Briefcase – October 2019

BRIEFS

The Colorado Department of Transportation received a $6.97 million boost for the federal government to help improve a four-lane, 14-mile section of Interstate 25 between Loveland and Fort Collins through Larimer County. Key features include tolled express lanes with ITS technology; replacement of two bridges; safety, structural, and multi-modal improvements, including bike-pedestrian access under the interstate; bus-only slip ramps; and a regional trail connection. The state sought a $25 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant in 2016. The U.S. Department of Transportation initially chipped in $15 million, which “was enough for us to get the project started,” CDOT spokesman Jared Fiel said.  When there were some unused funds left in the DOT’s TIGER grant coffers, CDOT reached back out and was given an additional grant of nearly $7 million.

The Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association will rebate $3.2 million to its members in Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties. More than 40,000 homes and businesses in Northern Colorado will see money returned to them. The PVREA board’s decision brings rebates to a total of more than $30 million in the past 10 years. The local electric co-op is paying cash out to almost 30,000 members of the co-op, along with more than 12,900 credits to inactive members who previously used PVREA for their electric provider.

CLOSING

Steps Real Estate International LLC, a Boulder-based real estate firm, is liquidating in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy after migrating its branding and agents to a new brokerage. According to filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Colorado, Steps declared $820 in expected accounts receivable and $880,995 in debts, the vast majority coming from the $625,000 remaining on a lease for its 2500 Arapahoe Ave. offices. The company declared gross income of $111,368 since the start of the year. It reported revenues of $244,150 in 2018 and $118,140 the year prior. Steps had offices in Lakewood and Longmont and has active listings across the Front Range.

Move Sport Inc., a Boulder-based sportswear-manufacturing company that does business as RecoFit Compression Gear, is shutting down after 11 years so owner Susan Eastman Walton can focus on her career as a real estate agent at Live West Realty. The company is liquidating inventory at reduced prices at recofit.co.

The Downtown Artery in Fort Collins will close its music venue and cafe on Nov. 1. The property in which the facility is located was recently sold, and operators of the Artery decided to consolidate operations into one of the floors currently used.

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) will not renew its lease on its 80,000-square-foot Harmony Road call-center campus in Fort Collins, leaving up to 237 workers uncertain about the future of their jobs. The company is transitioning its workforce model to a “virtual work option” system that allows employees to work from home or elsewhere. Employees based at the property had until Sept. 21 to stay with Comcast and move into the virtual workforce system, request a transfer to another physical location or leave the company.

Broomfield-based DMC Global Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOM) plans to close its oilfield products manufacturing plant in Tyumen, Siberia, this year, resulting in the loss of 47 jobs. The closure of the plant, which has operated since 2011, is a result of recently completed expansions of the company’s DynaEnergetics oilfield product facilities in North America and Germany. DMC Global expects to record $15 million to $20 million in non-cash charges during the second half of 2019 as a result of the Siberian plant closure.

Boulder-based Lucky’s Market planned to close a store in Decatur, Alabama, whose lease wasn’t renewed.

COURTS

nSpire Health Inc., a developer of respiratory medical devices and software for respiratory information systems that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, agreed to repay a portion of the money owed to its largest creditor. nSpire, which was formed in late 2006 in Louisville and moved to Longmont in 2007, entered into a loan and security agreement with Denver-based Montage Capital LP in June 2018, under which nSpire received an initial advance of $1.65 million, according to court documents filed by nSpire’s attorneys. According to documents filed earlier this month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, nSpire and Montage “negotiated a consensual resolution” that pays Montage a total of $640,000 by Oct. 31. An initial $340,000 payment has been made, according to a stipulation. The court issued an Oct. 4 deadline for objections to the agreement between Montage and nSpire.

A Colorado shareholder is suing to stop VMWare Inc.’s (NYSE: VMW) $2.1 billion bid to buy IT security firm Carbon Black Inc. (Nasdaq: CBLK). According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court of Colorado, shareholder Daniel Frey alleges that Carbon Black failed to provide multiple details it used in valuing itself when it solicited its shareholders to tender their holdings to VMWare at $26 per share. The suit also argues that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Carbon Black’s financial adviser on the deal, failed to make key conflict-of-interest disclosures because it previously advised Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) on other deals. Dell is VMWare’s majority shareholder. Carbon Black is based in Waltham, Mass., but opened an office on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall last year that houses about 120 employees.

Stratus Redtail Ranch LLC, a company operated by real estate developer Richard Dean, is suing IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) for allegedly improperly disposing of hazardous waste in Erie, which has resulted in a costly cleanup and development delays for Dean’s residential housing project. Also named as a defendant in the suit is WWD LLC, the prior owner of the roughly 300-acre Redtail property just southeast of Erie. WWD is a holding company formed in 1992 by Ken Pratt — and upon his death passed to wife Susan Pratt — to manage the Redtail plot. The Pratt family is a major Longmont property owner and developer.

Boulder-based digital-marketing and advertising firm IMM LLC sued Calgary, Alberta-based fitness-application developer Plankk Technologies Inc., alleging that the company failed to pay for services rendered. IMM entered into a contract with Plankk in December, which at the time was doing business as Global Fitness Creative Inc., for “analytics services, casual attribution services, analytic software components, tracking technology, and support such as data storage, data reprocessing, and software updates, as well as other services,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. According to the contract, which was allegedly signed by Plankk founder Colin Szopa, payment was to be provided within 15 days of the services rendered, court documents show. When IMM attempted to collect payment for those services, “Plankk has gone silent, apparently believing that its contractual obligations will cease if it ignores IMM for long enough,” the suit alleges.

A Canadian cattle broker and its Fort Collins subsidiary are taking their beef with a Utah rancher to court. According to a lawsuit transferred into the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Titan Livestock Inc. signed multiple agreements with Utah-based Corey Cattle Co. LLC during 2017 to purchase 2,288 head of Angus-Wagyu crossbred cattle. Titan paid Corey to care for the cattle until they reached a certain weight under the deal, at which point Corey would buy the cattle back. Titan Livestock is based in Edmonton, Alberta, but maintains an office in Fort Collins under the name Titan Breeding LLC. The suit alleges that Corey sold at least 858 of those cattle and pocketed the proceeds, valued at more than $1.9 million, while charging Titan for feed that never made it to those cows’ troughs. Titan also claims Michael Corey, Corey Cattle Co.’s owner, admitted the cattle were gone and had “severe financial problems.” Titan is demanding Corey pay the total cost of the stolen cattle and damages multiplied by three. Kirk Mueller, a Denver attorney listed as Corey’s counsel, told BizWest his client “strongly disagrees with the accusations and looks forward to refuting the allegations in the complaint.”

Florida resident Fred Nekouee has filed more than two dozen lawsuits in the past year, accusing Boulder Valley area businesses of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Of the 29 Colorado cases in which Nekouee is the plaintiff, 17 have been closed in 2019. Many of those closed cases have been settled for undisclosed sums. The suits target local restaurants, hotels, banks, grocery stores and other retailers. Defendants include Cimmaron Holdings LLC, which operates a Taco Bell in Longmont; Premier Hospitality Inc., owner of a Longmont Econo Lodge and commercial real estate developer and landlord Stephen Tebo. Nekouee regularly travels to the Longmont area to vacation or to attend heavy-equipment auctions with his brother, according to legal filings. He “has progressive multiple sclerosis, weak limbs, and requires the use of a wheelchair for mobility,” court documents show.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Carefree/Scott Fetzer Co. for refusing to hire a deaf worker at its Broomfield factory. According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, the EEOC alleges Carefree refused to hire a deaf applicant for a job in its RV awning factory in 2016 despite her having the prerequisite experience in warehouse work. Carefree hiring managers allegedly told the applicant and a contractor with the Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation they had safety concerns over having a deaf worker being near heavy machinery, but didn’t attempt to provide reasonable accommodation, the suit claims. The EEOC also said Carefree hired several other less qualified applicants without disabilities instead, including a former felon who the company later fired for timecard fraud.

Gregory Scott Bickle faces theft charges after being accused of stealing items from homes in which he was performing radon mitigation. The man may faces charges in both Boulder and Weld counties as a result of the allegations.

Mile High Labs Inc., a wholesale CBD company supplier, is suing a client it alleges stiffed the firm on a $825,000 bill. The suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, claims Warrender Enterprise Inc., an Illinois-based CBD-infused product manufacturer that does business as Lifted Liquids, ordered and received 150 kilograms of extracted CBD isolate in March. “Lifted Liquids has not paid and refuses to pay Mile High for the product,” according to court documents filed by Mile High. In court filings, it claims Lifted Liquids, which is led by chief executive Nicholas Warrender, agreed to pay for the CBD isolate upon receipt of the goods.

CONTRACTS

Clovis Oncology Inc. (Nasdaq: CLVS) will spend at least $12 million to license a German cancer-therapy candidate for clinical trials. The Boulder cancer drugmaker said it reached terms with 3B Pharmaceuticals GmbH for a radioactive drug that targets fibroblast activation protein alpha, a type of protein commonly found in certain types of cancer growths, but not in healthy tissue. Clovis will run clinical trials for market approval in markets outside of Europe, and would have the rights to sell the therapy if approved for use.

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) partnered with Colorado State University to investigate the application of advanced control techniques to emerging process power applications. The one-year program could enable the manufacture of higher-performance semiconductors while having broad impact on application flexibility of existing process power architectures, the company said. Advanced Energy provides highly engineered, precision-power-conversion, measurement and control solutions.

Advanced Space LLC landed a $13.7 million contract with NASA to build a satellite to scout an orbit of the moon in preparation for the agency’s “Gateway” mission. Advanced Space will send a satellite the size of a microwave into the moon’s orbit to determine how fast it moves in comparison to other satellites. By determining that path, NASA will figure out where to position the Gateway, a planned stopoff point for astronauts as they head off to the moon’s surface. NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2024, 55 years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the lunar body. The Advanced Space mission could launch as soon as December 2020. NASA also tapped Westminster-based Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MAXR) to run a spaceflight demonstration project for the Gateway project this May.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $2.6 million contract to the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, which will devise a system to use data from satellites for military purposes.

TRU Community Care and The Conversation Project, two organizations that provide end-of-life resources to people in Boulder County, are joining forces to provide information to people before serious or terminal illnesses are involved. TRU will build on the work of The Conversation Project and help community members, palliative care and hospice patients, and PACE participants begin to have conversations while they are still able.

BizWest and Greeley-based KUNC-FM 91.5 public radio began a collaborative news-gathering effort. BizWest will be one of multiple Northern Colorado news organizations to contribute to KUNC’s Colorado Edition broadcast each week. Colorado Edition, KUNC’s daily news show, airs at 6:30 p.m. and focuses on Colorado news and events. Each Wednesday, BizWest editors and reporters will contribute to the Colorado Edition report.

Xcel Energy Inc. plans to complete the Cheyenne Ridge Wind Project in eastern Colorado by the end of 2020. The massive project will cover 100,000 acres and use 229 Vestas wind turbines. It will cost about $743 million. The utility has engaged M.A. Mortenson Co., which does business as Mortenson Construction, to build the project, according to an announcement from Xcel and Mortenson late last week. The 500-megawatt wind project will be the second-largest single-phase wind project in the state. Vestas Wind Systems, with operations at Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo, will be supplying 225-V120 turbines and 25-V110 turbines.

Broomfield-based SCL Health Inc. hospital system partnered with Strata Oncology Inc. to give Colorado and Montana patients access to Strata’s cancer care platform.  Eligible cancer patients will have access to routine tumor molecular profiling, rapid interpretation of test results and the ability to participate in local precision therapy clinical trials.

EARNINGS

A month after DMC Global Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOM) posted a record $110 million in quarterly sales, the company increased its annual cash dividend to 50 cents per share from 8 cents. DMC Global reduced its dividend in 2015 following the downturn in the oil and gas industry.

Vestas Wind Systems, the top manufacturer of wind generators in the world, maintained its market position even as orders for wind systems reached record numbers in the second quarter of 2019. Vestas has operations in Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo in Colorado.

Quoting research group Wood Mackenzie, the trade publication website Foundry-Planet.com reported that orders were up 111 percent over the same quarter the year prior. Factors at play included Chinese orders, U.S. orders and the growing offshore wind segment.

Year-over-year revenues dropped by $24.5 million for Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO), but the company’s profits increased over the same period. The Boulder IT infrastructure company posted $2.578 billion in sales for the 2019 fiscal year ending June 30 compared with $2.602 billion in the previous year, according to its yearly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, it posted $150 million in profits, a $47.1 million increase from last year, mostly from lower operation costs and depreciation.

EVENTS

The Colorado Small Business Development Center will host the fourth annual Northern Colorado Women’s Conference on Oct. 3, at the Ranch Events Complex in Loveland. The conference runs from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and offers breakout sessions, keynote speakers, one-on-one counseling and networking opportunities. Beryl Stafford, owner of Bobo Oat Bars, will provide the lunchtime keynote address. Betsy Markey, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, will open the day with an address. The cost of the event is $75 for attendees and $350 for exhibitors. Tickets may be purchased at coloradosbdc.org/what-we-do/events/wc/

Two icons of commercial and residential real estate will keynote the Boulder Valley Real Estate Conference, scheduled for Nov. 21 in Boulder. Marcel Arsenault, founder and chief executive of Real Capital Solutions, and Steve Murray, president of Real Trends, will keynote the all-day event, to be held at the Embassy Suites in Boulder. Arsenault’s Real Capital Solutions is a Louisville-based private equity firm specializing in value-added real estate investment.

KUDOS

A pair of local urban-design and architecture firms were recognized at the AIA Colorado Design & Honor Awards held in Denver. Boulder’s HMH Architecture & Interiors PC won an Award of Distinction for its Modern Stair project in Denver. Au Workshop LLC, which styles the firm’s name as [au]workshop, also took home an Award of Distinction for its Poudre Garage mixed-use development in Fort Collins.

The first Northern Colorado group to be part of the CiviCO Leadership Academy, a statewide cross-sector, cross-region program designed to build leadership bridges in the state, includes Darin Atteberry, Fort Collins city manager; Chris Banks, chief financial officer and co-owner of Odell Brewing Co. Inc.; Ray Caraway, president, Community Foundation of Northern Colorado; Chase Christensen, broker, Cushman & Wakefield; John Dellenbach, executive manager, Dellenbach Motors; Jennifer Guerriero, chief executive of Light Center Inc.; Ann Hutchison, executive vice president, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce; Douglas Johnson, chair, TIGER21; Mindy McCloughan, CEO and president, Loveland Chamber of Commerce; Kevin Mullin, executive director, Estes Park Health Foundation; Roy Otto, Greeley city manager; Brent Porter, construction manager, Nutrien Ag Solutions; Michelle Provaznik, executive director, Gardens on Spring Creek; Kim Tobin, vice president, Colorado State University; and Cheryl Zimlich, executive director, Bohemian Foundation. Participants will be involved in a nine-month program that combines a digital curriculum offered by McKinsey and Co., one-on-one executive coaching and personal development planning with BetterUp, and hands-on training led by CiviCO.

Fort Collins and Boulder are ranked among the most educated in the country, according to a study from GoBankingRates. The information from U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that Fort Collins cracked the top 10 list.

Historic Hotels of America, an arm of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, named Boulder’s Hotel Boulderado a finalist for its 2019 Awards of Excellence.  Hotel Boulderado, built in 1909, was nominated in the Best Historic Hotel (76-200 guestrooms) category. Boulderado’s Laurel McKown was also named a finalist for Hotel Historian of the year. Winners will be announced at the 2019 Historic Hotels Annual Awards of Excellence and Gala Dinner set for Nov. 7 in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

The Boulder Chamber Thursday honored six women Sept. 5 at its 24th annual Women Who Light the Community event at the Jewish Community Center. The event, organized by the Boulder Chamber Business Women’s Leadership Group, recognizes women who have made “significant contributions through innovations and a committed effort to address a meaningful business or nonprofit, arts or community need, locally, regionally, nationally, or globally,” according to the Chamber’s website.

Frank Vaught, Joe Frye and Justin Larson of Vaught Frye Larson Aronson Architects Inc. are to be inducted into the Fort Collins Urban Design Awards Hall of Fame on Oct. 3. The Hall of Fame recognizes people and businesses for “their continuing and significant contribution to enhancing the urban design of the community,” according to the city. Also to be honored are Ginger and Baker, The Elizabeth Hotel, Union Bar and Soda Fountain, The Exchange, Utilities Administration Building, Old Firehouse and West Mountain Alley enhancements, Twin Silo Park, Poudre Mulberry Bridge, the West Central Area Plan, Ringfall and the Pavilion at West Laurel Village.

Thirty-four current and emerging leaders were selected to participate in the 2019-2020 Leadership Fort Collins. A program of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, it educates and motivates leaders who are committed to shaping the future of the community. Classes began Sept. 12 and include eight program sessions that run through o May 2020.

Jeannie Craft received the first Community Impact Award from the Downtown Club of Fort Collins on Sept. 27. The club implemented the new award program this year to recognize an individual who has committed much of her time and talent to volunteering for a local nonprofit. A retired Poudre School District teacher, Craft spent one year at Bauder Elementary and 27 years at Irish Elementary. She currently devotes her time to Project Smile as operations coordinator.

Mark Solomon, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Inc., was named one of 10 nationwide finalists for the National Association of Realtors’ 2019 Good Neighbor Awards. Solomon was recognized for his work developing the Veterans Community Project, a tiny home community designed to house homeless military veterans. The project was launched in Kansas City and is being expanded to Longmont. Of the 10 finalists, five winners will be selected this month and will each receive a $10,000 grant.

Boulder-based software development firm Techtonic Group Inc. is now a certified B Corporation. B Corporations are for-profit entities that have committed to upholding standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) closed its $400 million acquisition of Artesyn Embedded Technologies Inc. The Fort Collins-based producer of power supplies said the combined company can produce more than $1.3 billion in revenues.

Mistras Group (NYSE: MG), a provider of asset-protection solutions for the energy industry, entered into a pact to buy Fort Collins-based New Century Software Inc.  Terms of the deal for New Century, which provides software solutions to oil and gas firms, were not disclosed.

Medicine Man Technologies Inc. (OTCQX: MDCL), a Denver-based cannabis firm, entered into an agreement to buy five Starbuds dispensary locations for more than $31 million. The Starbuds dispensaries included in the acquisition are located in Louisville, Longmont, Niwot, Pueblo and Commerce City. Medicine Man operates an existing Longmont dispensary, which opened earlier this year. Under the acquisition agreement, Medicine Man’s $31,005,089 payment to Starbuds will consist of $15,502,544.50 in cash, the issuance of 2,601,098 shares of its common stock at a price of $2.98 per share, and a deferred cash payment of $7,751,272.25.

Downtown Loveland business The Quick-Print Shop, operated by the same family since 1961, has sold. Kim Bernhardt, who bought the business from her father Bus Tarbox, sold the business to Allegra Marketing Print Mail, owned in this area by Joe Mullan.

Boulder’s Voyant Communications LLC, a cloud-based voice and text communications software platform, acquired Acrobits, a Prague, Czech Republic-headquartered mobile communications applications developer.

Elevations Credit Union intends to acquire the assets of Greeley-based community financial institution Cache Bank & Trust. CBT, which operates in Greeley, Fort Collins and Denver, has nearly $122 million in total assets and nearly $108 million in deposits, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, will result in a combined organization with $2.2 billion in assets and 141,700 members.

Brickell Biotech Inc. (Nasdaq: BBI) completed its reverse stock split and merger with San Diego-based Vical Inc., allowing it to list on the Nasdaq exchange. The Boulder pharmaceutical company will eschew Vical’s gene-therapy focus and use its resources to work solely on therapies for skin conditions.

Retirement fund giant The Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Clovis Oncology Inc. (Nasdaq: CLVS) to become its largest institutional shareholder. Pennsylvania-based Vanguard bought 986,547 shares of the Boulder oncology company Aug. 30 to bring its overall holdings to 5,567,857. That figure gives Vanguard a 10.12 percent stake in Clovis, leapfrogging the second-largest position of 10.06 percent ownership held by Boston-based State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT). State Street took that position in July, shortly before Clovis reported weaker-than-expected earnings and launched a $225 million private fundraiser that drove the company’s stock to an all-time low of $4.98 per share.

The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) closed its $397 million takeover effort of Boulder-based One Brands LLC. The chocolate giant originally announced the acquisition in late August, as part of a portfolio expansion into nutritional bars. One Brands is the maker of One Bars. One Brands also has offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hershey said it plans to expand One Bar’s reach through additional sales and distribution both in stores and online.

MOVES

Dale’s Pharmacy is breaking ground on a new $3 million building to replace its current Fort Lupton site. The local pharmacy, registered with the Colorado Secretary of State as Caring Hands Pharmacy Inc., is being built by McCauley Constructors Inc. The new building, located at the intersection of Rollie Avenue and First Street, will be 10,038 square feet.

The CU Center for Midwifery is centralizing its operations into Longmont United Hospital to meet demand for midwife-supported births. The center closed its offices in Firestone and its former location in Longmont, and will base out of Longmont United’s The BirthPlace wing.

OPENING

Storh Global LLC, a Houston-based energy investment firm funding several energy plays by selling equity and smart contracts via blockchain, opened a Longmont office.

Banner Health will spend $7.9 million to expand its cancer ward at McKee Medical Center. The expansion will add more exam rooms, install an in-ward pharmacy and split up the current chemotherapy area into smaller, more private spaces. The center will grow from its 4,261 square feet, but the final figure hasn’t been set. Construction is set to begin in early 2020.

Green Spoon Inc., a Boulder-based natural and organic foods brand brokerage, opened a trio of new West Coast divisions, expanding the company’s footprint nationwide. The firm, which helps match food brands with retailers, currently has about 75 employees across the country now, with 15 of those in the Boulder headquarters.

Yasso Inc., maker of Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt bars, will move its headquarters 2,000 miles to the west from the firm’s current home in Quincy, Massachusetts, to a new space in downtown Boulder. Half of the roughly 35-member team already is in Boulder in temporary office space, and the rest of the workforce will move to the new, approximately 10,000-square-foot headquarters at 1050 Walnut St. between now and early 2020. Over the next two years, Yasso plans to double its workforce.

Hungry Boulderites soon will be able to sample cuisine from 10 local, independent chefs under a single roof. Rosetta Hall, a European-style food hall operated by the owners of the Boulder Theater and the Rembrandt Yard art gallery and event space, is set to open early this month at the former Pop-Up Bar. In addition to a rooftop bar, the hall will feature the following chefs and restaurants: Modou Jaiteh, Jacaranda; Julia Wirichs, Petite Fleur; Dustin Brandt, Confit; Justin Brunson, Folsom Foods; Aaron Lande, Ancient Grants; Natascha Hess, The Ginger Pig; Alberto Sabbadini, La Tigella; Joe Lee, Tierra; Curtis Worthley, Rosetta’s Bar; and Vajra Rich, Boxcar. These chefs were narrowed from a group of roughly 50 restaurant industry veterans who auditioned for a stall at Rosetta Hall.

Points West Community Bank opened its first Fort Collins branch at 3227 S. Timberline Road, the former home of Home State Bank. The bank also has branches in Wellington and Greeley.

The Human Bean opened its 10th location in Colorado on Sept. 10 with a stand in Greeley’s St. Michael’s Square, 6505 W. 29th St. It’s the coffee company’s third Greeley location, along with its current spots at 3665 and 2610 W. 10th St. The Human Bean operates locations in Fort Collins, LaSalle, Windsor, Loveland, Greeley and Evans, and also runs a coffee truck.

Odell Brewing Co. hopes to double its planned winery tasting room as a breakfast spot. Documents submitted to Fort Collins planning officials show the brewery plans to serve coffee in the mornings at the renovation site’s tasting room, along with some pre-packaged bread, meat and cheese items. Odell’s main taproom opens at 11 a.m.

Heidenhain GmbH, a German machine control manufacturer, opened a sales office at 1079 S. Hover St. in Longmont to serve the company’s clients in the central United States and Mexico.

Information-technology services provider Greystone Technology Group Inc., with offices in Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver, expanded to the New York City metro area.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Ball Corp. (NYSE:BLL) unveiled its new line of recyclable aluminum cups Sept. 7 during the University of Colorado football team’s home opener against the University of Nebraska.  The CU Athletic Department, which debuted the first NCAA Division I athletics sustainability program in 2008, became the first collegiate venue in the nation to introduce the aluminum cups.

Front Range Community College, which has campuses in Longmont, Westminster and Fort Collins, will begin offering bachelor’s degrees for nursing students this month. Previously, the college offered only associate’s degrees in the field. FRCC’s program allows nurses who already have completed their associate’s degrees, or students currently in FRCC’s nursing program, to earn a Bachelor of Science. The college estimates the state will face an annual 4,500-employee shortage of nurses with four-year degrees by 2024.

SERVICES

UCHealth has dedicated more than $100 million over the next five years to support additional behavioral-health services. Locally, the investment will fund the rollout of a tele-psychiatry pilot program at UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont and UCHealth Broomfield Hospital, the health system announced Wednesday. In Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley, UCHealth also operates Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, UCHealth Medical Group in Loveland, UCHealth Greeley Hospital and Greeley Medical Center. In addition to the $100 million currently budgeted for behavioral-health programs, UCHealth will provide a dollar-for-dollar match of philanthropic donations up to $25 million. Those services expansions include the tele-psychiatry programs in Longmont and Broomfield, integration of behavioral health care and primary care, and the development of a new behavioral-health unit University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

Patients who take advantage of a new service offered by Boulder Oral Surgery are betting that the Tooth Fairy has a little bit more to offer than a couple of quarters in exchange for their wisdom teeth. Boulder Oral Surgery’s Dr. Terry Nedbalski recently began working with California-based startup Stemodontics Inc. to give young patients the option of harvesting stem cells from their wisdom teeth when they’re removed. The hope is that these stem cells will be useful in the future for the treatment of a host of ailments.

Fort Collins’ Connexion municipal broadband service is now online as beta testers plug into the network for the first time. According to a city press release, seven homes are currently testing the network. City workers began notifying residents who are currently eligible to sign up with a door hanger starting Aug. 30.

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