BCBR Article.Real Estate

February 20, 2009 --

BOULDER - Serious Materials Inc., which acquired Boulder-based Alpen Windows this past summer, is expanding its presence in the Boulder Valley.

The California-based green building material company signed a lease for 36,955 square feet of space at 6268 Monarch Place near Niwot. The new lease is in addition to Serious Materials' existing 15,000 square feet of space at 5400 Spine Road in Gunbarrel.

Serious Materials Market Manager Robert Clarke said the Boulder window and glass manufacturing office has increased from 25 to 40 employees since the acquisition. He said the company expects to continue to grow in 2009.

The glass side of the business will remain in the 5400 Spine Road location, and the window frame side will move to the new building. Depending on the volume of future business, Serious may keep both buildings.

"It's a good story that green materials business is still growing in this economy," Clarke said. Part of the expansion in Boulder also has to do with Serious Materials acquiring the assets of former Kensington Windows in Pennsylvania on Jan. 20, Clarke said.

In November 2007, Serious Materials received $50 million in funding to grow the company. In addition to windows, the company manufactures EcoRock, a drywall substitute that takes less energy to produce.

Serious Materials is also the parent firm of Quiet Solution, which makes soundproofing products that enhance livability and encourage sustainable land use in urban infill projects.

CROCS EXPANDS IN CALIF.: Crocs Inc. (Nasdaq:CROX) said it has signed a lease to open a new 400,000-square-foot distribution facility in Southern California.

The facility at 4060 E. Francis St. in Ontario, Calif. would handle all of the company's new product lines, said Tia Mattson, spokeswoman for the Niwot-based company.

She said the new California distribution center would provide better entry into the U.S. market in order to improve customer delivery time.

Crocs currently has its main distribution center in Aurora, where it leases 267,000 square feet of space. The lease runs to 2010. Mattson declined to speculate that the new California location would replace the Colorado one.

"Right now, we're not making any changes," Mattson said. The Aurora facility at 2470 Airport Blvd. employs about 280 mostly third-party personnel, Mattson said. The California facility will employ about 150 mostly third-party personnel by the end of the year, she said.

Paul Whiteside and Aaron Evans with New Option Partners in Boulder represented Crocs in the California real estate deal.

BOULDER LEASES: Ascend Analytics LLC, a Boulder-based software and consulting company for the energy industry, signed a lease for 3,024 square feet of space at 1877 Broadway, Suite 706. The company is moving from 2737 Mapleton Ave. Chris Boston and Chip Wise with Gibbons-White Inc. and Aaron Evans with New Option Partners helped broker the deal.

* Special Aerospace Services LLC, an aerospace consulting firm, signed a lease for 2,200 square feet of space at 250 Arapahoe Ave., #200. Angela Rookey and Michael-Ryan McCarty with Gibbons-White Inc. helped broker the deal.

* Boulder Implants & Periodontics PC, a local dentist, signed a lease for 1,757 square feet of space at 1840 Folsom St., Suite 302. Lynda Gibbons with Gibbons-White Inc. helped broker the deal.