Page 18 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— June 1-June 14, 2016
Boulder County & U.S. 36 Corridor
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Technology companies may
love downtown Boulder, but
many are moving east.
A number of tech companies
have traded downtown’s ameni-
ties and culture for large blocks of
space, parking and affordability
in East Boulder over the last 18 to
24 months.
“Our clients in particular,
which are primarily technology
companies that are growing rap-
idly, are choosing their workplace
to attract and retain employees,”
said CBRE Senior Vice President
Alex Hammerstein.
“Downtown Boulder has
always been very appealing
because of the access to amenities
and the culture of innovation and
entrepreneurship,” he said. “East
Boulder has historically been less
appealing for these companies.”
But that is changing. Growing
tech tenants are having a hard
time securing 20,000 to 40,000
square feet downtown, rental
rates are high, and “they’re find-
ing it’s actually difficult to recruit
and retain employees because of
the lack of parking,” said Ham-
merstein.
“Parking downtown has
become nearly impossible,” said
Scott Kokotan, chief financial
officer of IMM, a digital media
company that relocated to Flat-
iron Park last July. Kokotan said
when IMM was downtown,
some employees were walking
eight or more blocks to the com-
pany’s office, which was not only
inconvenient, especially in bad
weather, but also a safety con-
cern.
Overriding reasons for IMM’s
relocation were the rising cost of
downtown rents and difficulty
finding a large block of contig-
uous space, which always has
been a challenge in downtown
Boulder.
“We were bursting at the seams
at 15,000 square feet,” said Koko-
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
AFlatiron Park industrial build-
ing will be reinvented as creative
office space for tenants looking for
larger floor plates.
Element Properties bought the
approximately 31,392-square-
foot office/warehouse building
at 1855 S. 57th Court in Boulder
earlier this year for $4.55 million.
The major ten-
ant, KMLabs,
is relocating
in Boulder,
and Element
plans a full
renovation of
the two-story
building.
“It will be a
very open and
clean floor plan,” said Scott Crab-
tree of The Colorado Group, who
represented Element Properties in
the transaction and is marketing
the space for lease. A new entry
with patio space and awningswill
distinguish the twin-T building,
which was built in the 1970s.
Widows also will be added
to bring light into the building,
which will have 12-foot ceilings,
south-facing overhead doors
and decks. The grounds will be
relandscaped, and there will be
bike parking for tenants as well
as 2.5 parking spaces per 1,000 sf.
“There’s very low vacancy in
downtown Boulder, and we’re
seeing some of these companies
that are growing looking for
larger spaces,” said Crabtree. In
addition to providing larger floor
plates, “Flatiron Park has become
an attractive place because some
of the growing amenities. There’s
a real sense of place out there,”
said Crabtree, who noted the area
is becomingmore vibrantwith the
addition of companies including
Upslope Brewing Co., Ozo Coffee
Roasters and others.
IMM relocated from downtown Boulder to this space at Flatiron Park.
Scott Crabtree
