ACE developer brings mixed record

LOVELAND — Cumberland and Western Resources, the company selected to redevelop the Aerospace and Clean Energy technology park in Loveland, has a history of stepping in to restore distressed properties to health.

That hasn’t worked every time.

Cumberland and Western was selected Oct. 4 by the Loveland City Council to help redevelop the former Agilent Technologies campus into a technology-driven hub for innovation and manufacturing of products based on patents held by NASA and the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden.

SPONSORED CONTENT

The many benefits of simple, coordinated healthcare

Kaiser Permanente combines health care and coverage in one connected system to maximize employee health and minimize employer costs.

That decision was made after officials here took a trip to Bowling Green, Ky., to meet with the company’s representatives. Those who made the trek included Betsey Hale, Loveland’s economic development director, and officials with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology, including CAMT CEO Elaine Thorndike.

They toured the Western Kentucky University Center for Research and Development, while Hale visited Ocmulgee East Park in Macon, Ga., a 2.1-million-square-foot manufacturing site that once turned out Brown and Williamson cigarettes.

The WKU project is a former 280,000-square-foot shopping center redeveloped by Buddy Steen, Western and Cumberland’s vice president for technology, before he joined the Western team.

The center is now home to 35 technology companies recruited by Steen.”I thought they were very, very creative and the space Buddy was responsible for was very creative,” Thorndike said. “It was all very positive.”

“This is exactly what CAMT wants to do (in Loveland), and that’s what they’re doing at this center,” added Hale.

Hale said she also was impressed by her tour of the Macon site, although its track record is far less impressive.

“It’s kind of dated, but they’re going to make it first-class,” she said. “Their model is to take property that’s a little run-down, needing a little loving care, and redeveloping it. They’re very focused on redevelopment.”

Cumberland and Western — owned by Tennessee billionaire Brad Kelley — acquired the Ocmulgee East Park in Macon in 2006 and, so far, has found just one tenant.

That doesn’t concern Hale.

She said she spent part of her trip interviewing employers in Georgia, the Macon Economic Development Commission and people on the street about Western and Cumberland’s reputation.

“The feedback was that they are good, solid people with a solid organization and a great team player — real positive stuff,” she said.

Patient company
Pat Topping, senior vice president of the Macon Economic Development Commission, also offered a positive view of Cumberland and Western.

“My involvement with Cumberland and Western has been through Bill Murphree, and he is just a class individual,” Topping said. “I’m very impressed with him.”

Murphree will be Cumberland and Western’s representative in Northern Colorado.

Topping said Cumberland and Western could probably have filled the giant industrial park in his city with a variety of smaller tenants. But the company chose to be patient, he said, and wait for just the right mix to make it a sustainable jobs engine for the region.

“They have the ability to hold onto the building for the right tenant,´ said Topping. “And that is the right thing to do for that property.”

Topping said thoughtful redevelopment of the former cigarette factory is crucial to Macon’s economic future.

“What (Murphree) sees is for Cumberland and Western to get a mix of tenants in the building that really utilizes the infrastructure and provides good jobs and good tenants for them to be landlords to.

“I know that when the economy improves he will find the right mix of tenants for that building, and they’ve got the resources to fix it up.”

Murphree said he’s looking forward to bringing Cumberland and Western to Colorado. “We feel that the Front Range area is certainly going to be a very good place to be,” he said. “A lot of businesses looking to relocate will consider your area, and we’ve been delighted with the people we’ve met and their professionalism.”

Murphree also said he’s certain Cumberland and Western can handle the 800,000-square-foot ACE project. “We are very confident in our ability to handle something of this nature,” he said. “We have the resource pool we can draw from. I think it’s really a perfect fit for us. Buddy Steen has almost a tailor-made background for a project of this type.”

Steen could not be reached this week.

No qualms

Thorndike said she has no qualms about Cumberland and Western having recruited just one company into the Macon property over the last five years.

“Our value proposition has always been we think we can accelerate the (ACE) project by identifying the technologies and get the work up and running in half the time,” she said.

Thorndike also noted that the ACE project has already generated more than 30 inquiries from companies interested in becoming part of the campus.

“There are numerous companies that have contacted us,” she said. “We have tenants ready and anxious to move in.”

After contract negotiations are finalized — which must occur within 30 business days after the Oct. 6 letter sent by Loveland to Cumberland and Western notifying it of their selection — the company will buy the campus from the city for $5 million and take over as owner and real estate agent for the property’s redevelopment.

Hale said she feels Cumberland and Western was the best choice to move ACE forward.

“Cumberland and Western is a unique organization that really knows how to get things done,” she said. “I just can’t say enough good about them.”