Health Care & Insurance April 4, 2022 9:12:17 pm

The Eye: FoCo defense contractor receives part of $350M award

By BizWest Staff

Welcome to The Eye, BizWest’s column featuring the latest scuttlebutt around the region. This feature will be published whenever The Eye spies things of interest to our readers. Have an idea for The Eye? Email news@bizwest.com.

FORT COLLINS — The Eye has learned that Fort Collins defense contractor Sierra Four Industries Corp. has received part of a federal contract valued at up to $350 million.

When contacted, Robert Grimmer, CEO and president, said the report, which appeared on a list of federal contracts awarded late last year in Colorado, was not true.

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“It may have been a ceiling, the maximum amount,” he said. He also said he was not interested in speaking further with the business journal.

The contract listing said the award was for $350 million from the U.S. Army, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, for nonstandard weapons, parts, and accessories. The contract award number was listed as W15QKN20D0013.

Internet sources indicated that eight companies, including Sierra, are part of a contract to deliver up to $350 million of non-standard weapons between 2020 and 2025. Armswatch.com displayed federal procurement forms showing that each of the eight companies had received orders for $25 million under the five-year program. Non-U.S. standard weapons would be foreign weapons that the U.S. would provide to third parties in other countries, the website reported. It also noted that the companies are not permitted to publicly release specifics of the contract information or people involved.

Sierra Four Industries was established in 2004 as Blastech Defense Systems; the name was changed in 2006, according to Colorado Secretary of State records. Grimmer has been CEO since 2005, according to LinkedIn information. LinkedIn also shows Grimmer with multiple degrees, including an MBA from the University of Florida, a masters from the University of Denver in global studies/international security, and a minor in explosives engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

He previously worked for defense contractor General Dynamics and was a former U.S. Army combat arms officer.

“S4 Industries’ senior management has extensive experience in FMS [foreign military sales] and international operations, including support to end users in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, the Republic of Georgia, Colombia, Liberia, Turkey, Brazil, and the Philippines. We enjoy excellent working relationships with numerous sources of supply throughout the United States, as well as across Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia,” Grimmer’s profile said.

While the nature of the current contract is not clear, governmentcontractswon.com said that the company has received $116.9 million in contracts up to and including 2020 for “miscellaneous weapons.”

MCR may be planning an expansion

LOVELAND — Things are buzzing around east Loveland, with news of the Amazon.com fulfillment center off Byrd Drive, a water park resort, also off Byrd Drive, and more happening in that region.

The Eye has now seen evidence of another major development in that part of town, this time at 2500 Rocky Mountain Ave.

For those who remember addresses, that’s the location of UCHealth’s Medical Center of the Rockies, which opened Feb. 14, 2007, with an empty fifth floor. With the area exploding with growth, that floor was rapidly filled; the hospital now has 187 beds.

Just last month, UCHealth bought two adjacent medical office buildings for $84.9 million.

And now property developers with knowledge of the situation have told the Eye that an expansion of MCR — “a third tower” is how it is described — is being planned.

When contacted, UCHealth declined to comment. “We are going to politely pass on an interview at this time, but we will let you know as soon as we have information we can share,” a spokesperson said.

Loveland Elks building deal closed

LOVELAND — It was no secret that the Elks Club in downtown Loveland at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Fourth Street had been for sale, as the Elks tried to position the club for relocation to a smaller, less maintenance-intense location.

The Eye has learned that Berthoud International LLC, a company registered to Aslan Construction Inc. of Berthoud, purchased the property at 103 E. Fourth St. for $1.85 million on March 22. A redevelopment plan for the property is in the works, said Sean Hawkins, executive director of the Loveland Downtown District.

Both Berthoud International and Aslan Construction were formed by Robert H. Miller of Denver and Michael Pelphrey of Berthoud.

Howard Perko, an individual well known in development circles for his work on the Sears Trostel building in downtown Fort Collins and the A&B Building at Fourth Street and Cleveland Avenue, had attempted to buy the Elks property for $1.8 million, but the deal fell through last year when the Elks denied the historic building developer’s request for additional time to put the deal together. He may have lost a significant investment as a result.

Future uses are uncertain. Perko had planned to lease space for a restaurant, retail and office uses in the three-story building. Real estate sources told the Eye that a restaurant may still be part of the plans, given that a kitchen already exists in the building.

The Elks Club had been in the building since 1927. The structure was originally built in 1906, according to county assessor records, as the Lovelander Hotel, not to be confused with a building of the same name just east of the Elks. With the railroad depot directly west across the street, it was the first stopping point for people arriving by train in Loveland.

The building is 16,610 square feet.

FORT COLLINS — The Eye has learned that Fort Collins defense contractor Sierra Four Industries Corp. has received part of a federal contract valued at up to $350 million.

When contacted, Robert Grimmer, CEO and president, said the report, which appeared on a list of federal contracts awarded late last year in Colorado, was not true.