Briefcase, Oct. 2, 2015

CLOSINGS

The Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. shut down office operations as board members have been meeting about how to transfer its assets to the newly formed Northern Colorado Economic Alliance.

CONTRACTS

The Innovation Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Colorado State University joined seven other university members as part of the Washington, D.C.-based sustainable-agriculture group Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. The diverse coalition works to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality and human well-being. The science-based is composed of a diverse membership of grower organizations; agribusinesses; food, beverage, restaurant and retail companies; conservation groups; universities and public-sector partners.

Anark Corp. in Boulder received a $1.1 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide a software system that generates reports on parts to streamline wing conversion and maintenance operations for the A-10 Thunderbolt fighter jet.

The Denver-based design-build team of Hord Coplan Macht Architects and Haselden Construction were selected to complete design and construction for Colorado State University’s new $81.9 million, 152,000-square-foot biology building on the Fort Collins campus, Hord Coplan Macht started design work on the building on July 15 and construction is slated to begin in late October.

New Belgium Brewing will begin selling its products in West Virginia early next year. The addition of the 41st state in which the Fort Collins-based brewer distributes its beers will come as it activates added capacity with the opening of a new brewery in Asheville, N.C. Distributors in West Virginia that will handle New Belgium products as of Feb. 15 will include Capital Beverage Co., Northern Eagle, Wine and Beverage Merchants of West Virginia, Eagle Distributing Co., The American Beer Co. and Jefferson Distributing Co.

Fort Collins Brewery expanded its distribution into Montana by exclusively partnering with Intermountain Distributing Co. in Billings, Mont.

DEADLINES

Residents of Larimer County have until Friday, Oct. 2, to apply for openings on one of many county boards and commissions. New members will begin terms in December on the Agricultural Advisory Board, Citizen Review Panel, Environmental and Science Advisory Board, Extension Advisory Board, Fair Board, LaPorte area planning advisory committee, Land Stewardship Advisory Board, Red Feather Lakes Planning Advisory Committee, Weld/Larimer Revolving Loan Fund board and the boards of numerous general-improvement districts and public-improvement districts. Residents can apply online at Larimer.org/boards or pick up an application at a county office.

EARNINGS

Boulder-based bandwidth infrastructure company Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) rode a 22 percent jump in sales to a $5.1 million profit in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. The profit figure was up from a loss of $73 million in the same quarter of 2014. Revenue for the quarter that ended June 30 increased to $361.9 million, compared with $340.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. At the end of the quarter, Zayo had $308.6 million in cash and $440.8 million available under its revolving-credit facility.

KUDOS

Ryan Behm was named to the 2015 Premier Presidents Council for New York Life Insurance Co., and Jeff Perryman was named to the company’s 2015 Chairman’s Council. Both are associated with the Fort Collins and Colorado General offices. Behm and Perryman have been New York Life agents since 2013 and 1990, respectively.

Bruce Hendee was inducted into the Everitt Real Estate Center’s Hall of Fame and Jerry Dunn was named the center’s 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year during the 19th annual Northern Colorado Real Estate Conference held Sept. 24 at the Embassy Suites Loveland. Hendee is a former chief executive of BHA Design Inc. and former chief sustainability officer for the city of Fort Collins. Dunn, a Colorado State University graduate and quarterback for the Rams’ football team in the early 1990s, is founder and CEO of A10 Capital, a commercial mortgage company based in Boise, Idaho.

The Lafayette Commons building project in downtown Lafayette and the Downtown Fort Collins Business Association received awards from Downtown Colorado Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing Colorado’s downtown districts. Lafayette Commons received a Governor’s Award for Downtown Excellence in the category of Best Adaptive Reuse or Rehabilitation. The Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority partnered with Chernoff Boulder Properties to reconstruct the historic façade on the building at Simpson Street and Iowa Avenue. The DBA won a 2015 Best Event Award for Colorado Brewers’ Festival because of its strategic partnerships with other events and local businesses, reinvestment in downtown, and continued success showcasing Fort Collins to the world, as a pre-eminent destination for creativity and craft beer.

Chris McCall, senior vice president for marketing at NexGen Storage, a Louisville-based maker of PCIe flash arrays, was named to The Channel Co.’s 2015 Top Midmarket IT Vendor Executive list.

Jeffrey Martin and Chris McElroy of The Group Inc. Real Estate in Fort Collins received distinguished-service awards from the Colorado Association of Realtors at its 95th annual convention, held this year in Keystone.

Broomfield-based MWH Global, a provider focused on water and natural resources, received a second consecutive award of excellence from iCMG, an enterprise and IT architecture firm. This year’s award was for MWH’s Next Generation Network. Claire Rutkowski, MWH’s chief information officer, was selected by iCMG as one of the top 25 Global Business CIOs for the second consecutive year.

Gerry Agnes, president and chief executive of Boulder-based Elevations Credit Union, was y named the 2015 Outstanding Chief Executive by the Credit Union Executives Society, an international membership association for credit union executives.

The WaveContact solution from Boulder-based FreeWave Technologies Inc., a provider of industrial, secure Machine-to-Machine and Internet of Things wireless networking solutions, received the 2015 Communications Solutions Product of the Year award from TMC, a business-to-business and integrated-marketing media company servicing niche markets within the communications and technology industries.

MOVES

Gryphon Games & Comics of Fort Collins will move from its eight-year home at 2020 S. College Ave. to 1119 W. Drake Road to add a café and more retail space. The café will open Nov. 1 while the rest of the space is readied for the retail portion. The College Avenue location will close by the end of December.

NAME CHANGES

Comfort Bridge is changing its name to Care Synergy to convey the strength of its three nonprofit hospice facilities: Pathways Hospice in Fort Collins, Halcyon Hospice and Palliative Care in Mead and The Denver Hospice in Denver.

OPENINGS

The $15 million MorningStar of Boulder senior-living complex opened with its first resident, Rozene Taylor, participating in the ribbon cutting. Designed by Greenwood Village-based Lantz-Boggio Architects and built by Centennial-based Haselden Construction LLC, the 76,000-square-foot complex near Table Mesa and Tantra drives includes 48 studio and one- and two-bedroom assisted-living units, as well as 46 memory-care suites. Amenities include outdoor living spaces as well as a salon, massage room, fitness center and several living room areas.

Indian Motorcycle of Fort Collins will host a grand opening event from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, for its new showroom in the recently finished expansion of Fort Collins Motorsports at 1800 S.E. Frontage Road. Indian Motorcycle is a wholly owned subsidiary of Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII).

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