is ideal for a single tenant,” he said.

Many brokers and companies already have asked about the property, Long said. “Somebody will take it pretty quickly, within a few months,” he said.

Up With People was founded in 1965 and incorporated in 1968 as a traveling performance group to promote cultural awareness and understanding. The company decided to shut down operations last December because of debt. In fiscal year 2000 the company incurred $31.5 million in expenses and generated $28.4 million in revenue, including in-kind support, resulting in a deficit of $3.2 million. Losses in fiscal year 1999 totaled $870,000.SUPERIOR

TEEN CENTER: After the tragic death of a 16-year-old Superior girl who died after taking the drug Ecstasy, a Boulder developer asked himself what he could do to help.

Bill Suitts, 78, president of Colorado Mortgage Co. and a former Boulder developer who has grandchildren in the Boulder Valley School District, put up a $100,000 matching grant fund to go toward a teen center in Superior. He hopes the other $100,000 will come from community donations. “People usually respond better if somebody else takes the initiative,” he said. “Sometimes if you make an outright gift, they say, ?Why should I get involved?’ “

Suitts said he has a lot of people and organizations willing to contribute money once the plan for the center becomes more concrete. He and Marcie Chambers, the mother of the girl who died, have been visiting other area teen centers to get ideas, he said. The two have not yet formulated a plan for building the center, Suitts said, but they may consider partnering with an organization such as the YMCA. RECYCLING CENTER: The town of Superior is studying different sites to build a recycling center and hopes to have one built somewhere in the town by the end of this year.

The town faced a roadblock recently when it realized it would cost approximately $70,000 for trees and landscaping to block neighbors’ views of the site they had proposed northeast of Rock Creek Parkway and Honey Creek Lane. The town decided to consider other sites and has been evaluating sites all over town using a 10-point criteria to determine which would be most suitable, said Rita Anderson, Superior’s community services director. The town hopes to narrow options to two or three sites and bring them before the board at its April 23 meeting, she said.

GENERAL

OWNERSHIP CHANGE: Frederick Ross Co., a 112-year-old, Denver-based commercial real estate firm, has announced a change in its ownership structure. The company has sold a 24 percent interest in the company to 13 top-performing professionals in the firm.

“The change in ownership will allow us to accomplish two very important objectives,´ said Jack Box, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “It insures stability, since the firm will remain locally owned by those who care most about the company and its employees, yet it will bring new ideas and approaches as we build a company to meet the needs of the next century.”

Kevin Thomas, senior vice president and one of the new partners, said most of the new partners have been with the firm between 10 and 20 years. The new partners were selected based on experience, sales production and contribution to the company, he said. There likely will be additions of partners in future years, Thomas added.

BOULDER — As plans for a development at the North Boulder drive-in, located at Yarmouth Avenue and Lee Hill Road, gain steam, more cars are being added to the train.

The project, to include 35 to 50 percent affordable housing, is being done by a partnership between for-profit and non-profit groups in Boulder. Original players included Wonderland Development, the Boulder Housing Authority and Barrett Studio Architects. Other groups, such as Peak Properties, Coburn Development, Habitat For Humanity and Naropa Institute also have joined in the team.

The Boulder Housing Authority owns the 27-acre parcel and will put in the infrastructure and then…

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