Page 14 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 16, 2015-January 5, 2016
Boulder County & U.S. 36 Corridor
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A trio of buildings off of the
Diagonal Highway in Boulder
sold to an investment group for
$11.75 million, or $103.97 per
square foot.
Winchester LLC, led by an
Alaska-based investor, bought
the buildings at 6797, 6837 and
6899 Winchester Circle from
a San Diego group that had
owned them for several years.
The buildings were more than
90 percent occupied, according
to B. Scot Smith of The Colorado
Group, who represented the sell-
er with The Colorado Group’s
Audrey Berne.
The buildings comprise
113,016 sf. Encision, a surgical
instruments company, occu-
pies about three-quarters of the
36,034-sf office/flex building
at 6797 Winchester. Molecular
Products Inc. occupies 6837Win-
chester, a 38,814-sf office/ware-
house building. Tenants in 6899
Winchester, a two-story, 38,322-
sf office building, include Micro
Motion and Sunrise Medical.
Brian Bair of NAI Shames
Makovsky said the buyers own
other properties in Boulder,
Greeley and along the Front
Range.
“They do believe it was a good
opportunity. They’re long-term
holders, taking a very long-term
view of Northern Colorado, lit-
erally over the next 20 years,”
he said.
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CoStar Group
Molecular Products Inc. occupies the building at 6837 Winchester Circle.
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Etkin Johnson Real Estate
Partners says the appetite for
natural foods is fueling demand
for space at the Colorado Tech
Center in Louisville, where it
is building a new building and
buying more land.
“The growth and demand
these companies have for
high-quality
facilities has
reduced the
amount
of
a v a i l a b l e
space across
our
CTC
portfolio and
has given us
the opportu-
nity to con-
tinue build-
ing within the technology park,”
said Ryan Good, executive vice
president and partner.
“Colorado Technology Cen-
ter is an ideal environment for
the development and growth of
innovative, specialized business-
es like organic food and natural
product companies. The vision
we have for CTC is to provide a
growth platform for these small
to midsized businesses in order
for them to flourish in Boulder
County. That vision is taking
shape now more rapidly than
ever.”
WhiteWave Foods, Fresca
Foods and Graphic Packag-
ing, which makes packaging
for foods and beverages, leased
space in Etkin Johnson buildings
earlier this year.
Given the activity it continues
to see, the developer has broken
ground on a 120,581-square-foot
speculative building at 2000 Tay-
lor Ave. The building will have
24-foot-clear ceilings, heavy
power, 16 loading docks, four
drive-in doors and an energy-
efficient design to reduce oper-
ating costs. It will be delivered
next summer.
Next up will be 633 CTC Blvd.,
a 152,992-sf office/flex build-
ing slated for construction next
spring. Etkin Johnson recently
acquired the 12.2-acre develop-
ment site from Hill Properties
for $1.98 million, or $3.72 per sf.
“We’re confident both 2000
Taylor and 633 CTC will see
significant interest and we are
hopeful they will follow the
same trend as our newest CTC
spec buildings and lease up prior
to full construction,” said Good.
Boulder County is considered
to be the epicenter of the natu-
ral foods and products industry,
and Fresca Foods Chief Financial
Officer/Chief Operating Officer
Zan Powell said CTC’s proxim-
ity to Boulder makes it a “natural
fit.”
“As a partner to many entre-
preneurial natural food com-
panies, locating ourselves in
CTC has allowed us to be close
to many of our partners and
thought leaders in the industry,”
he said.
Etkin Johnson Real Estate Part-
ners has developed almost 1 mil-
lion sf of space at the Colorado
Tech Center. Its CTC portfolio is
100 percent leased.
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Etkin Johnson plans to break ground on a speculative building at 633 CTC Blvd. next spring.
Ryan Good
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
A new apartment community
on the U.S. Highway 36 corri-
dor traded for $252,674 per unit,
the highest price ever paid for a
garden-style community in the
Denver metro area.
Invesco Real Estate paid $94.5
million for the Retreat at The
Flatirons, a 374-unit community
that Etkin Johnson Real Estate
Partners completed last year. The
apartments leased up quickly
and were 96.8 percent occupied
at the time of the sale.
“The Broomfield market is
exceptionally strong,” saidDerek
Conn, Etkin Johnson’s director of
finance. “Lease-up for the project
was markedly faster than antici-
pated with rents outpacing pro
forma by nearly 20 percent.”
The apartments’ first residents
moved in early last year. The
property averaged 43 move-
ins per month in summer 2014,
absorbing 65 units in August
2014, according to Etkin Johnson.
Located at 13780 Del Corso
Way, the Retreat at the Flatirons
consists of one-bedroom, one-
bath; two-bedroom, two-bath;
and three-bedroom, three-bath
apartments. The average unit
size is 1,052 square feet.
“In an era where most of the
high-profile, new apartment
properties are urban-style,
smaller-unit communities with a
shared garage structure, Retreat
at The Flatirons has bucked the
trend and proved the demand
for three-story, garden-style
communities with large units
and private garages,” said Jeff
Hawks of ARA Newmark, who
represented Etkin Johnson with
ARA Newmark brokers Doug
Andrews, Terrance Hunt and
Shane Ozment.
“The velocity of lease-up com-
bined with the aggressive rent
levels and above-market occu-
pancy resulted in this being a
highly sought-after investment
property with the bidding pro-
cess producing several very
competent groups with very
competitive offers,” Hawks said.
The apartments are part of
Broomfield Business Center, a
74-acre mixed-use project that
Etkin Johnson is developing. The
clubhouse features a cyber café
with Wi-Fi, a great room with a
pool table, an epicurean kitchen,
the “Spaw” dog wash station, an
outdoor fire pit, fully equipped
fitness center with a 24/7 virtual
trainer, a bicycle and ski/snow-
board repair shop, year-round
25-meter swimming pool and
adjacent 4.53-acre park that Etkin
Johnson developed and dedicat-
ed to the city of Broomfield.
The units themselves include
9-foot ceilings, stainless steel
appliances, granite countertops,
and private patios or balconies.
Some units have fireplaces and
garden tubs. They also include
walk-in closets, are prewired
for intrusion alarms and tele-
communications, and have indi-
vidual heating, air conditioning
and hot water. Some units have
attached garages, and detached
garages also are available.
Located on 18.19 acres, the
Retreat at The Flatirons con-
sists of 20 apartment buildings,
14 freestanding garages and a
clubhouse. All the buildings are
two and three stories with stone
and HardiePlank siding. Just off
Highway 36 and the Northwest
Parkway, they are within four
minutes of Flatiron Crossing and
offer easy access to Interlocken
Advanced Technology Environ-
ment, Boulder and Denver.
A team including Jim Vasbind-
er of Etkin Johnson Real Estate
Partners, Lauren Brockman of
Anbrock LLC and Allied Orion
Holdings LLC, and Peggy Pan-
zer of the Allied-Orion Group
developed the apartments.
“We are proud of our team’s
ability to execute the project
from development into lease-up
and management, through this
disposition,” said Bruce Etkin,
chairman of Etkin Johnson Real
Estate Partners. “The ability to
achieve a record-setting per-unit
sales price for this type of prod-
uct was truly a collaborative
effort.”
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The Retreat at The Flatirons consists of 20 two- and three-story apart-
ment buildings, 14 garages and a clubhouse.
The Retreat at The Flatirons’ clubhouse
