St. Julien Partners set to build hotel at end of summer

BOULDER ? After four years of negotiations with the Boulder city council and another year of lining up financing, St. Julien Partners is close to breaking ground on an upscale hotel at Ninth Street and Canyon Boulevard.

Bruce Porcelli, managing partner of St. Julien Partners, said the hotel will have 200 rooms and approximately 8,500 square feet of meeting space. Room rates will be “top of the market,´ said Porcelli, who is managing partner of St. Julien Partners.

The project was approved a year ago. “We plan to break ground in late summer and to open in the spring of 2003,” he said

Porcelli is considering operating the hotel as an independent rather than partnering with a major hotel company to operate it as a flag, he said. Porcelli has financing lined up but will not get a final commitment until things are more finalized with the contractor, he said.

The Central Area General Improvement District (CAGID) owns part of the land and has worked out an agreement with Porcelli whereby CAGID will own and operate most of the two-level parking garage underneath the hotel, Porcelli said. CAGID and Porcelli are not doing a land swap, although most of the hotel will be built on CAGID property and most of the parking spaces CAGID will operate are on property owned by St. Julien Partners.NEW U.S. VETERAN’S CENTER: A U.S. veteran’s center moved recently from 2128 Pearl St. to a new, 2,212-square-foot space at 2336 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder. Susan Wilson of the Colorado Group handled the transaction. The center houses administrative offices as well as counseling services, she said.NAROPA EXPANSION: Naropa University has completed construction of Nalanda Hall, a 21,000-square-foot building located on the main, four-acre campus at 2130 Arapahoe Ave. The building will house student services, administrative offices and a computer lab.

Also part of the university’s expansion, Naropa purchased a campus for graduate studies at 30th Street and Iris Avenue and a distance learning campus on University Hill. Both acquisitions occurred within the last couple of years. The university opened a campus in Oakland, Calif. three years ago.

Naropa is a four-year university with a graduate school that was founded by a Buddhist teacher and accredited in 1985. The university has expanded its degree offerings to include master’s degrees in divinity, gerontology, contemplative education and wilderness therapy.BROOMFIELDSUMMIT AT MAIN STREET: Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, a Charleston, S.C.-based real estate company, is planning a mixed-use community next to FlatIron Crossing mall and the Omni Interlocken Resort golf course.

The $120 million project, called the Summit at Main Street, will include 500 luxury apartments, a park and office space.

Greystar plans to break ground on the apartment units and the first two office buildings this summer. The first units are planned to be available in September 2002 with full build-out by 2003.

The residential units were designed by Merriman Associates, and the office buildings were designed by OZ Architecture of Boulder.

The residential and office buildings will surround a one-acre park, and the residential parking garage will allow tenants to park on the same floor where they live. The two residential buildings are joined by a glass structure with a leasing office and exercise facility overlooking an outdoor pool.NEW OWNER, NEW NAME: Eagle Golf Club in Broomfield recently was sold by Santa Monica, Calif.-based National Golf Properties Inc. to Denver company Eagle Trace Golf Club LLC for approximately $2.1 million.

The new owners closed on the golf course April 16 and have changed the name to Eagle Trace Golf Club. The golf course was purchased using a Small Business Administration loan from U S Bank.

The new owners plan to spend approximately $500,000 on renovations starting in November. The exterior of the building will be changed to a stucco and stone finish, a new pro shop, new banquet facilities and a new roof will be added, and the restaurant will be expanded.LONGMONTKUDOS FOR GIBSON: Bayne Gibson of Prudential LTM Realtors in Longmont was awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation by the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute.

CCIM designation is earned upon completion of a graduate-level curriculum and attainment of a level of qualifying experience. CCIMs are recognized as experts in commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, asset management, valuation and investment analysis. Gibson has been with Prudential LTM Realtors since 1999.SCHOOL CAPACITY: Longmont city council has passed the school capacity benchmark ordinance, which says the city won’t approve a residential subdivision plat, development plan or site plan in areas where school enrollment exceeds 125 percent of the capacity level. WESTMINSTERNORTHRIDGE AT PARK CENTRE: Hisco Corp., a supplier of components for companies such as Lucent Technologies and Avaya, has purchased lot No. 8 at Westminster’s NorthRidge at Park Centre, an office and research and development center at the northwest corner of W. 121st Avenue and Pecos Street. The company plans to construct an approximately 35,000-square-foot building on the two-acre lot for its regional office.

Also, Prime West, the company developing the park, is constructing three single-story buildings with a total of 125,500 square feet of office space. Of this space, one 83,600-square-foot building is 100 percent pre-leased to Voyant Technologies.LOUISVILLEHOSPITAL EXPANSION: Avista Adventist Hospital kicked off its $32 million expansion late last month with a groundbreaking that included the release of 5,000 biodegradable balloons.

The 70,000-square-foot expansion is expected to be complete next fall and will nearly double the size of the hospital, which now is 100,000 square feet.

The expansion will include 28 delivery suites, normal and high-risk nurseries, an intensive care unit, a pediatric emergency area, 15 emergency room treatment areas and 19 private patient rooms. It also will house an expanded imaging department with a new women’s center that will feature advanced breast biopsy capabilities, additional ultrasound and mammography equipment and new technology that measures bone density.

The expansion is in response to growth in Louisville, which is expected to have a population increase of nearly 2 percent per year, faster than the state’s overall growth rate. It is projected that between 1999 and 2005, Avista Hospital will see an increase in deliveries by 49 percent, an increase in emergency room visits by 50 percent, an increase in surgical cases by 64 percent and an increase in imaging procedures by 38 percent.

Avista Adventist Hospital, located at 100 Health Park Drive, is a member of Centura Health.GENERALNEW OFFICE PARK: Absolute Builders, a Fort Collins-based company, has started construction of Ironwood Plaza, a 50,000-square-foot industrial/flex commercial office park at 3225 E. Mulberry St. in Fort Collins. The building will be ready for occupancy this fall.

Absolute Builders also has developed Entanglements Day Spa in Greeley and three light industrial office buildings at the Colorado Commerce Center in Longview Business Park in Longmont. Contact Amy Stogner at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail astogner@bcbr.com.

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