Thistle revamping unsound home to affordable housing

LAFAYETTE — Thistle Community Housing, a non-profit organization that works to bring affordable housing to Boulder County, has acquired a structurally unsound home at 211 E. Chester St. in Lafayette and plans to build two affordable houses in its place.

Resource 2000 will help to recycle as much of the original home as possible. Bob Spencer, the deconstruction coordinator for Boulder Energy Conservation Center, explains the deconstruction process: “Using only our hands, we delicately remove all the components of the home separately, and then we pick out all the usable material like lumber and sheet metal.”

Through mid-winter, Thistle will be building the two energy-efficient, three-bedroom homes, designed by Boulder-based Jim Logan Architects.

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Over the years Thistle has built and acquired more than 350 affordable homes. The most recently completed home ownership community is the Buena Vista development in North Boulder. Other developments under way include a 200-home development in Longmont with groundbreaking expected by the fall of 2002. BOULDERNEW CO-OP: The Boulder Food Co-op has signed a five-year lease for the former Business Express building at 19th and Pearl streets. Jim Ditzel of Gibbons-White Inc. brokered the lease for the 11,829-square-foot building, which includes two five-year options. Business Express will move out of the building in January, and the co-op will move in this February, Ditzel said.TINY MINDERS: Barbara Albert and Dana Wyban have sold Tiny Minders, a day-care center occupying two houses at 3685 and 3695 Martin Drive, to Jaime and Tricia Klomaus of Lyons. Jim Ditzel of Gibbons-White Inc., who represented both buyer and seller, said the two houses sold for $590,000 and the business sold for $55,000. The new owners plan to run the center, which has been in operation for 48 years, he said. CO-OP EXPANDS: Frontier Natural Products Co-op, which has been at 2990 Wilderness Place in Boulder since 1976, has leased a 19,000-square-foot space at 1558 Cherry St., in the Colorado Tech Center, in Louisville. The company, which sells organic and natural products, either will move its Boulder store to the tech center or keep both locations, depending on the extent of its expansion, said Jason P. Kruse of the Colorado Group, who represented the seller in the transaction. Neil Litmann, also of the Colorado Group, represented Frontier.SILVERGLIDE LEASE: SilverGlide Surgical Technologies, a graduate of the Colorado Technology Incubator, has leased 1,000 square feet of office space at 5398 Manhattan Circle in Boulder. Mark Casey of Casey Partners Ltd. assisted SilverGlide in the negotiations, and Hunter Barto of Dean Callan & Co assisted the building owner.NAPRO BIO EXPANDS: NaPro Biotherapeutics Inc. recently signed a five-year lease with RailHead Partners for a 10,100-square-foot building at 2830 Wilderness Place in Boulder. The company is expanding from its current location in Gunbarrel, said Audrey Berne of The Colorado Group, who brokered the transaction. DOCTORS BUY OFFICE: Dr. Craig Beyer and Dr. Michael Adler have secured a $1.25 million loan to buy an 11,250-square-foot office building at 1910 30th St. in Boulder. John Richert and Marsha Blair of Terrix Financial Corp. arranged the 20-year loan with a fixed rate of 7.375 percent, amortized over 20 years. The loan was provided by Royal Neighbors of America, which is represented in the Colorado market by Terrix Financial Corp. Miles King of The Colorado Group and Tom Kalinski of Remax of Boulder facilitated the transaction. DEVELOPER BUYS BUILDING: Stephen Tebo, a Boulder developer, has taken out a $1.25 million loan to purchase a 12,500-square-foot office building at 1906 13th St. in Boulder. John Richert and Marsha Blair of Terrix Financial Corp. arranged the loan, which was funded by Royal Neighbors. The loan has a 10-year term, an amortization of 20 years, and a fixed rate of 7.4 percent.

SALE ON BROADWAY: John and Jennifer Arndt of Boulder closed on the sale of a two-story office/retail building at 1121 Broadway in College Plaza in Boulder. John Arndt has a Boulder-based structural engineering business, Gebau Consulting Engineers, which he may move into the 10,692-square-foot-building, said Terry Kruegel, a broker with the Colorado Group Inc. The seller of the building was Ruth Ann Rahe, a Boulder property owner, he said. Jennifer Arndt took out a $915,000 loan through Terrix Financial Corp. to buy the building.COMMARTS LANDS JOBS: Communication Arts, a Boulder-based design firm, has been selected by Mid-America Asset Management Co. to provide design services for two projects.

CommArts will develop environmental graphic design elements and signing for The Streets of Woodfield, an entertainment retail center in Schaumburg, Ill. The 650,000-square-foot development is anchored by a 155,000-square-foot Carson, Pirie, Scott store.

Mid-America also selected CommArts to develop signing and graphics for Mazza Galleria, a 270,000-square-foot, three-level retail center in Chevy Chase, Md. This center includes Neiman-Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Store, Ann Taylor, Filene’s Basement, Williams-Sonoma, Villeroy & Bock, Lapin, other service and specialty shops, and a seven-screen theater.

Other CommArts retail projects include Park Meadows Mall, Ontario Mills in California, Dolphin Mall in Miami and Bugis Junction in Singapore.BROOMFIELD FLATIRON FINANCING: L.J. Melody & Co., a national real estate investment banking firm, has arranged financing of $180 million for FlatIron Crossing mall to retire its construction debt. The 1,469,295-square-foot mall, which was built in 2000 and is anchored by Dillard’s, Foley’s, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and Gaylan’s Trading Co., is 93 percent leased.

CIGNA Investments Inc. provided the financing on behalf of FlatIron Property Holding LLC. Doug Mueller in L.J. Melody & Co.’s Phoenix office and Jim Cobb in Melody’s Denver office arranged the funding for this transaction.

L.J. Melody & Co., a CB Richard Ellis company headquartered in Houston, Texas, operates offices in 32 major metropolitan markets.