Leanin’ Tree to move HQ from Gunbarrel to Mead

MEAD — Greeting-card publisher Leanin’ Tree will move its corporate headquarters to a new building in Mead after 75 years in Boulder County.

The employee-owned company, founded in Boulder in 1949 by Ed Trumble and Bob Lorenz, will relocate from 6055 Longbow Drive in Gunbarrel to a 109,676-square-foot leased building in the Elevation25 Business Park, a new industrial development on the southeast corner of Interstate 25 and Colorado Highway 66 in Mead, and plans to be operational there by the fourth quarter of this year.

The building is one of two in the first phase of the Elevation25 project, which was completed in November by Tolleson, Arizona-based Silver Point Development LLC in partnership with Denver-based Walker Dunlop Investment Partners and financed by Denver-based CIBC Bank. Ground had been broken for those two buildings in February 2022.

From its first four Christmas cards featuring Western-themed artwork by Lorenz that were shipped to ranchers and farmers, Leanin’ Tree has grown to a collection of more than 3,000 distinctive greeting cards. Its products reach customers via nationwide and international distributors, direct catalog and online sales, and racks in thousands of retail stores.

“We are very excited to start the next chapter of the business in this new, state-of-the-art facility later this year,” said Leanin’ Tree CEO Nick Anderson in a prepared statement.

Added chief financial officer Marjie Hargrave, “We are excited to take advantage of the manufacturing efficiencies and access to quality employees as we move the business forward.”

Leanin’ Tree was represented by Scott Reichenberg, Neil Littmann and Layne McBride of The Colorado Group Inc. Dawn McCombs and Ryan Almaleh of Denver-based commercial real estate broker Avison Young represented the landlord.

Trumble purchased full ownership of the company in 1965 after Lorenz’ death from cancer. The company remained a family-owned operation until it became fully employee-owned in late 2021.

Its cards and envelopes are printed on recycled paper as part of a corporate program that includes printed office scrap, office paper, ink cans, printing plates, metal banding, steel, aluminum, glass and plastic bottles, corrugated paper and computer components. The company is a Silver Award recipient in the Colorado Environmental Leadership Program, and a member of Boulder County’s PACE program (Partners for a Clean Environment).

Up to seven more industrial  buildings totaling 850,000 square feet are planned at the 55-acre Elevation25 project.

Mark IV Capital, a 50-year-old private investment firm that is headquartered in Newport Beach, California and has an office in Broomfield, recently acquired the land at 4480 Elevation Drive from Silver Point. Elevation 25 Industrial Owner LLC, registered to 2000 S. Colorado Blvd. Suite 415 in Denver, a company affiliated with Silver Point, bought partial ownership in the Mead property from Maan Sukhminder Singh, Maan Jasvir K, Randhawa Sukhject, Singh Surender, and Maan Farms Corp., on the same day it sold full title to M4 Elevation 25 LLC, a company affiliated with Mark IV, for $12.3 million. The parcel is identified as Elevation 25 Fling 1, Lots A-E.

Silver Point and Walker Dunlop will retain ownership of the Leanin’ Tree headquarters in Building 2, as well as 94,076-square-foot Building 1. Mark IV plans to break ground on the next phase, roughly 170,000 square feet of speculative product, late this year. The available space will range from 20,000 to 200,000 square feet, with the tenant profile including distributors and logistics, technology and energy-sector companies.

Drew McManus, Ryan Searle, Bryan Fry and Shannon McBroom of Cushman & Wakefield represented both Mark IV and Silver Point in the off-market transaction. Mark IV selected McManus and his team to manage the leasing of Elevation25 going forward.

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