FORT COLLINS — Bullhide 4X4, whose facility at 5817 S. College Drive was purchased by the nextdoor Nissan dealership, plans to move to a new location at 216 W. Horsetooth Road in Fort Collins in what longtimers will recognize as a former roller rink.

The building is across from Chipper’s Lanes.

Bullhide retrofits four-wheel drive vehicles for backcountry use or for general appearance and performance.

Susan Butters, co-owner with her husband, Scott, told BizWest that the company will remodel the Horsetooth building, with plans to move in by mid-summer — July if possible.

“We’ve had a relationship with the Weibels [owners of the Nissan dealership], a friendship. He wanted our facility and we wanted a bigger facility in order to provide additional services to customers,” Butters said. The new location will have a showroom along with installation and service bays, she said. The company employs 12 people now and hopes to add a couple of additional employees.

The new facility at 14,080 square feet is a little bigger than the existing location, which is 13,868 square feet, according to the Larimer County Assessor’s records. But the new location has better parking, Butters said.

The company that the Butters’ own, SSTM Investments LLC, sold the South College property for $3.066 million. They bought the Horsetooth property for $3.2 million on Feb. 22. The seller, Blaco Investments LLC, had bought the building in 2007 for $1.6 million.

Butters said Bullhide can stay at the current location until the new location is ready to occupy. 

“The market has been great. We’re seen as the 4X4 experts in Northern Colorado,” she said.

Bullhide is not a vehicle dealership, although occasionally a customer or an employee will have a vehicle for sale. Instead, people bring their four-wheel-drive vehicles to the company for retrofitting.

Butters was uncertain what Nissan plans to do with the South College property. It might be used for offices and auto detailing, she said. “It was a win-win for everyone,” she said.