August 5-August 18, 2015 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 17
Finance
LEED standards,” he said.
Howell said if he could pick
the perfect site for a large, lux-
ury apartment community, this
Uptown location would be it.
“It gives us a bunch of boxes
to check off,” Howell said.
“Is it near bars, restaurants
and jobs? Check. It is five
blocks from the Wells Fargo
Center downtown and an easy
walk to the restaurant row
along 17th. The other neighbor-
hood anchor is the nearby St.
Joseph Hospital and the other
hospitals in the area. So we are
between downtown and all of
its jobs and the medical district.
Beyond that is City Park and
the Denver Zoo. So if you look
at a map, you’ve got the central
business district on the left and
City Park and the Denver Zoo
on the right.”
Howell said he would much
rather be in City Park than in a
hot area such as around Union
Station in downtown Denver.
“We don’t like to follow the
crowd,” Howell said.
“Trammell Crow Residential
is building 372 units in Uptown
and you have the One City
Block by RedPeak,” Howell
said.
“Other than those, there real-
ly aren’t any big projects in
Uptown,” Howell said.
And there are unlikely to be
any large projects to be built
after them.
“We will have very little com-
petition,” Howell said.
“There is just no land avail-
able,” he said.
“It remindsme of LoHi, where
we bought the Mile High Unit-
ed Way site at 18th and Central
and where we are building 302
units,” Howell said.
“There are infill sites in LoHi
where someone can maybe
build 70 or 80 units, but there
really aren’t many sites where
you can build a large project
with a great amenity package,”
he said.
“This Uptown site is right on
the fairway for us.”
Southern Land also plans to
develop a 242-unit apartment
community with 115,000 sf of
retail and office space at 30th
and Pearl streets in Boulder.
s
A
fter many years of
recovery since the
recession, Colorado
Springs’ economic picture is
brightening. While sequestra-
tion and more budget cuts in the
military are expected, business
owners are feeling more con-
fident, and many are growing
their businesses.
To give you a snapshot, as
of January of last year, Colo-
rado Springs was just 2 percent
below the national recovery of
jobs lost since the last recession.*
The strengthening of this busi-
ness community is additionally
evident as business loan appli-
cations are increasing. In fact, in
2013, the bank increased its U.S.
Small Business Administration
lending by 30 percent compared
to the prior year and for 2014
increased another 12 percent.
Some business owners who
have held onto capital may be
considering a move into new
offices, buying new furniture or
hosting that lost holiday party.
We are encouraging business
owners to consider reinvest-
ment in their companies in ways
that deleverage or build new
revenue streams in ancillary
niche markets over renovating
the conference room.
Using the military as an exam-
ple, with continued sequestra-
tion and military cutbacks, com-
panies with large government
contracts should consider how
they might expand their prod-
ucts and services into the pri-
vate market as well as take a
closer look at how cost-effective-
ly the provide their products or
services. That attention to diver-
sification in the private mar-
ket could mean the difference
in keeping revenues stable and
consistent as well as improving
bottom-line profitability.
Another consideration is rein-
vesting profit back into the com-
pany. All too often, companies
choose to invest extra profit into
more real estate, perhaps using
that profit toward the down
payment. Instead of purchas-
ing more real estate, compa-
nies should consider taking a
percentage of that profit and
reinvesting it. Businesses could
receive a higher return over time
if they reinvested a percentage
of their profit, which could
mean more
cash flow for
research and
development
or to launch
in a new mar-
ket.
An
SBA
loan for real
estate, also
known
as
a 504 loan,
may be used
to purchase
fixed assets
such as land and improvements
like owner-occupied buildings,
to grading, street improve-
ments, utilities, parking lots and
landscaping. It also can finance
construction of new facilities or
upgrades, renovations or con-
versions of existing facilities.
Costs like architectural and legal
fees, environmental studies,
appraisals, and interest and fees
also can be rolled into the loan.
If a business owner decides
to look for a loan, there are a
few things to know about the
approval process in today’s
post-Dodd-Frank world; most
importantly, no matter how
well-prepared owners are, they
should expect the approval pro-
cesses to take longer, for both
business and personal loans.
With a solid industry and
strong credit, business owners
might be considering what’s
next. We urge all of our clients
to become students of the econ-
omy, and especially of business
financing. There are many ways
to finance a business based on
needs that don’t involve a tradi-
tional SBA loan.
For example, for exporters
that sell on credit terms where
overseas buyers may pay 30
days following receipt of goods
produced, business owners may
consider transaction financing
to purchase the inventory or
materials to make the goods.
Once the company has pro-
duced the item, and it is deliv-
ered, the bank then finances the
receivable that will be coming to
the company. Not all banks can
provide this type of financing.
Another option to develop
working capital quickly and
manage cash flow is factoring.
Factoring allows the business
owner to sell his or her receiv-
ables in the form of invoice to a
factor, often a financial organi-
zation or specialized company,
whichmakes an advance of 70 to
85 percent of the purchase price
of the receivable amount. This
can help small businesses to get
their receivables paid quickly
rather than waiting the typical
30 or 60 days for payment. The
factor collects the full amount
from the customer and pays the
balance amount due to the busi-
ness owner after deducting a
commission and other charges.
Factoring also is unique in
its ability to provide forward-
looking facilities based more
on a company’s projections
and growth trajectory than on
historical financials. This can
be very valuable in the case
of high-growth or turnaround
companies, where conventional
bank financing cannot keep up.
By knowing the breadth of
financing options available to a
small business, companies can
plan knowing there are options
available for investments when
the time is right. As markets
continue upward, the more sol-
vent a small business is, the
more likely it will be able to
quickly move on opportuni-
ties in this exciting economic
upturn.
*According to Tom Binnings,
senior partner of Summit Econom-
ics
s
Aileen Berrios
Colorado Springs
market president,
Vectra Bank Colorado
If a business owner
decides to look for a
loan, there are a few
things to know about
the approval process
in today’s post-Dodd-
Frank world; most
importantly, no matter
how well-prepared
owners are, they should
expect the approval
processes to take longer,
for both business and
personal loans.
Commercial Real Estate
Lenders
Directory
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LENDERS DIRECTORY
If you would like to include your firm in this directory,
please contact Jon Stern at 303-623-1148 or
.
@
Academy Bank
Acre Capital LLC
Bank of Colorado
Bank of the West
Berkadia Commercial
Mortgage, LLC
Capital Source
CBRE|Capital Markets
Chase Commercial Term Lending
Colorado Business Bank
Colorado Lending Source
Commerce Bank
Commercial Federal Bank
Essex Financial Group
Fairview Commercial Lending
FirstBank Holding Company
Front Range Bank
Grandbridge Real Estate Capital LLC
Hunt Mortgage Group
JCR Capital
Johnson Capital
JVSC-CBRE Capital Markets
KeyBank N.A., Key Commercial
Mortgage Inc.
Merchants Mortgage and Trust Corp.
Midland States Bank
Montegra Capital Resources,
Private Lender
Mutual of Omaha Bank
NorthMarq Capital, Inc.
RNB Lending Group
TCF Bank
Terrix Financial Corporation
Trans Lending Corporation
U.S. Bank – Commercial Real Estate
U.S. Bank SBA Division
Vectra Bank Colorado, N.A.
Wells Fargo SBA Lending
Wells Fargo N.A. – Commercial
Real Estate Group
