Colorado Real Estate Journal - February 18, 2015

Expanding company jumps at chance to buy in Loveland

A company that was looking to expand in Northern Colorado jumped on an opportunity to acquire a light-industrial building for $4.78 million, or $100.38 per square foot.

Boeing Drive Investments LLC, an affiliate of Midwest Engineered Systems Inc., purchased the building at 5610 Boeing Drive in Loveland from Mark Steputis.

Wisconsin-based Midwest Engineered Systems provides custom automation systems such as assembly lines, palletizing/ depalleting, material handling, machine tending, deburring and robotic welding. “This facility will allow Midwest to grow their Colorado operations, including the Welding Systems & Service Division,” said Jake Hallauer, vice president of Chrisland Commercial.

The company is undergoing a significant expansion from its current space on 66th Street in Loveland and faced an uphill battle locating a new facility with 20,000 to 30,000 sf and 20-foot clear height, said Hallauer, who represented the tenant with Chrisland Commercial’s Ryan Schaefer.

It looked at a few availabilities a year ago, “but they were leased up very quickly,” he said.

“There are hardly any large blocks of high-quality industrial space on the market in Northern Colorado,” said Hallauer, noting there wasn’t a single building available in Larimer County that met Midwest’s size and ceiling height requirements. The buyer was keeping its eye on the Boeing Drive building, but the property was under contract for sale.

“We were pretty focused on the Longmont area because there seemed to be more availability,” Hallauer said. Then the Boeing Drive building fell out of contract and the buyer was able to move quickly to get it tied up.

“While Midwest will occupy the majority of the facility, Chrisland Commercial has been retained to lease approximately 22,500 square feet of high-quality industrial space,” said Hallauer.

Originally constructed in 1998, the Boeing Drive facility was expanded in 2001. It features 19- to 20-foot ceilings and 9,000 sf of office build-out.

The building’s former occupant, Vision Graphics Inc./ Eagle:xm, is moving its headquarters from the building to its Denver facility.

Mike Camp and Julius Tabert of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction.