NexCore Group opens HATCHspaces life-sciences building in Boulder

BOULDER – Denver-based NexCore Group LLC and its subsidiary, HATCHspaces, have opened a life-sciences building in a converted building that had been the Boulder Beer Co. brewpub.

The site, dubbed HATCHlabs, at 2880 Wilderness Place, was opened Jan. 17 and is designed to be a hub for emerging companies in the life-sciences industry.

The project marks the ninth project overall for the HATCHspaces brand and the fourth under the NexCore Science & Technology platform. The building offers dedicated laboratory infrastructure in a range of sizes designed for early to mid-growth companies and includes space for turnkey labs immediately ready for residency as well as customizable, lab-enabled warm shell space for companies with unique workflow and design needs.

“In order for life science clusters to grow, functional and affordable graduation lab space needs to be available for startups emerging from academic labs and incubators,” said Alan Glass, executive vice president for science and technology at NexCore, in a prepared statement. “We’ve designed the HATCHspaces platform to be just that. Further, our goal is to build innovation clusters by helping science and technology entrepreneurs connect and collaborate with anchor institutions and industry advocates.”

NexCore partnered with architect Page Southerland Page Inc.’s Denver office and Arvada-based general contractor Swinerton Inc. to retrofit the 33,700-square-foot building.

During the design phase of the building, NexCore aimed to pay homage to the legacy of former owner Boulder Beer Co. by incorporating a curated art program showcasing old photos and artifacts from the brewery into new art and color inspired by the molecular structure of brewing beer. Founded in 1979 and originally called Boulder Brewing Co., Boulder Beer Co. was Colorado’s first craft brewer and one of only 43 operating craft breweries in the country.

In late 2019, reacting to a changing industry, Boulder Beer announced it would downsize and end national distribution of its beers; it then closed the Wilderness Place brewpub. In July 2021, its founders Gina and Frank Day, through holding company 2880 Wilderness Inc., offloaded the building to Iron 26 LLC for $4.25 million. Iron 26 is an affiliate of NexCore Group.

At the facility’s ribbon cutting, Kristen Roy, director of biochemistry teaching labs at the University of Colorado Boulder, announced an internship partnership between the two entities.

“We are excited to partner with HATCHlabs at Wilderness Place to tap into a unique microcosm of bioscience industry partners who, as opt-in participants in our internship program, will be a valuable resource for our students,” she said. “I want to thank NexCore Group and HATCHspaces for their generosity with biochemistry and CU Boulder broadly.”

More details on the internship program are online at colorado.edu/biochemistry/undergraduate-internships.

“This is such an exciting day,” added NexCore president Jarrod Daddis. “There’s nothing better in our business than having the opportunity to invest in, redevelop and manage buildings like we have here in Boulder, especially in our own backyard. This is more than just a building to us; this is really about investing in our community, our tenants, the health-care industry, and the scientific entrepreneurs who feed, fuel and heal us.”

Colorado BioScience Association President and CEO Elyse Blazevich also attended the opening, representing the largest life-science advocacy and support group in the region. She noted the importance of groups coming together to address the needs of biotech startups.

“The startup companies in our ecosystem could not do the work they do without our university partners and all the support that goes into helping those companies move through the obstacles,” said Blazevich. “Huge kudos to HATCHspaces and NexCore Group for selecting Colorado as a key market. The science we see coming out of this ecosystem is remarkable, so we value that you are here.”

Limited space is available in the building; it can be seen by contacting Becky Gamble, Beau Gamble or Kevin Nelson at Dean Callan & Co.

NexCore Group LLC is a national health care real estate investment and development company that focuses on acquiring, developing, owning and managing purpose-built facilities for health care, science and technology, and senior living. Since its founding in 2004, according to a media release, it has successfully completed more than $5.7 billion in real estate transactions throughout 29 states, developed and acquired more than 16 million square feet of health care, science and senior-living communities, and manages more than $3.3 billion in assets

spanning 7.6 million square feet.

In 2021, NexCore announced plans to develop a 115-unit, 100,808-square-foot assisted-living and memory-care facility on more than five vacant acres at 1450 W. 169th Ave. in Broomfield.

HATCHspaces is NexCore’s science-focused real estate platform operating facilities for scientifically based companies. The platform operates nearly 500,000 square feet of specialized facilities throughout Colorado and Southern California, working with companies from startups to multi-billion-dollar public firms. NexCore acquired HATCHspaces in 2021.

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