COVID takes potential buyer of Loveland building out of running

LOVELAND — The COVID-19 pandemic has taken another victim, this time the primary prospect for redevelopment of the former Larimer County building at 201 E. Sixth St.

Kelly Jones, economic-development director for the city of Loveland, and Nathan Klein, broker with LC Real Estate in Loveland, reported to the city council in executive session Tuesday night that Logiq Health LLC, a Texas firm, had terminated its contract with the city as of Friday, May 15. The company, which provides an artificial-intelligence platform for remote patient monitoring, had planned to move its headquarters to Loveland.

The council had anticipated using the executive session to provide direction on contract negotiation but instead learned of Logiq’s pullback.

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The city has been working to find a buyer for the downtown property since at least 2015, with an eye toward adding workers downtown, who in turn patronize downtown businesses. 

“We preferred having a corporate headquarters there and a company that could provide primary jobs downtown,” Jones told BizWest. 

She said the company, which operates in 26 states, had planned to not only have its headquarters there but also to open up shared spaces for collaborative health-care entities that want to operate together. “COVID turned that upside down,” Jones said. 

The company also would have designated some of the space for mixed use — office and retail, mainly. Logiq was unsure how COVID would change those business sectors.

With its business plan disrupted, Logiq decided to pull out of the deal.

The city had advertised for “expressions of interest” late last year with bidding closed on Jan. 15. The city reviewed five proposals submitted and settled on Logiq.

“There were other bidders, and they were all good bids,” Jones said. But the city signed an initial agreement with Logiq on Feb. 4 and extended that once as terms were negotiated. Friday was the final deadline for the company to commit or terminate.

The city will attempt to re-engage with the other four bidders, Jones said, and if unable to restart interest from them, will reopen the bidding process. 

The county building was originally constructed to house the Loveland Public Library. Larimer County purchased the building after the library moved out and continued to operate there until it built a new county building at 200 Peridot Ave., just off East First Street. 

A year ago, LPR Construction pulled out of a potential deal with the city. LPR, a part of Longbow Industries LLC, said escalating costs to renovate the building to meet its needs plus objections from Loveland’s mayor about the building price and deal details factored into its decision to pull out.

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