Avaya may set up shop in Boulder County

WESTMINSTER – Telecommunications company Avaya Inc. is expected to announce in two weeks where it will set up shop, and it appears that Boulder County is on the short list.

Avaya is expected to vacate operations in the building in Westminster that will become the headquarters of Longmont-based DigitalGlobe Inc. (NYSE: DGI). Avaya currently employs about 800 people at the iconic 482,000-square-foot building at 1300 W. 120th Ave. in Westminster, company spokeswoman Deb Kline said.

Jason Addlesperger, a broker at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, said Avaya’s announcement could come within two weeks, and he indicated it could be in Boulder County. Addlesperger helped broker the $92 million sale of the building from Avaya to Griffin Capital, a real estate investment firm in El Segundo, California.

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GC Net Lease Investors LLC bought the property on Thursday, Jan. 9, according to real estate records. GC Net Lease is an arm of Griffin Capital in El Segundo, California. A Griffin Capital spokesman was not immediately available for comment about the transaction.

When asked about the future home for Avaya’s Colorado operations, Kline would say only that Avaya is looking at locations “within a short radius” of the Westminster building, but that nothing has been decided.

DigitalGlobe representatives have said the company will move its headquarters to Westminster to be more centrally located for employee recruiting purposes. The satellite imagery company bought its rival GeoEye (Nasdaq: GEOY) in Herndon, Virginia, in 2012 in a $900 million transaction.

The consolidation is expected to mean as many as 500 additional employees hired to DigitalGlobe over the next five years. Colorado economic development officials approved $4.4 million in state tax rebates to the company, if it creates 435 jobs in Colorado over the next five years.

Westminster economic development officials offered the company $6.2 million in incentives to move; Longmont offered more than $18 million in incentives to encourage the company to stay put. Broomfield offered a $7.2 million incentive package.

DigitalGlobe said it will keep a presence in Longmont for a time after its headquarters move as well as other offices in Virginia, and in Tampa, Florida, among others.