Loveland ready to close on ACE land deal

By Tom Hacker, 2011 Loveland Reporter-Herald


Having sealed the deal with Agilent Technologies Inc. to buy its Loveland campus, city officials are moving quickly to turn it over to the developers of the ACE technology manufacturing park. City councilors voted unanimously Tuesday night to authorize City Manager Bill Cahill to close on the $5.5 million purchase on Thursday and, in a separate 9-0 vote, agreed to a letter of agreement with backers of the Aerospace Clean Energy Manufacturing and Innovation Park (ACE).

The development partners, the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology (CAMT) and Minneapolis-based United Properties, are already bringing prospective tenants to the Agilent campus where they hope as many as 7,000 people might be employed. The park would be populated by up to 100 manufacturing companies, engaged in projects to turn technology patents controlled by NASA and the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory into marketable products.

Its going very well, United Properties vice president Kevin Kelley said in an interview prior to Tuesdays meeting. We've had good conversations with tenants, most of whom are busting at the seams to get in there.
The agreement that councilors inked with the ACE partnership is for a 60-day exclusive right to negotiate the purchase of the Agilent campus four buildings, totaling 812,000 square feet, and 176 acres of buildable land for $4 million.

The deal with Agilent that closes this week gives the city 129 acres of land and water rights, together worth about $1.7 million. Kelley said he and other United Properties executives, and senior CAMT staff members, were planning a visit to the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., to get a firsthand look at how a similar, but more fully developed, project operates.We want to see how that works, Kelley said.

NASA Ames director Michael Marlaire, who has visited the Agilent campus, has said he will consult on the ACE centers development. United Properties Vice President Fred Baker, who with Kelley runs the companys Denver office, said Friday he had met with five prospective tenants. Every one of them has been really interested in the ACE concept, he said. We are very pleased. Its great to have interest from people who really subscribe to the vision.

Kelley told councilors that an unnamed international manufacturer, with a presence in the Denver area, would visit the Loveland site on Friday, and that Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia would also make the trip. We're talking about companies that are going to emerge on the cutting edge of new technology, Kelley said. Its a little like pioneering.

Earlier on Tuesday night, councilors put an overflow crowd of parents and their children through another two hours of suspense before removing the last roadblock to Loveland Classical Schools, the citys newest charter venture. An 8-1 vote to amend an annexation agreement followed another painstaking examination of traffic and engineering issues on Southwest 14th Street.

Tom Hacker can be reached at 669-5050, ext. 521, or thacker@reporter-herald.com.
Publish Date: 6/22/2011

Loveland Commercial, LLC is a full service commercial real estate brokerage & development company located across the street from the campus. Please contact us for information on surrounding commercial real estate opportunities. (970) 667-7000 or www.lovelandcommercial.com