CREJ

February 18-March 3, 2015 —

COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL

— Page 33

Dennis Rubba, ASLA, PLA,

of studioInsite was appointed

to the

Colorado State Board of

Landscape Architects.

The State Board of Landscape

Architects regulates and man-

ages licensure for landscape

architects. The board evaluates

and administers licenses to qual-

ified landscape architects. When

necessary, it also investigates

complaints and disciplines those

who violate the law. The mission

of the board is to “safeguard the

health, safety and welfare of the

people of Colorado.” The board

works closely with the Council

of Landscape Architectural Reg-

istration Boards to ensure that

the design of the public realm is

conducted only by authorized,

accredited and capable persons.

Rubba is the founder of studio-

Insite, a campus, urban planning

and landscape architecture firm,

and has more than 28 years in

the profession. His work spans

more than 700 sites through-

out Colorado, the country and

internationally.

Jeremy Nothdurft

was pro-

moted to vice president of

Alli-

ance Construction Solutions,

a construction management

and general contracting, design-

build-assist firm.

During Nothdurft’s 18 years in

the construction industry, he has

served as business development

manager, field engineer, project

engineer, project manager, super-

intendent and estimator.

He received

a Bachelor

of Science

degree in

construction

management

from South

Dakota State

University.

Notable proj-

ects include

the Renais-

sance Denver Downtown City

Center Hotel, 550 15th St.,

McKee Medical Center Legacy

Expansion and the Green Valley

Ranch Library.

Associated Builders and Con-

tractors Rocky Mountain Chap-

ter

held its annual awards and

board of directors installation.

The following individuals

were sworn in as the 2015 ABC

board of directors:

Executive Committee: Chair

Allan Bliesmer,

Hensel Phelps;

Chair-Elect

Darren Hinton,

Milender White Construction

Co.; Vice Chair

Jason Maxwell,

White Construction Group; Trea-

surer

Scott Oglesby,

Bauerle

& Company PC; Secretary

Rob

Marceau,

RK Mechanical Inc.;

and Past Chair

Brandon Beru-

men,

LEI Companies Inc.

Directors:

Mari Bergstrom,

Construction;

Chris Cole,

Encore

Electric Inc.;

Denny Doyle,

LPR Construction Co.;

Aaron

Eide,

Flood and Peterson;

Paul

Giovannetti,

Mortenson Con-

struction;

Rachael Koch,

Power

Management Systems & Sales;

John Luthi,

FCI Constructors

Inc.;

Kevin Ott,

Hitt Contracting;

and

Patrick Wolach,

Douglass

Colony Group.

The following companies and

individuals were honored with

awards: a three-way tie for Spe-

cial Service Award between

Josh

Olsen, LPR Construction Co.,

Steve Foote, Greiner Electric,

and

Allan Inge, AMI Mechani-

cal Inc.;

President’s Award,

Government Affairs Commit-

tee; Outstanding Service by a

NewMember

Faegre Baker

Daniels LLP;

Associate of the

Year

EKS&H LLP;

Supplier of

the Year,

Bobcat of the Rock-

ies;

Subcontractor of the Year,

Spacecon Specialty Contractors

LLC;

General Contractor of the

Year,

Hensel Phelps;

Young Pro-

fessional of the Year,

Bob Terry,

FCI Constructors Inc.;

and the

ABC’er of the Year was awarded

Jeff Erker, FCI Constructors

Inc.

Taber Sweet

joined

Morten-

son,

a construction and devel-

opment services company, as

development executive in Den-

ver.

Sweet brings more than 16

years of commercial real estate

experience to the firm and is

focused on growing the com-

pany’s development business

along the Front Range. He will

lead development projects from

project feasibility analysis, site

selection and acquisition, plan-

ning and financing through

completion.

Before joining Mortenson,

Sweet was vice president of

development at McWhinney

and real estate manager at

Sturm Financial Group.

Barker Rinker Seacat Archi-

tecture

added two new team

members to its full-time archi-

tectural staff.

Daniel Matoba, LEED AP

BD +C,

joined the architecture

firm as a project manager. He

has a Master of Architecture

from the University of Califor-

nia and a Bachelor of Architec-

ture from California State Poly-

technic University.

Julie Sherr, AIA, LEED AP,

joined the firm as a designer.

She has a Master of Architecture

and a Bachelor of Arts in archi-

tecture from the University of

New Mexico.

Matthew Hoff, Steve Hop-

kins

and

Breanne Taylor

joined

the Denver office of

JE Dunn

Construction.

Hoff joined the general build-

ing contractor

as a building

information

modeling

specialist. As

a BIM spe-

cialist, he is

responsible

for utilizing

3-D modeling

to enhance

communication and changes

during preconstruction and

construction phases. Hoff joins

the team with 10 years of expe-

rience in building information

modeling, virtual design and

construction.

Hopkins, information systems

field analyst, will provide tech-

nology support to construction

sites located in the southwest

and western

regions of

Colorado.

Hopkins has

eight years

of experi-

ence with a

background

in computer

technology,

technical sup-

port and net-

work engineering.

Taylor was named human

resource manager. She will

work closely with the corporate

and regional human resources

staff to

develop,

implement

and evaluate

HR policies,

programs,

functions and

activities.

Taylor joins

the team with

11 years of

experience

in human resources, including

management.

CDE Who’s News

Jeremy Nothdurft

Matthew Hoff

Steve Hopkins

Breanne Taylor

the Colorado Springs apart-

ment market as institutional

buyers, real estate investment

trusts and funds of wealthy

individuals continue to pay

record-breaking prices for well-

located quality assets, accord-

ing to the fourth-quarter report.

Additionally, sales in other

market sectors – office, retail

and industrial – continue to

attract both value-add buyers

and buyers seeking stabilized,

well-located assets.

Quantum Commercial fore-

casts that the Colorado Springs

commercial real estate market

will continue to be primarily

opportunity driven. It predicts

that the market will see older

properties with higher vacancy

rates trade at discounted prices

until vacancy rates stabilize and

lease rates fully rebound; and

with interest rates remaining

low throughout the year, the

availability of low-cost capital

will continue to fuel transaction

volume.

The firm also released its

fourth-quarter 2014 and fore-

cast reports on the retail, office,

industrial and land market in

Colorado Springs. Highlights

from each sector include:

Retail.

The retail market

showed improvement in some

key indices in the fourth quar-

ter. While the net absorption

of 97,431 square feet was well

below the 215,535 sf seen in the

third quarter of 2014, the aver-

age asking rental rate increased

3 percent to $10.95 per sf. At

the same time, vacancy mar-

ketwide dropped 5 percent,

decreasing to 5.7 percent.

“These are significant indica-

tors of a rising market, espe-

cially during the time of year

when, traditionally, not many

retail transactions occur,”

according to the report.

During the fourth quarter,

two retail buildings were con-

structed with 94,980 sf of new

construction completed in 2014.

The report noted that invest-

ment sales of retail properties

were lower last year compared

with 2013, likely due to the fact

that distressed properties have

almost entirely been sold and

stabilized properties are now

selling, a trend that will con-

tinue this year.

Quantum expects retail mar-

ket indices to continue in the

first quarter, leasing activ-

ity will continue to pick up

as the job market continues to

strengthen and the availabil-

ity of funds and low interest

rates will continue to fuel local

investment sales.

Office.

2014 was a bump

in the road for the Colorado

Springs office market. Quan-

tum noted that since its peak

in 2009, office vacancy has

declined every year after until

2014. The office vacancy rate

in Colorado Springs increased

to 12 percent at the end of the

fourth quarter compared with

11.8 percent in the fourth quar-

ter of 2013. The uptick, the

report noted, was mostly due

to negative absorption in the

greater central business dis-

trict submarket, where vacancy

jumped from 8.7 percent at the

end of 2013 to 10.3 percent at

the end of 2014. Suburban sub-

markets saw a slight decrease.

Net absorption was negative

43,220 sf in the fourth quar-

ter while the average quoted

asking rental rate for available

space was up slightly for the

year for Class A product and

down slightly for Class B space.

No new space was completed

during the fourth quarter and

there were no properties under

construction at the end of the

quarter, aiding the progress

toward equilibrium as existing

office space is absorbed, the

report added.

Steady, moderate growth is

expected for 2015. The office

market will continue to see

a flight to quality. Quantum

expects continued slow growth

in lease rates and absorp-

tion as the market advances

toward equilibrium in the

next few years. The addition

of new jobs will be needed to

fuel absorption and occupancy

rates in 2015 and allow a slow

and steady advancement in the

right direction.

Industrial.

The Colora-

do Springs industrial market

ended fourth-quarter 2014 with

a vacancy rate of 8.1 percent.

The vacancy rate was down

over the previous quarter from

8.7 percent, with net absorp-

tion totaling positive 199,101

sf in the fourth quarter. Vacant

sublease space decreased in the

quarter, ending at 106,276 sf.

Rental rates ended the fourth

quarter at $6.19 per sf, which

was an increase over the pre-

vious quarter of $6.07 per sf.

There were no properties under

construction at the end of the

quarter, but Quantum antici-

pates new construction in the

future due to a lack of options

and low vacancy rates.

The industrial vacancy rate

in the Colorado Springs market

area decreased to 8.1 percent at

the end of fourth-quarter 2014.

The vacancy rate was 8.7 per-

cent at the end of third-quarter

2014, 8.6 percent at the end of

second-quarter 2014, and 8.7

percent at the end of the first-

quarter 2014.

Total year-to-date industrial

building sales activity in 2014

was up compared with the

previous year. In the first nine

months of 2014, the market saw

12 industrial sales transactions

with a total volume of $25.17

million. The price per sf has

averaged $33.32 in 2014. In the

first nine months of 2013, the

market posted 11 transactions

with a total volume of $20.52

million. The price per sf aver-

aged $41.32.

Land.

The land mar-

ket ended 2014 steady with

an upbeat outlook for 2015,

according to the report.

There were two major land

transactions at the end of

the year: Local development

group, Norwood, purchased

the 18,000-acre Banning Lewis

Ranch and a Denver invest-

ment group purchased the

800-plus-acre Sanctuary in

Black Forest. Sales of entitled

undeveloped land for single-

family lot development picked

up momentum in the fourth

quarter as homebuilders began

securing land positions for late

2015 and 2016. Sales of larger

commercial parcels (10 acres or

more) were more prevalent in

the last half of 2014 as land for

larger retail centers and mixed-

use developments were being

planned for 2015 and beyond.

Quantum noted bank financ-

ing for land acquisitions became

more available as the year con-

tinued on, however, develop-

ment financing through tra-

ditional banking sources was

still nearly nonexistent. Private

lenders have begun offering

development financing as

activity continues to increase

and land prices have finally

started pushing upward.

There are approximately

2,000 residential lots currently

under development in El Paso

County and over five times

that number of lots in the

entitlement process for future

development.

Land developers and inves-

tors interest in longer-term

land positions continued to

increase during 2014 indicat-

ing confidence in the stability

and future growth of the Colo-

rado Springs/El Paso County

market.

The apartment land market

continues to be a bright spot

during the past two years but

has seen a slowdown during

the past six months because

of the number of new proj-

ects that are under construction

throughout the entire market.

Many investors and developers

of apartments have concerns

about overbuilding the market

and are waiting for the current

projects to be absorbed before

moving forward on future

projects, the report noted.

In the nonresidential land

market, the activity has been

the expansion and/or develop-

ment of new retail shopping

centers in the market. Many of

these retail centers stalled in

the planning stages or got off

to a very slow start because of

the market downswing in 2008.

With the continued improve-

ment and more confidence in

a steady economy, many retail-

ers have been expanding and

opening new locations in Colo-

rado Springs.

Quantum anticipates indus-

trial and office land will con-

tinue to lag historic levels and

is expected to do so for the

foreseeable future.

Springs Continued from Page 15