United Power buys former home of bankrupt Abound Solar

LONGMONT — Brighton-based United Power Inc., has acquired the former home of Abound Solar Inc., in east Longmont for $8.8 million, according to public records.

9586 LLC, an entity registered to Boulder-based real estate firm W.W. Reynolds Cos., sold the 130,117-square-foot facility on 7.6 acres at 9586 E. I-25 Frontage Road just south of Colorado Highway 119 in Weld County. The building has been vacant while an effort to remove hazardous waste left behind by Abound was tied up in insurance claims court.

Abound Solar went bankrupt in 2012 after receiving stimulus money from the federal government.

The Abound Solar bankruptcy trustee and the solar-panel manufacturer’s insurer, Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., agreed in January 2014 that Chubb should pay $2.2 million to Abound Solar’s bankruptcy estate to settle an insurance claim for a cleanup of the building.

Officials at W.W. Reynolds on Tuesday did not respond to a request for comment on the result of the insurance-claim settlement, but remediation work on the building was completed prior to the building sale.

United Power’s chief executive, Darryl Shriver, said the cooperative hired an outside party that verified the building was free of hazardous material before a deal was struck.

Shriver said the purchase of the building helps the cooperative meet some of its strategic goals.

“As the territory becomes more populated, our ability to respond quickly and efficiently to our members is vital. This west office will allow us to dispatch trucks and personnel to the west and north sides of our territory quickly without the substantial drive time from the headquarters in Brighton,” Shriver said.

The new facility will help the cooperative free up space at its headquarters in Brighton to have more room for training and storage. Plans are also in place to lease part of the west facility back to United Power’s primary contractor, Ward Electric. Ward Electric recently added United Power logos to its trucks to help members quickly identify cooperative contractors in the field.

United Power is also in negotiations to acquire an adjacent plot of undeveloped land. The additional property would allow for the addition of on-site material storage and expanded parking.

Cushman & Wakefield agents Aaron Valdez, Alec Rhodes, Chris Ball and Jason Ells handled the marketing and disposition for W.W. Reynolds, and Jan Hepp-Struck with Hepp Realty, LLC represented United Power in the transaction.

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