AHonolulu-based real estate investment company has purchased the Meadows on the Parkway Shopping Center in South Boulder for $30,772,000.

A&B Properties Inc., the real estate subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., (NYSE: ALEX) bought the 216,400-square-foot retail center from Foothills Center Limited Partnership headed by a mix of local and California investors.

The shopping center on the southwest corner of Foothills Parkway and Baseline Road was constructed in 1989 and features seven buildings with 179,800 of retail space and one building with 36,600 square feet of office space. The center is about 83 percent occupied with tenants such as Safeway, Blockbuster, Michael's and Rite Aid.

"The addition to our portfolio of Meadows reflects A&B's strategic objective of acquiring properties in prime markets with excellent potential for appreciation and growth," A&B Properties President Norbert M. Buelsing said in a press release.

A&B Properties' commercial property/investment portfolio consists of 8.3 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space located in Hawaii and eight other U.S. states.

APARTMENTS BOUGHT: A Boulder-based real estate investment company has purchased a 13-unit apartment building near the intersection of Broadway and Cedar Avenue in Boulder for $2.05 million.

1240 Cedar LLC, managed by Scott Holton and Chris Jacobs, both of the Boulder-based Holton Group, bought the 12,804-square-foot building at 1240 Cedar Ave. with financing from FirstBank of Boulder. The seller was Denver-based Cedarbridge Apartments LLC.

"The apartments at 1240 Cedar have very high historical occupancy, and it's rare to be able to purchase a building with such character so close to downtown," Holton said. "This acquisition underscores our continuing confidence in the strength of the Boulder residential market."

Holton said he plans to keep the building as apartments for now.

The Holton Group made a similar acquisition in the same neighborhood in 2008 - purchasing 1201 Balsam Ave. and converting the 16 one- and two-bedroom units into for-sale condominiums. Holton said 11 out of 16 units at The Flats at 1201 Balsam are under contract with five remaining in the $335,000 to $365,000 price range. The project is expected to be complete by March 1.

"We truly believe in that sub market - being close to downtown, parks and shopping," Holton said.

LONGMONT
HIGH-TECH WATERING: An Australian irrigation technology company is moving its U.S. headquarters to Longmont.

Irrigation Water Technologies America Inc. is moving from Colorado Springs to Longmont after signing a lease for 12,000 square feet at 1200 S. Fordham Road.

The privately owned company expects to move in late January and will bring 11 employees here.

"IWT America chose Longmont because of its proximity to the Front Range labor market as well as its atmosphere and reasonable cost of living," said Collis Woodward, the company's chief financial officer.

Irrigation Water Technologies America Inc. sells its products under the trade name KISSS, which is a system that uses capillaries to deliver water directly to the root zone of sport fields, commercial properties, green roofs, and public and private parks. As a result, the system uses less water than conventional, or even drip, sprinkler systems. The system can reduce fertilizer requirements and runoff by sending it directly to the root zone.

IWT America works with businesses and municipalities across the United States, Mexico and Canada with projects including green roofs on the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark. and the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

GOLIATH MOVES: Goliath Solutions, a Chicago-based marketing research company, is moving its office in Boulder to Longmont.

The company signed a lease for 4,222 square feet of space at 1860 Lefthand Circle in The Campus at Longmont business park owned by Circle Capital. The local office employs fewer than 10 people.

Arn Hayden with Freeman Myre and Hunter Barto with Dean Callan & Co. helped broker the deal.

BROOMFIELD
BROOMFIELD LEASES: Grandrabbit's Toy Shoppe, a Boulder-based toy store, signed a lease for 3,000 square feet of retail space at 180 E. Flatirons Circle Drive at MainStreet at Flatiron. It is the third location for Grandrabbit, which has stores in Boulder and Superior.

* Abbot's Frozen Custard signed a lease for 1,333 square feet of retail space at 2205 W. 136th Ave. at The Shops at Quail Creek.

* AIM Mail Center, a retail mail service company, signed a lease for 1,400 square feet of retail space at The Shops at Quail Creek.

LOUISVILLE

FINISHING LEASE: Illinois-based ITW Industrial Finishing Inc., a spray finishing equipment provider, signed a lease for 9,939 square feet of space at 1721 Boxelder St. in the Colorado Technology Center business park for its research engineering facility. Neil Littmann and Scott Reichenberg with The Colorado Group helped broker the deal.

BOULDER VALLEY

COMMERCIAL SALES TICK UP: After a very quiet commercial real estate market for most of 2009, there's been a slight bump in local sales activity this past two months.

The buying activity is largely being led by owner-occupiers - companies that purchase buildings for the direct use of their business. As the credit market loosens, it has been easier for owner-occupiers with a proven business plan to obtain money from banks, than it has for the speculators.

The most recent example was Boulder-based Spectra Logic buying its own 80,712-square-foot building at 6285 Lookout Road in Gunbarrel for $5,025,000 in December.

Federal stimulus help to the Small Business Administration also has helped reduce the costs for small businesses to borrow money for real estate - leading to an increase in office condo sales.

Institutional investor money also is making its way back into the Boulder Valley. In December, Chicago-based Ventus Inc. (NYSE:VTR) purchased 74,000 square feet of medical office space at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville for $20.25 million, and in January, Honolulu-based A&B Properties Inc. (NYSE: ALEX) purchased the 216,400-square-foot Meadows on the Parkway Shopping Center in Boulder for nearly $30.8 million.

The sales uptick doesn't necessarily signal the market's recovery, however. Many of the deals are at a discount compared to what the properties would have fetched a few years ago, brokers say.

This could either be a bottom where that discount is being set and investors are jumping in, or it could be the tip of the iceberg with an upcoming avalanche of owners who need to sell.

Contact David Clucas at 303-440-4950 or e-mail dclucas@bcbr.com.