Foreclosure filings in Boulder County returned to higher levels in October as the effect of a new 30-day notification period - implemented late this summer - began to wear off.

A total of 76 foreclosures were filed in Boulder County in October, up from 46 filings in September and 44 filings in August. This past month's numbers are still slightly lower than those of October 2007, when 116 foreclosures were filed.

Foreclosure figures have been skewed the past few months due to the passage of Colorado House Bill 1402, which temporarily delayed filings.

The law, which went into effect Aug. 1, requires lenders to mail a notice containing the phone numbers of the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and the lender's loss mitigation department to defaulting borrowers at least 30 days prior to filing a foreclosure on the borrower.

That effectively put the brakes on foreclosure filings for 30 days, county officials said. The law, as intended, may also lead to greater dialogue between lenders and borrowers and the possibility of mortgage term adjustments.

Boulder County is still on pace to set another record high this year for foreclosure filings. Through October, 858 foreclosures have been filed this year. That's up from 814 foreclosures filed during the same period a year ago.

Foreclosures typically are filed after borrowers are 75 to 90 days late on their mortgage payments. Those homes haven't necessarily been repossessed yet, but the figures are a good indication of how many households are struggling to pay their bills.

BOULDER

CAMERA BUILDING FOR SALE: The Camera newspaper building in downtown Boulder could fetch anywhere from $9 million to $18 million local Realtors say.

Camera co-owners E.W. Scripps and MediaNews Group put the 76,635-square-foot building at 1048 Pearl St. up for sale Nov. 6. Denver-based Jones Lang LaSalle is listing the property.

Local Realtors said the sale price range for the property is wide.

"The price will depend on who the ultimate user is on that site," said Geoffrey Keys with Keys Commercial. "I can tell you it's not worth as much today what it was six months ago before the downturn in the economy or two years ago before the downturn in the housing market."

Two or three years ago, a developer could have turned a good profit on redeveloping the site as high-end, mixed-use residential condos, Keys said. Today, the demand isn't quite there.

"The demand is there for class A office space, but a return on that investment wouldn't be as high as residential," Keys said. "I'm surprised they waited as long as they did to put the building up for sale."

Camera Publisher Al Manzi said the building had become too big for the newspaper since moving its printing presses to Denver and reduced its employees by half. The Camera and its sister newspaper, the Colorado Daily, currently employ about 125 people in the building.

Manzi said the newspaper needs about 25,000 or 30,000 square feet to operate. It could remain on the current property by signing a lease with the new owner or move elsewhere.

Keys said the buyer would almost surely redevelop the property.

"Whoever it (the buyer) is will need some significant capital and the ability to hold the property as it goes through the city's review process, he said. That could take awhile."

Becky Gamble with Dean Callan & Co. said buyers will look at the land value, rather than the building. The property is about 1.37 acres, or 59,514 square feet.

Gamble said comparative downtown Boulder land prices are being valued at more than $200 per square foot. That would put the property price above $12 million. The property and building sold for about $10.56 million in 1997.

Gamble said local developers such as Tebo Development Co. or The W.W. Reynolds Cos. would be the most logical buyers of the property, but they could face some outside competition.

"The hunger to enter the downtown Boulder market" might attract some higher bids from outside investors, she said. "I think the sellers should take into consideration who best has the knowledge, sophistication and deep pockets to see through the project, not just who's willing to pay the most."

Chris Boston with Gibbons-White said the property likely will be redeveloped as a mixed-use project.

"I think they will take advantage of being on main Pearl Street retail corridor," Boston said. "With the history of the Camera it also would be great to see them remain there."

SCARPA EXPANDS: SCARPA North America is expanding its U.S. and Canadian headquarters in Boulder.

The Italian outdoor footwear company will centralize its separate office, warehouse and warranty/repair division in Boulder and Denver to a single building at 3550 Frontier Ave., Unit E.

SCARPA currently leases 4,218 square feet of space at 5770 Central Ave. and contracts with a third-party warehouse in Denver. SCARPA will lease 19,468 square feet at the new location. It expects to move by Jan. 1.

SCARPA formed its North American headquarters in Boulder in 2005. The company employs about 15 people and likely will add more with the expansion.

Chris Ball and R.C. Myles with Fuller Real Estate and Aaron Evans with New Option Partners helped broker the real estate deal.

NEW OFFICE: Coverity Inc., a California-based software quality and security analyzing firm, signed a lease for 2,654 square feet of space in Canyon Gate Plaza at 2700 Canyon Blvd. The company entered the local market this summer after acquiring Boulder-based Solidware Technologies.

Joe Heath with Frederick Ross Co. and John McKenna with Cornish and Carrey helped broker the real estate deal.

LONGMONT

WESTERN DIGITAL EXPANDS: Western Digital Corp. (NYSE:WDC) is nearly doubling its presence in Longmont.

The data-storage company signed a lease for an additional 20,000 square feet of space at 1951 S. Fordham St., increasing its total space in Longmont to 42,000 square feet. It is leasing the space from Xilinx.

Gary Aboussie with The Colorado Group helped broker the real estate deal.

Western Digital entered the Longmont market in October 2007. It initially hired about 40 people and plans to grow to 100 employees by the end of 2008.

"The company is growing quickly and expanding into new market segments," Western Digital Senior Director of Corporate Services Dick Salvi said in a press release. "We are committed to the Longmont community. Expansion of the local team reflects the company's worldwide growth and diversification."

Western Digital is the second-largest hard drive developer and manufacturer in the world, behind Seagate, which also has a presence in Longmont.

NEW OFFICE SUITES: Executive Studios Office Suites & Virtual Services has opened a location in Longmont.

The company is offering furnished luxury office suites packaged with shared facilities and services to small businesses.

The new 5,600-square-foot Longmont location at 1715 Ironhorse Drive is the company's first. It plans to expand into the Denver market.

BROOMFIELD

NEW HOME: Brother Mobile Solutions Inc., the mobile printing division of New Jersey-based The Brother Group, signed a lease for 14,784 square feet of office space at 100 Technology Drive, Building A.

Brother recently acquired Pentax's mobile printing division, and it needed a new home for the group outside of Pentax's offices in Golden, said Peter D'Carlo with Brother Mobile Solutions.

Don Misner, Joe Health and Scott Garel with Frederick Ross Co. and Charlie Lodge with CB Richard Ellis helped broker the real estate deal.

NEXT DOOR: Also at 100 Technology Drive, this time in Building B, Murata Power Solutions signed a lease for 8,161 square feet of office space. The Massachusetts-based company designs, manufactures and distributes electric converters, power supplies and meters.

Don Misner, Joe Health and Scott Garel with Frederick Ross Co. and Lee Diamond with helped broker the real estate deal.

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