Page 4 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 3-December 16, 2014
Greater Denver
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
An electrical contractor will
light up a 116,363-square-foot
manufacturing building that’s
been on the market for years.
The Northern Group Inc.
bought the former Hunter Doug-
las facility at 1 Hunter Douglas
Circle in Thornton for its corpo-
rate headquarters and manufac-
turing plant. It will bring 60 jobs
to the building early next year
and ramp up to 100 employees
within the coming five years.
Hunter Douglas sold the prop-
erty for $7.15 million, according
to public records.
“We are very excited about our
new facility and looking forward
to working with and becoming
a part of the city of Thornton,
Joe Dopler, The Northern Group
executive vice president, said in
an announcement. The compa-
ny will renovate the interior to
suit its needs for office space and
manufacturing custom electrical
and mechanical enclosures.
City officials are thrilled that
the long underutilized building
will be put to productive use,
bringing new primary jobs to
Thornton. The acquisition also
was fortuitous for The Northern
Group because it was probably
the only Class A manufacturing
building available for sale in the
Denver market, plus it’s in the
area the company wanted to be.
“It just so happened that this
was the first building we toured,
and they were like, ‘Perfect. We’ll
take it,’” said Dawn McCombs,
vice president at JLL. Had that
not happened, “There would
have been next to nothing to
choose from,” she said.
Even distribution build-
ings over 100,000 sf are scarce,
McCombs said.
“Manufacturing and distribu-
tion occupiers are competing for
very few spaces in this tight mar-
ket, and some may need to rely
on build-to-suits as an alternative
or wait for new supply to be
delivered to the market. Build-
to-suits are costly, which makes
this facility an even better win for
Northern Electric,” she said.
The Northern Group, which
operates across the country, com-
prises Northern Electric Inc.,
now located in 17,672 sf on 124th
Avenue in Westminster, North-
ern Energy and Power LLC and
National Energy Service Invest-
ments LLC. With the Thornton
acquisition,” They’re going to be
bringing everything under one
roof,” said McCombs.
The new space will be opera-
tional by second quarter 2015.
The company’s average sal-
ary is 38 percent higher than the
average salary in Adams County,
and at full capacity, The Northern
Group will be Thornton’s sev-
enth-largest employer.
“The city of Thornton is very
excited The Northern Group
Inc. chose to locate here during
this exciting time of growth for
the company,” stated Thornton
Mayor Heidi Williams. “They
will be providing excellent jobs
in the community. This continues
the city’s economic development
efforts to attract primary employ-
ers andwe look forward towork-
ing with them as they grow in
Thornton.”
Chad Kollar of Cresa represent-
ed Hunter Douglas in the sale.
Hunter Douglas Specialty
Products manufactured window
blinds, shades and other prod-
ucts in the building, which was
constructed in 2003. “It’s a beauti-
ful building,” saidAdamKrueger
assistant director of Thornton
Economic Development.
“We’re really excited they’re
going to be in our central Thorn-
ton Business Park with a lot of
other great employers,”he said.
s
CoStar Group
The former Hunter Douglas building in Thornton will become The
Northern Group’s headquarters and manufacturing facility.
Jonathan Stern,
Publisher & Founder
Jennifer Hayes,
Editor
Jill Jamieson-Nichols,
Editor
John Rebchook,
Editor
Kris Oppermann Stern,
Editor
Michelle Askeland,
Special Sections Editor
Ryan Gager,
Special Sections Editor
Lori Golightly,
Director of Client Services
Jill Harris,
Circulation Manager
Production/Graphic Design:
Jennifer Steidley
Periodicals Postage Paid at Denver, CO
Subscription rates: $85 – one year,
$155 – two years
Single issue: $4 Back issues: $5
Subscriptions are non-refundable
Published semi-monthly, the first and third week of every month.
1630 Welton Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202
(303) 623-1148 • Fax (303) 623-2217
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Colorado Real Estate Journal,
1630 Welton St., Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored,
reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the publisher’s
prior written permission. All contributed articles published in the
Colorado Real
Estate Journal
represent solely the individual opinions of the writers, and not
those of the
Colorado Real Estate Journal.
REPORT AN ERROR IMMEDIATELY
(ISSN 1060-4383)
Vol. 23 No. 23
