Broomfield apartments attract big money

BROOMFIELD – Big money from investors interested in multifamily housing keeps flowing into the U.S. 36 corridor, and especially Broomfield. A quick glance at the apartment vacancy rates and rents indicates why.

First, the latest multimillion-dollar deal.

A real estate investment fund managed by Invesco Real Estate, a unit of Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ), has paid $53.4 million to acquire the Catania Apartments. The 297-unit luxury apartment complex is at 13585 Via Varra Road.

Invesco Immobilien Fonds IV US Partners is the legal owner of the building. The sale closed June 22, according to the Broomfield County Assessor’s Office.

The seller was A.G. Spanos Cos., a builder and developer of multifamily residential complexes, master planned communities and commercial properties based in Stockton, California.

Catania was built in 2009 and is in the Parkway Circle mixed-use project on 96th Street. The Conoco Phillips research and training center is across 96th Street from the Parkway Circle project.

The Catania is the fourth large multifamily complex in Broomfield, and second in the Parkway Circle development, to sell in the past year.

Terracina Apartments LLC bought the Terracina apartments at 13620 Via Varra Road in October 2010 for $48.5 million.

AMLI Residential, a Chicago-based firm that builds, buys and runs multifamily housing, also is making a major play in the Broomfield apartment market. In May, it purchased the AMLI at Flatirons, a 500-unit complex at 200 Summit Blvd, for $78.75 million. In September 2010 AMLI bought the AMLI Arista for $55.6 million. The AMLI Arista is a 358-unit development at 8200 Arista Place, which is across from the 1stBank Center.

The latest quarterly survey from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing shows why large complexes are in demand right now.

The vacancy rate for apartments in Boulder and Broomfield counties fell to 4.6 percent in the past quarter, down three-tenths of a percentage point from the 4.9 percent vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2011. The rate for the second quarter of 2010 was 4.9 percent.

“A vacancy rate below 5 percent is generally regarded as a sign that the market is tight,” University of Denver professor and report author Gordon Von Stroh said. “The vacancy numbers haven’t been lower than this since before the dot-com bust in Colorado, and that was a period marked by a scarcity of rental housing in many areas.”

Locally, vacancies were lowest in the area around the University of Colorado, where the vacancy rate is 0.4 percent. The rate for the rest of the city of Boulder is 4.7 percent. Longmont posted a rate of 2.6 percent, the rest of Boulder County’s rate is 6.4 percent and Broomfield’s rate is 5.7 percent.

The median rent in Boulder and Broomfield counties is $969.13. The median rent for the six-county Denver metro area is $863.37.

The survey covered more than 105,000 apartment units in the area and 8,347 in Boulder and Broomfield counties.

BOULDER

QUICK LEFT: Software development company Quick Left Inc. has purchased an office condo in downtown Boulder to be its new home.

The fast-growing company, which designs websites and applications, paid $1,775,000 for a 4,965-square foot condo at 902 Pearl St. The building will be owned by Slow Right LLC, which was formed by Quick Left to purchase the property.

Quick Left, which has 16 employees and is actively searching for additional staff, needed more space to grow, company cofounder Ingrid Alongi said. It also wanted to emphasize that it is in Boulder for the long term.

Russell Lee and Ronan Truesdale of Keys Commercial Real Estate represented Quick Left. Angela Topel of Gibbons-White represented the seller.

TENDRIL’S NEW HOME: Smart-grid technology firm Tendril Networks Inc. is moving its offices within Boulder as the company continues its expansion.

Tendril, which is developing a software platform and other technology that will help consumers and utilities track and manage energy consumption and production, will move to 51,790 square feet of space split between 2560 55th St. and 2580 55th St.

The move will take place in the fourth quarter of 2011, Tendril spokeswoman Sheila O’Neill said.

Tendril will leave its office at 5395 Pearl Parkway, Suite 100, when the move is completed.

Tendril has about 140 employees and has been adding about 10 new employees per month since the start of the year. The company expects to continue growing at that pace through the end of 2011, O’Neill said.

Tendril recently signed partnerships with Siemens Energy, which will use Tendril’s software-as-a-service platform, and the Whirlpool Corp., which will use Tendril software on smart appliances it is developing. Tendril also has a partnership with Australian energy company Origin Energy and has opened an office in Sydney.

The buildings are in the Flatiron Park North development, which is owned by the W.W. Reynolds Cos. Chad Henry represented the landlord. Tim Callahan of Mohr Partners represented the tenant.

FLATIRON NORTH: In addition to Tendril, two other companies have signed new leases for the Flatiron Park North offices.

NVoq Inc., a software company that has developed a web-based transcription program to convert speech to text, has signed a lease for 13,069 square feet at 2580 55th St., No. 210. Aaron Evans of New Option Partners represented nVoq.

Dolan Integration Group, an energy-consulting company, has signed a lease for 5,578 square feet at 2530 55th St., Suite 101. The firm’s area of expertise is in geological and geochemical analysis for oil and gas exploration, development and production.

Jason Kruse of The Colorado group represented Dolan Integration.

Chad Henry represented W.W. Reynolds Cos. in both deals.

PICOSPIN FINDS A HOME: A Boulder tech startup that has developed the first miniature NMR spectrometer has leased space for it first headquarters.

PicoSpin LLC was founded last fall. It manufactures nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers that are a fraction of the size and cost of traditional spectrometers. The spectrometers are used to analyze the chemical composition of liquids.

PicoSpin is moving into a 4,807-square foot space at 5445 Conestoga Court. The building will house the company’s offices and research and production facilities, Price said.

The building is owned by Westland Development and was represented by Peter Aweida. Audrey Berne and B. Scot Smith of The Colorado Group Inc. represented picoSpin.

COMMONS TENANT: Green Building Services LLC, a commercial janitorial services company that specializes in green practices, has relocated to the Boulder Junction area.

GBS, which was based in Louisville, relocated to The Commons at Boulder Junction, which is at 3390 Valmont Road, Boulder. The building was formerly Sutherland’s Lumber Co.

GBS was founded in 1999 by Tony Stalion. The company provides cleaning and janitorial services, new-construction cleanup, facilities management and green operations consulting.

The Commons is an office development that allows multiple tenants to share amenities and workspace. It is part of a redevelopment of the 5.6 acres owned by the Sutherland family.

LONGMONT

TRANSIT CENTER: City of Longmont planners are beginning work on redevelopment plans for a new transit station near the intersection of 1st Avenue and Main Street.

The city and the Regional Transportation District are planning to redevelop the area around a rail and bus station that is part of the FasTracks mass transit program.

About $17 million has been allocated to build a park-n-Ride that would be part of the bus network, Longmont Transportation Planner Phil Greenwald said. The target date to complete that project is late 2015 or early 2016.

The rail hub, part of the Northwest Rail line that would connect to Denver through Boulder, is dependent on FasTracks finding additional funding sources. A target date for completion has yet to be set, although it could be as late as 2042 if more money is not available, Greenwald said.

Longmont does not want to wait that long to develop the site, Greenwald said.

The plan, officially named the 1st & Main Station Transit and Revitalization Plan, will examine short-term and long-term redevelopment potential for the area and prepare transit-oriented development concept plans and market analysis.

The goal is to create a transit center that will help foster commercial activity, Greenwald said.

Steer Davies Gleave, an international transit planning firm with a local office in Denver, has been hired to conduct the study and draft the plan. It should be completed within 10 months.

Michael Davidson can be reached at 303-630-1943 or email mdavidson@bcbr.com.

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